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Hi, my name is Michael, Daniel's dad.
Daniel's conception was unplanned, but it was more than serendipity, it was almost miraculous. Beth and I had been unsuccessful in completing pregnancies since the birth of our first daughter in 1987. There were several miscarriages over the years. Beth developed endometriosis and was in a lot of pain.
In 1995 Beth went to a church service in Sydney where she was prayed for, and told that she would be healed and have a son. This sounded great but more miscarriages were to follow. In January 2002 Beth was 14 weeks pregnant and once again miscarried. This was extremely heart wrenching for us, but Beth was determined that we would try once more.
On April 14 2003 Beth gave birth to Eleanor. We were parents again after 16 years. We were shocked not to have a boy as we thought was promised back in '95 but we were very appreciative to have another beautiful girl. We talked about trying again and both acknowledged that at 40 we were probably a bit past it.
The day before Xmas eve in 2004, Beth rang me at work to tell me she had just come from the doctors. We were both speechless for a while when she told me she was pregnant again. According to the mathematics she must have conceived the day after her period, which I'm led to believe is damn near impossible especially at our age.
Beth took extreme care of herself throughout this pregnancy. But at 26 weeks she broke her waters. We went straight to our local hospital in Taree, arriving at 4:30 in the afternoon. By 9:30 that night Beth was on a plane to RNS hospital Sydney. At this time I was working 3 days a week in Taree, and 2 days a week in Wyong on the Central Coast. I quit my Taree job and spent weekends and Mondays at home in Taree, Tues-Wed in Sydney with Beth, Thurs-Fri working on the central coast. With constant monitoring and plenty of bed rest Daniel was born at 32 weeks gestation. After 12 days in the NICU Daniel was transferred back to Taree hospital where he stayed until he was 36 weeks gestation. We were finally able to bring home our baby boy.
Life with Daniel was fine and he showed no signs of sickness at all until the day of the rugby league grand final. I had him dressed in a tiger suit sitting on my lap to watch the game. Beth saw him startle and told me to put him in his bassinet because she thought my cheering was frightening him. The next day we were at a BBQ when he appeared to be shivering. We assumed he must have been cold so we covered him up and took him inside. That night he had 4 small seizures. We took him to Taree hospital first thing in the morning, and by that afternoon he was transferred to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.
This was the first of 3 stays in John Hunter, each time the news was worse. The new routine became weekends in Taree, Mon-Wed in Newcastle, Thurs-Fri in Wyong. When we confronted with the severity of Daniel's condition in November I quit my job on the central coast to become his full time carer. I have since spent a week at John Hunter and a week at Taree hospital as Beth has had enough of hospitals.
All the traveling combined with the stress of Daniel's illness has led to several speeding fines and the possible suspension of my drivers license. The social worker at Taree hospital has written me a letter of support to accompany my letter of appeal to the infringement bureau. I will argue my case in court in March some time. I believe our local magistrate will use his discretion to dismiss the fines.
We have made it this far only with the support of family and friends. There has been lots of practical help, but just as importantly lots of emotional support. Our most valued friends are the ones who allow us to be ourselves, and let us cry, shout, scream, and occasionally laugh when we need to.
Michael
Daniel's Dad
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