The Tale of Abi and the Illusive Weight Gain

For those who are not aware of what is happening in our family, let me give you a brief run down. Abi was born about 17 weeks ago and was quite small. She didn't put on weight at the 'normal' rate so she started out seeing the Child Health Nurse, then the GP then the Paediatrician at the Kids Hospital, then a Consultant, then the Director of Respiratory Medicine. Since she was about 6 weeks old, to fix the situation and work out why she isn’t putting on weight, she has had the following:

Blood test x 5
Urine test
Poo test x 5
Sweat test x 3
X-ray x 2
Heart Echocardiograph
Heart Echocardiogram
Pulse Oximeter Monitoring
Oxygen Therapy
Nasal Swab
Nasopharyngeal Aspiration (sucking up snot for testing)
Nasogastric Feeding tube (inserted through her nose into her stomach)
High calorie formula
High calorie, partially digested formula
High calorie gel
High Resolution CT scan
Cannula x 2 (small needle in her vein)
General Anaesthetic
12 days in hospital

The conclusion of all the tests so far don’t show anything wrong. That’s right, we are back to square one (or still at square one!)

We are blessed to be supported by so many people. It confirms in me how important it is to be part of an great community and a pretty darn good family.

Because we haven’t found out what is wrong, and Abi still hasn’t really put on much weight, would you pray for us? One of the best things about God is that we can talk to him directly. Even if you wouldn’t necessarily call yourself a Christian or don’t really know God that well, would you pray for us? I know that God hears our prayers (sometimes He answers with a yes, or a no, or a wait – and sometimes we don’t hear him) and Rach Abi and I need His help.

I will try to update when I have more info.

NEW BLOG

The very talented Neale has initiated a Blog for our Church's Youth. I think it is going to be great for the kids to get info, download permission forms, connect with leaders and peers.

Great work Neale. You are worth your weight in gold....actually you don't weight that much so you are worth.....a lot.

So go have a look, let everyone you know...know about it!

http://elthambaptistyouth.blogspot.com/

Working from home...

"My aim is to integrate my work and my family...."

Here She is...

Introducing Abigail Rose Baldwin!

Waiting, waiting

The last 4 weeks of this pregnancy has gone for nearly 3 years now...

When is enough...enough?

I heard a rumour that you could not blog for an extended period of time, then just pick up where you left off. Its called a "blog vacation (blog-cation) or a blog holiday (holiblog)... or a blog break (brog) or a...... i'm out

Actual Test answers 1

My brother send me this. It is copies of actual test answers. I only ever remember taking tests and exams very seriously, perhaps something that I do not share with these students...

and perhaps my favorite:

"How to have a Baby' class

We had our first 'How to have a Baby' class last night. For some reason they skipped the first part of 'How to have a Baby'. I guess they they figured everyone there was either pregnant or with someone who was pregnant and they probably already knew that part of the story.

So there we all were, self conscious and a bit on edge. The very start of the class, the midwife says "Lets just go around the group and introduce yourself and how many weeks pregnant you are - Lets start here...with you Paul (referring to my hand scrawled sticky label nametag). In a frenzied thought process that I suspect may have resulted in smoke being produced, I couldn't quite remember how many weeks pregnant we were. My panicked and inquisitive glances to my lovely wife were met with a look that said "what, why are you looking at me"

When time ran out and the entire room was looking to me for the aforementioned introduction and spouting forth of pregnancy information, it was then that I referred to my old friend and wingman - "humour" (at least that’s what I like to call it, Rach may disagree). "Hi I'm Paul and I not actually pregnant, but my wife is and she can tell you how many weeks pregnant we are" The response from the 'crowd' was satisfactory and I like to think that I was responsible for lightening the mood somewhat, in an otherwise tense situation. I did have a little competition from two of the other 'support partners' however, I am confident that over the next 5 weeks, I will be able to deal with them suitably.

I don't think I had prepared myself for the onslaught of pictures, diagrams, model pelvises and videos that greeted us as we walked through the doors. If I had have thought about it for a while, I would have realised that this was an educational exercise and as such certain 'learning aides' would be prolific. Once I got over the shock of such explicit graphic representations I settled in a little was OK with my environment.

Halfway through the class we had a little coffee break which in itself was hilarious. All the pregnant women made a bee-line to the toilet, all the guys went to the kitchen, each to make a cupper x 2.

After the coffee break we had more diagrams and videos before class was dismissed 2.5 hours after we started. I wonder if they could look at some sort of 'Online Learning' experience. It could be self paced, you could choose the extent to which pictures and diagrams are used. I wonder what else could be included in the online 'How to have a baby' class?

New Zealand/Old Zealand

After two weeks in New Zealand working for Dr Audio, I am back on deck in 'Aussie' (as the Kiwis call it "what's it like in Aussie?"). We were fitting out the Law Courts with new audio systems. I was there with Brother Dan and we had two weeks in Rotorua with a road trip up to Whangarei in the middle. There are so many stories to tell - from the foul and stanky stench of sulfur (turns out that was just Dan) and geothermally heated rivers to the owner of our apartment informing us that he had been taken aboard the mother ship of some aliens in 1977. Where do I begin...with some pics I think!

When you ask for a 'large latte', they don't mess around. They serve it in a bowl!

About half way through the trip we got called up north to Whagarei to help out there. It was about 7 or 8 hours drive. We felt the need for some donuts and for some reason Dan appointed himself Donut Nazi and undertook to pace the consumption of said donuts. If i had my way we would have knocked of those 12 tasty morsels in 30mins. The radio was crap so we ended up listening to music from Dans laptop with Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. Amazing technology I tell you!

What?

Did I mention they have bowls of Latte?