So we begin our NICU journey....

[Nai]

Sending Heidi get well vibes and I hope she responds to the treatment soon. It must be so hard for you to see her like that She is a fighter so I have everything crossed that she will continue to grow stronger and fight this infection off.

[Arimeh]

Sending Heidi get well vibes and I hope she responds to the treatment soon. It must be so hard for you to see her like that She is a fighter so I have everything crossed that she will continue to grow stronger and fight this infection off.

:yeahthat:

She's strong just like her mumma. xox

[Rosebud]

Oh Hun My thoughts & prayers are with Heidi, you & your family.

Heidi has proven to the world that she is a little fighter! These little ones have an amazing will & determination. With the help from modern medicine & the love & strength from her family she will go on to fight.

Rosebud

[Jennifer13]

Thoughts and prayers are with you, your DH and Heidi as her little body fights this challenge. I hope all the strength and weight she gained from your wonderful milk so far holds her in good stead over the next little while.

[onthefly]

Scary times
She's a strong one though infinity. Will be thinking of you and hoping for a speedy recovery.

[Cassius2]

Hopefully the weight gain and strength she has gained over the past couple of weeks with your amazing EBM will give her the extra strength she will use to get past this infection.

:yeahthat:

she has a good 4 weeks of awesome progress in her backpocket to draw on for strength and reserve. xx

sending Heidi all our love and healing vibes xx

[~me~]

Sending Hiedi lots of strength and healing vibes. She has done an amazing job getting this far, she is such a fighter, her strength will keep her going

[Epacris]

Oh darling one. Thinking of you and your family and especially your tiny Heidi. Wishing everything I possible can for you.

[thepixie]

Infinity another one thinking of you and sending positive energy and strength to your little fighter Heidi.

[Sally2]

Oh no, sweets
NEC is one of the scariest & most life threatening things about the prem journey, it's never going to be an easy ride but we know a little boy who got it severely and is tonight at home with his Mum & Dad, cuddled in his own bed after a huge fight for his life.
Thinking of you and praying for little Heidi, this is just horrible, horrible news but hang onto the fact she's over the kilo, it makes a HUGE difference.
Nothing I can say will make this fight of hers easier or ease this burden, but the belly belly community is watching over her journey and hoping for her speedy recovery. She's a pretty tough little thing. :hugs: to you, her Daddy & her brother x x x Thinking of all of you

[Melbournemumma]

Oh my dear. The poor little thing. I can imagine how heartbreaking it must be for you to see her like this. I feel awful when my ds is sick and he's not seriously sick.

You are in my thoughts and prayers. Take heart in the fact that Heidi is proving to be a little fighter and that she has been well up until now. Hopefully that will help.

Big squishy to you, your DH and DS

[Beatrix]

Thinking of you

Hope Heidi is doing better

[feeb]

Thinking of you as Heidi finds the strength to fight this battle.

Hugs and prayers for you.

xoxo

[Liviam]

Sending Heidi heaps of healing vibes and strength vibes to mummy.

[MistyFying]

Thinking of you and Heidi today

[*Beema*]

Just dropping in to let you know that your whole family has been in my thoughts, praying that Heidi has stabilised and that they can get control of the NEC

[Snowy Love]

Thinking of you & Heidi. Praying she's stabilised.

[*Infinity*]

Hi everyone, so sorry that its taken me a few days to come back in & update. Thank you all for your thoughts & prayers, it looks like having so many people behind her is helping.

Sal - thank you for sharing with me your friends little boy who also had NEC. Positive stories like that really give us hope. And big woohoo to you guys for taking your little guy Archer home! So amazing.

After a terrible day on Wednesday with Heidi going back on the ventilator etc. she seems to have stabilised which is a really good sign. She is still very unwell but the positive thing is that her condition hasn't worsened and all her xrays have come back clear which means the condition hasn't perforarted her bowel. The doctors seem to think that she may well be out of the really dangerous zone which is encouraging but I am by no means counting my chickens yet. She is still ventilated and on morphine which is keeping her comfortable and of course on some very strong antibiotics to stop the infection progressing. Her little tummy is still quite sore and red, but isn't quite so large as compared to the first few days. Its pretty clear that she's still in some pain, I can see it in her precious face and she's still very guarded when the doctors examine her. She is retaining quite a bit of fluid too which is a normal response to treatment so she's all puffy and stiff. I can't even begin to explain how hard it is to see my baby girl so sick like this, it is just eating away at me every moment. But we have to remain positive and hopeful. It will be another 10-14 days before we know whether she is starting to truly recover and think about any further implications for her. Her treatment will remain the same over the weekend and they'll re-assess early next week to decide what to do about the ventilator & pain relief etc. The NICU doctors are watching her so closely and the paed surgeon has been in to visit her each day just to keep a steady eye on things, so we know she's got everything possible helping her to get better.

She won't recommence feeds until they are satisfied that her gut has recovered - even then it will be done VERY conservatively. Just before she got sick the milk room asked me not to bring anymore EBM in for a while as they had so much there already to use - and now she won't feed for another 2 weeks at least. I'm freezing about 600ml of milk everyday so she had better pull her socks up and get her appetite back.

I'm still unwell and have gone downhill again after everything this week. I got my voice back and thought I was getting better but not so - and to top it all off DS has conjunctivitis and I've woken up with it this morning too. So we've just come back from a trip to the GP to get that all sorted out. I'm banning myself from the hosp for a few days (as much as it breaks me) I need to fully recover, and I'm also contagious right now so I just can't go. The more I run myself into the ground, the less time I get with my baby girl. DP doesn't need to work again until Tues so he is going to be at the hosp with Heidi to help her through this.

Keep sending your thoughts & get well soon vibes Heidi's way - she needs every bit of strength right now. I will keep you posted, I'll have a bit more time at home over the next few days on my self-imposed rest.