Unfortunately I've not seen our little girl for a week as I've had to stay at home as I've had a cold (wouldn't have been too wise to wipe out half the babies in the unit by visiting). 

I left the camera with mum, but whilst mummy is an amazing photographer the camera just hasn't been up to scratch this week. Hopefully there will be a couple of usable shots but if not I'm sure the camera will be feeling a lot better in the coming week so we'll be able to get back on track with some photos and videos :P

Monica is really doing well, the staff in the unit keep commenting on her progress and whilst we do not want to get carried away we're sooooo pleased.  I can't wait to see her again tomorrow (after getting my car towed to the garage, unfortunately someone drove into it whilst it was parked outside the hospital on my first visit after having the cold and to top it off, a traffic warden then slapped a ticket on it... on New Years Day for goodness sake!).  The staff in the unit have again mentioned transferring Monica to a hospital closer to home, so we'll be visiting the Neonatal unit there asap.

Monica hasn't been back on the CPAP since I last posted which is absolutely superb and way more than we could ever have hoped for at this stage (it basically means she is breathing fine by herself without getting into any difficulty and without any need for a machine to help with the air pressure).  I guess we'll never know if it was the steriods that did the trick or whether her little lungs were mature enough anyway, but either way we're very very thankful.  It is certainly heartbreaking to see some of the other poor tots having trouble breathing or forgetting to breathe.

Monica watching mummy the movie director 

 
Monica 9 days Old. They removed the feeding tube from her mouth and put it via her nose instead.  We saw her little chin for the first time and mummy noted that she didn't have a little dimple in her chin.

She certainly sleeps a lot as can be expected as she's still only 30 weeks really.

 
10 Days old :-) We think she's now putting on some weight but won't know for sure until Sunday which is when they weigh all the babies in the unit.

Continue to Day 12

Monica - Day 6

Our little fighter has been off the CPAP now for up to 6 hours at a time, and looks incredibly cute when she is not covered with tubes.

Very cute, even if she is dressed in Blue.

Mummy having another cuddle

Mummy having another cuddle

Mummy having a cuddle (Audio is a bit out of sync, and it's in a darkened room)

Continue to Week 2

Monica - Day 5

Mummy's first cuddle of Monica.  She finished her antibiotics today so had her IV line / cannula removed (she would probably have ripped it off again anyway :-) )

Mummy's first cuddle :-)

She is a little dinky thing.  She has lost a bit of weight since she was born but will hopefully be gaining weight now that her feeds are in full swing.

Continue to Day 6

Monica - Day 4

Monica's first Christmas.  Not quite the Christmas we were expecting or hoping for (obviously we hoped she wouldn't arrive quite so early) but we wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  She is the best Christmas present we could have ever imagined.

Monica had a touch of jaundice today but 6 hours of phototherapy sorted that out and the consultants were happy with the results.

Monica is still in the High Dependancy Unit today but they moved her on Christmas night to the Low Dependancy Unit as she was doing so well.

Holding her daddy's hand on Christmas Day.

Pushing mummy's hand away

Holding mummy's hand (well, little finger)

The cannula has been moved to her foot now as she managed to pull it off of her hand. She didn't much like them putting it in her foot, and soon kicked it off again!

Continue to Day 5

Monica - Day 3

Monica is still in the high dependancy unit but they are talking about moving her to the low dependancy unit as she is the only stable baby in the unit (and I think they need the cot for another tot... since she has been there the unit has filled up).  Mum whispered to her that we were over the moon that she was graduating already :-).

She has still got the cannula on her hand.

Precious little thing trying to open her eyes

Continue to Day 4

Day 2

Monica and her mum on Day 2

Monica and Mummy on Day 2

Monica (probably having baby dreams) on Day 2

Continue to Day 3

This website is all about our baby girl Monica Elouise Castle, who was born at 28 weeks gestation weighing just 1.27Kg (2.79lbs or 2 lbs, 12 oz). .

We are creating this web-site so our friends and family can keep up-dated with Monica’s progress and so we can show them how proud we are of our little girl.

As soon as she was born, Monica was rushed up to the neonatal unit.  It was not for a few hours that I was able to go up and see her (her mum was still bed bound after the op).  After our previous experience, this was, I guess, the most nerve wracking time of all.  But when I saw her for the first time and although she had the CPAP tubes attached and a cannula for IV/Antibiotics, I couldn't believe how well she looked.

She was wriggling and going all red but she was crying and I was told that she was doing really well so far.  Relaying that news to her mum was such a huge relief.

Overlooking our precious little girl at 3am (nearly 5 hours old)

Daddy and Monica (14:34) (Held her hand through her 24 hour 'birthday' too :-) )

Mummy's first photo with Monica (16:35)

Monica and Mummy.  Our little girl was so red during the first hours. 

Continue to Day 2