Preston's Finger News

Preston's finger has been making some great progress over the last few days. The sewn on piece has shrunk down quite a bit and it seems that it is getting thinner from the inside-out - meaning that the inner core is healing nicely and is working its way to the outside layers. We expect the outer skin layers to come off like a scab and leave a reasonably normal looking finger underneath. Our checkup at the hospital today confirmed this - they are extremely impressed with the healing and say it's just a matter of time before the scab falls off and we can see what is left.

One exciting bonus is the doctor said we can now get it wet in the bath or shower! All this time, we've been wrapping Preston's arm in gladwrap to keep the finger dry which he does not like, and so we've been a bit sparing on the cleanliness... Anyway, Preston was SOOOOO amazed to be allowed to get his finger wet after all this time, that he asked me about 20 times before his bath if I was sure it was ok, and then about 10 times once in the bath. He eventually plucked up the courage to dunk it (I realise now he has a strong sense of what is right and wrong when it really matters) and then proceeded to have the most fun bath in ages (we've generally avoided baths and have showers instead) and spent the whole time singing "I'm allowed to get my finger wet!".

However, things got a little over-excited and in a moment of bathtime adventure, he slipped over, and slammed the side of his face against a bottle lid at the bottom of the bath. He now has a big red imprint of the lid on his face below his ear which hasn't bled too much but has bled under the skin. Sigh. I hate accidents! Anyway, we have quite the collection of bandaids and first aid equipment now so all is well.

A day at a farm

Today we went to Manea's 3rd birthday party at Butterfly Creek. Preston was absolutely amazed to be allowed to hold a baby bunny!

6 Months Pregnant

Right, so I'm 6 months pregnant. I was reading my blog from when I was 6 months pregnant with Preston and I seem to be experiencing the same things - I have a 35cm long super kicking baby in my tummy! It's rather uncomfortable and I have a lot of pressure at the very base of my abdomen where the skin is being forced outwards. I can feel a foot every now and then when it pokes out against my skin which is pretty cool. Probably the only additional symptom this time is that I have at least one nightmare every night about Preston's finger accident (I think I had nightmares when I was pregnant before though, but not so many), and my sleep is very bad at the moment.

Just for fun, here is my 6 month tummy photo from August 2005 compared to my 6 month tummy photo November 2008. I even wore the same tshirt for more accurate comparison! (But I forgot to stand in the same position, doh!).

August 2005

November 2008

Preston loves kissing his baby brother!

New scan pic and Preston's finger update

Here is a cute picture of our growing baby at 23.5 weeks. You can see the side profile of the face and a little hand up by the forehead. I had to have this extra scan to double check for any heart abnormalities after my annoying (and stressful) nuchal measurement problem. Luckily there is nothing wrong! Now I can get on with this pregnancy and I finally feel like I am beginning to look forward to having a new baby in 100 days... And there is the potential this baby may be slightly bigger than Preston as the growth rates are slightly above 50% and I'm pretty sure Preston was around the 40th percentile most of the time.

Preston's finger update: We are kind of in limbo about how this is going. We went to the hospital on Friday and had a look at his finger for the first time in two weeks and they said the prognosis is 50/50. It should either look withered up and fall off, or show signs of circulation, and it is kind of in between. There are parts that are black and dried up, but then other parts that look reasonably hopeful about healing. I think what is happening is that the sewed on bit is acting like a perfect covering for healing to take place underneath, and the very outer layers of skin that are like a black scab will shed off and hopefully reveal as much finger as possible under it. I'm going to be very sad when any pieces fall off...