cough ... cough ... cough cough cough

respiratory issues. curse of the modern prem baby.

we were warned when Harlow came home that he may get respiratory issues over winter that would land him back in the hospital. well, winter has passed and he has not had any problems. yay! we thought, we are some kick ass parents! haha, as everyone who has ever been bitten by fate knows, fate is a young girl with a magnifying glass thinking about anthills.

for the last couple of days, Harlow has been coughing and coughing. his brothers have all just had or still have colds, so we thought Harlow had a cold also. the symptoms were the same, but there were differences. a temperature, green gunge in the corners of his eyes, both of which are not associated with having a cold.

last night it kinda got out of control, he was awake for hours, his feeding was not going well, he was hot! so hot! around lunchtime today Justine took him to the hospital. he was admitted pretty much straight away, he looked pretty bad.

turns out he has bronchitis! "that's not so bad" i hear you say... and normally you would be right, but with chronic lung disease it becomes a whole bigger deal.

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that was yesterday. this morning he was a bit better, talking and the like, but as the day wore on, he started degrading again. slept most of the afternoon away, making little mewling noises.

this evening he perked up again after scoffing some pamol, he was very noisy after that.

and ... that is where we are at the moment. Justine is spending her second night at the hospital tonight, with my turn tomorrow night. the doctors think he could be there for a couple of more days...

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he is back home now, he came out on tuesday after spending ten days in peads. he is still hacking up a lung, but that is expected to last for a few more weeks. he is essentially well again tho...

wow...

wow ... the world of wearable art.

each year, this contest is held in wellington and is a showcase of designer talent from around the globe. this year, Justine and I went along to see what the fuss was about.

i'm glad we did, it was pretty damn amazing. there is so much talent and so many different ideas out there that the show was kinda mind blowing.

the best part about it is that half the cost of the seats we were sitting in is donated directly to the neonatal trust here in new zealand. this is a good thing. the neonatal trust has helped us in the past and with the money that comes in from wow, they can continue to help families of prem babies.

it was a FANTASTIC performance, and we are definitely going again next year.

on a more local note, with Harlow being so prem and in hospital for so long, Caiden had an idea. He suggested to his teacher that Discovery School raise some money for the neonatal trust. well, the school council decided that this was a worthy charity and they raised the money with stalls. parents donated stuff to sell and then bought it back again, or bought other peoples stuff and ended up raising TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!! that's my boy... that money will go to help other families who need it.