Dani's wonder i born!!!!!

Congratulations on your big little miracle!!! And what a lovely name Of course you love your child regardless of whether they have Down syndrome or not.

It's an exciting day for you both! We're all thinking of you and cheering you on.

Haha, did you get some good sleep in your 4-person room? Such a lovely treat for you. Let yourself be pampered, okay. Before you know it, the postpartum days will be over. I'm on my last day today (I got an extra day because of the C-section).

Love and a big hug to you both!!

Congratulations !!!

Exciting day for you two!!
Hope you get some certainty soon.

Love

Hi Mama Dani,
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SON!!!!!!

Amazing news. Congratulations, mom.
And this little guy didn't choose you as his parents for nothing.
Enjoy it, dear.

Hi ladies,

Here’s an update, just between the chaos because we’re really busy.

On Friday we finally got the results: Lucas has Down syndrome. It’s not genetically determined, so our other kids don’t have a higher chance of having a baby with Down syndrome than anyone else. That’s good to know for them and for us, of course.

There was a huge release of emotion after hearing the news; it only really hit me when I got home, with lots of tears. Let it all out, it needs to come out, and it has nothing to do with Lucas, but just the fact that we’ve been living with so much stress for months.

Lucas is doing super well, we’re so proud of him. He had surgery on Wednesday and although it was a small incision, it was quite a heavy abdominal operation for him.
He was on ventilator support and that worried me a lot. I was told that our little guy was breathing on his own before the operation, so we had to give him time.
Yesterday he was taken off the ventilator. I was with him for 5 hours and he was doing great!!!! I kept checking the monitor but it looked fine.
Last night at 6 pm he got 3 ml (breastmilk) via his tube, and when I called in the evening, his gastric residual volume wasn’t higher than before, which means the stomach contents are moving through to his intestines.
Also very positive
He’s under a light though because he looked a bit yellow. What a funny sight when I look at a photo of him and me: he has such a yellowish tint and I’m completely pale because I lost so much blood.

On Friday I was completely done. I had a nurse in the bedroom, I pulled the curtains shut (very rude, she didn’t even introduce herself) and told my husband crying that I wanted to go home. I’d had enough of all the hospital rules, so I grabbed my bag and went home with the guys in the evening.
I did talk to the nurse though, and her baby is on Lucas’s ward, so we’ll see each other there.

Conclusion: I’m very tired, I’m being taken care of wonderfully by my amazing husband who carries me on his hands, we have a little miracle in a crib, and everything is moving forward slowly but surely.
There’s still a long way to go. For now, we’re seeing how long it takes for Lucas to tolerate the feeding, and then we’ll see if he can move to medium care.
That’s easier with visitors, and then we can really start caring for him. Also with our other kids who are super proud and crazy about their little brother.
I already changed a diaper and it went pretty easily. I was a bit nervous about all the wires and the nurses watching my hands, but I did it together with my niece’s help and no problem (how could it be otherwise after having had a child and working in healthcare, even if the diapers there are quite a bit bigger).

Thanks everyone for your kind words and support, not just now but also during my pregnancy. It does us so much good and we realize we have a circle of people around us who support and love us!!!!!

Love, Dani

Hey Dani,
Haven't been on the forum for a while and only now read that your little one was born.
Congratulations from the bottom of my heart!
And what a beautiful name...... If Vera had been a boy, it would probably have been Daniël Lucas, so you can imagine how much I love the name!

Glad everything is going well with Lucas, and I really hope you can finally get some rest now.
Enjoy your special little boy!

Love, Gerda

Thank you so much, Gerda!

Lucas has been on the medium care unit since yesterday in a regular crib, with just a feeding tube and an IV. That little guy is doing so well; he looks so relaxed and is growing well, his food is coming out fine from below too, so everything is working. Fewer and fewer tubes, he's wearing clothes (on top, due to the catheters), and yesterday he slept so nicely with his little arms above his head. He looks around contentedly with those dark eyes of his, responds to us, and it's so cute when his dad hums softly; first, he frowns a bit, and then those eyes slowly open. He also likes singing.

Soon we'll go back to the hospital (when, who knows), and then I'll wash and care for him under supervision, dealing with all those tubes. Across from him lies another baby with exactly the same condition, with very young parents whom I've already had a nice chat with. They didn't know beforehand, so they had to process quite a shock. It's nice to be able to support them and let them share their story.

We were lucky to know everything beforehand, which saves us a lot of sorrow now, and I think we're pretty strong. We laugh a lot; it's very busy, but it's going well. Yesterday during dinner with the kids, I had a little dip, grabbed my phone, and heard that everything was fine. Then I could enjoy the other kids again, and things were better.

I hope you all had a nice day and now on to a beautiful new year!!!!

Kind regards, Dani