Monica - Day 19

Monica has now been transferred to her new home.  She looked really tiny all wrapped up in the travel incubator but had her eyes open to see what was going on on her first ever journey outside the hospital.  She had a couple of desats while in the ambulance (which was a bit scary as I was following in the car behind so really didn't want to see the blue lights come on and the ambulance pulling over... luckily it was mainly so that the nurse could stand up without falling over rather than anything really bad).

Monica is in an isolation room for a few days which is normal when babies are transferred in from another hospital, and mum has spent her first night at home in about 7 weeks or so.

She now weighs 3.08 lbs which is great news and her little arms and legs certainly look a bit chubbier so we're really pleased about that.  Her feeds have been increased again and she desats a bit after a lot of feeds but other than that she is doing great :-)

Monica's first night in her new home.  Back in an incubator for now but thats more for isloation reasons, as she has been managing to keep her own temperature regulated fine outside of an incubator for the last few days

 
They moved the feeding tube to the other side before she moved so there is a bit of redness from the tape.

She is always really happy to have a cuddle with mummy :-)

Monica's new home while she is in isolation (until she moves to the normal SCBU ward)

Continue to Day 20

Monica - Day 14

Monica is now 2 weeks old :-) She was weighed tonight and has put on a decent amount.  She now weighs 1.305Kg's (2.88 lbs / 2 lbs, 14 oz), which is just slightly more than when she was born which is great for two weeks old.

Mummy looking at Monicas monitors

 
Monica looking up lovingly at mummy

Monica wondering why daddy is pointing a metal thing at her all the time. 

Continue to Day 19

Monica - Day 13

We were warned right from day one to be prepared for setbacks and I guess it was day 13.  Monica has been fine with her breathing and with her Oxygen saturation since she has been off the CPAP but she has had a few desaturation incidents today which means that her breathing has slowed a bit too much and as a result the oxygen in her blood was a little on the low side.  We'd noticed that all the other babies in the unit do this from time to time and need a bit of stimulating to get them to breathe a bit more, but we'd been quietly pleased that Monica had been fine.  We hadn't realised that Monica had done this a few times throughout the night so it was a bit of a panic when the monitors / alarms started going off, although the staff didn't seem too worried.  Apparently this is very common in early babies as they grow as their lungs have to work hard to keep up with their growing bodies; at least this is what another mum in the unit was told.... we've not managed to speak to a doctor about it yet.  Apart from this Monica had a cuddle with both mummy and daddy today which is a first, although Mummy was a little upset to see Monica's finger up her nose for the first time ever - hehe. 

Monica with her finger up her nose, much to mummy's dismay. 

We think she has put on some weight but won't know for sure until tomorrow 

 
Daddy's second cuddle 

Daddy with his little miracle. 

Continue to Day 14

Monica - Day 12

Monica is such a good little girl she just lets the nurses get on with whatever they need to do.  The only thing that seems to upset her is the cold thermometer they (or mummy) put under her arm.

Today was the first time I've seen her in over a week and as soon as she heard my voice she opened her eyes and had a good look around for almost an hour.

Monica gets a bit upset whenever mummy tries to take her temperature (but not too much).  

She is as good as gold most of the time.

Mummy said she has been growing well and it's lovely to see a little smile every now and then.


She opened her eyes as soon as she heard her daddy's voice after 6 days away and kept them open for ages. It was fantastic to see her so alert :-)

Continue to Day 13

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