Another sign of me ageing – first came my 50th birthday and now my daughter has made me a grandad. Baby Michaela is pictured below. She arrived at 6.58am on 8th March and weighed 6 lb 10 oz. In common with many new-born babies, she has slight jaundice, which is rapidly improving with the help of a UV light. We don’t seem to have much imagination where names are concerned – my daughter (20) is called Michelle, and my son is (24) is called Michael.
All seems to be well despite a few scares. During the birth the heart rate faded, not helped by the fact that the umbilical cord became wrapped around her neck 3 times. Resuscitation equipment was rushed into the delivery suite, but wasn’t needed in the end. Michaela also has only one functional kidney. The other is a Multicystic Dysplastic Kidney (MCDK). The last scan before birth estimated that MDCK was 9 cm, about twice the size of the normal kidney. A scan today measured it at 7cm. Hopefuly it will continue to shrink and no surgery will be necessary. The consultant will decide tomorrow (Tuesday) and then we can bring them both home. Our daughter’s/son-in-law’s house isn’t ready to move into yet.
The proud parents are pictured below watching hospital TV:
Many thanks to everyone at Good Hope Hospital Maternity Unit.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Congratulations grandpa.
Paul – grandchildren are actually the best type. After a day of minding them, and of course spoiling them rotten, you can give them back.
I have a 7 month old granddaughter.
Congratulations grandpa.
She’s a beautiful child.
Personally though if ever any of my daughters have children I’m going to insist the baby calls me uncle. I’ll never be old enough to be called grandpa.
Jan’s right. Usually these newborn pics show a little prune face, vaguely resembling a kid.
Not in this case. She is a perfect little angel.
Hey grandpa, must be the genes.
Congratulations to Michaela’s parents hey
Paul: I’ve lost count of my lot.
Jan: Kids love using the term Grandpa or similar for their seniors
We could have a thread on guessing their future starting with questions about our life building concepts. Will the following generations be embarrassed by our stuff and stuff-ups?
Well my blackberry is not displaying the pic. I’m travelln again. But a big congrats to paul!!! And all the best for the next generation.
Copngratulations to you and the parents, Paul. The baby looks beautiful.
Congratulations to you Paul and to the parents. Some good news for the readers.
Louis Wu
Is Luke computing the lifetime carbon output of the new child?
Congratulations Paul.
And 50 is not old…at least I hope not….