Loads to do today. Gerhard and I need to learn how to bath Liam, clean the umbilical cord stump, dress Liam, and feed Liam. All the things that other parents learn on Day 1.
So it’s time for us to give him his first bath. You hold his head like a rugby ball, soap all over, ears closed. The little guy hates water!
Now to put on some of those adorable clothes that mommy packed (the first 2 days in NICU Liam was naked and yesterday he wore some NICU clothes). Guess what, these things are all way too big! Never trust other people when they tell you that nobody wears new-born clothes. Anyhow, we get a whole sheet of instructions, telephone numbers, and dates for follow up visits with the paediatrician and paediatric neurosurgeon and finally, we are off.
Gerhard drives at around 10 kilometres an hour, we live 10 minutes away from the hospital and it takes us half an hour to get there. Gerhard went shopping when I was still in hospital; we have a new baby bath and a breastfeeding pillow. Liam's camp cot and angel care monitor has been set up in our room and so begins our "babymoon".
We spend a full week in our bedroom, cuddling, watching Liam with amazement and just being at peace with the world. After 4 days of pure hell, this is bliss. I love my little boy to bits. Gerhard tells me that my boobs are huge and I can see him secretly hoping that they will stay that way. Gerhard is a fantastic dad, getting up for every feed and every diaper change. We realise just how lucky our escape was and we are so thankful for our little miracle. We actually joke and say that we will call him Miracle in the African tradition.
I am of course still paranoid and I start reading to Liam on Day 5, I also show him shapes and colours and sounds. I play Mozart and other classical music. I am STIMULATING Liam; I will not let my child be even a millimetre behind his contemporaries and so begins 6 months of maternity leave and post-natal depression.
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