So we begin our NICU journey....

[Amity]

September 2, 9:50pm
Heidi has had a restful day today and she is recovering well. Still on morpheine for pain relief so she's fairly drowsy but still managing to wriggle around and respond to us.

I'm wrecked, no other words for it right now so I'm off to bed.

September 4, 11:04am

DD is still going well, nice & stable and recovering nicely from the op on Wednesday. She is still ventilated and they have weaned her off the morpheine today so she may come of the ventilator shortly too which will be great for her. Once she gets more alert & active when the pain relief finishes, she is not going to like that tube down her neck!

Well I afforeded myself a sleep in yesterday which I desperately needed but back to the around the clock pumping today. The only way I can sleep longer is if someone else is in the house to watch DS while I pump and shower and get ready in the morning. Otherwise I have to be up super early & get it all done before he wakes. Arrrrgggggh. DP is working for about the next 5 days so my stress levels are at the max right now, I think I'm about to have a meltdown. I don't have any baby sitters around - my family are all either working or away for the weekend. And of course it means I cant get down to see DD which is really stressing me out. She needs me, I need her. And DS is unwell again too so he's miserable. I just feel like screaming & crying. I'm trying my best to suck it up and keep my mind & hands occupied. DP will be home later, that's what I keep telling myself.

Sorry these are the only two I can rescue for you honey.

Thinking of you and hoping someone can rescue some more for you. Hugs.

[Sally2]

Clever little girl Miss Heidi! Here's hoping that she's turned the corner now and is well on the road to coming home to her Mummy, Daddy & big brother! It all sounds really wonderful!

[*Beema*]

*Infinity* I have got a copy of all of the parts of the thread that were lost over the past couple of weeks, so you will have all the precious memories to show the beautiful Miss Heid when she grows up

Thinking of you and hoping you have had many wonderful cuddles BF's and precious time with your little girl
Take care xxoo

[shazzi]

Wow Infinity. Her weight gain is great and I hope she hit the big 2kg at the weigh in. Talk of moving to an open cot soon is brilliant. When they get growing, boy do they go fast. I was really anxious when they moved DD to an open cot, and then even more nervous when they took off all monitors just before coming home. I think we get very medicalised coming out of NICU and SC. Well done on the continuing breastfeeding. I used to think that each breast feed is a step closer to home. So happy to hear it is going so well.

[*Infinity*]

A great big shout out to thank the darling *Beema* for retrieving all the posts we lost from this thread. Honey, with everything you are going through right now - you are seriously an angel to find all those posts for me. I truly appreciate it so much, DD will love seeing how many people were cheering her on from BB.

And we've hit the 2kg milestone! She went to 2020g and then up another 60g to 2080g overnight! Way to go baby girl. I can't take all the credit though from EBM....she is having some artifical milk at the moment but for very good reasons. Her gut is quite sensitive and irritable after the infection & surgery and she also has some liver issues after being on IV nutrition for longer than normal. All this results in an inability for her body to produce the right enzymes to break down the sugars in milk so she's having a special formula which allows her to absorb & digest things (and grow!) a lot better. Half formula, half EBM so she's stilll getting my good stuff.

The took her central line out too so the only thing she has attached to her is her oximeter which measures oxygen saturation and is on her little foot. So getting her out of the isolette for cuddles is so easy now....no scary lines to worry about. Still in a closed cot but I think they're just playing it very safe for a while...there is really no need to rush her and she still has a way to go before going to Special Care (Level 2).

I had no baby sitters around today and DP is working....almost had a meltdown about not seeing her this morning so packed DS up and took him to the hospital and put him into the playroom they have there....and he loved it. I've felt so guilty all this time about even thinking about putting him in there but I had a great chat to the lady running it and she was very reassuring. So now if I desperately need to get there I feel better about him being comfortable in the playroom. So many toys! And lovely staff running it too.

We're up to day 85 today. But we have more and more glimmers of hope every single day. I can now see that there will be an end in sight, somewhere. A few weeks ago I just couldn't see the wood from the trees as they say. Thank you all for your ongoing love & support. It means a lot.

[UntoldAngel]

Infinity I'm soo glad to hear Heidi is powering on soo strongly still, she is a very special little girl xx

[Snowy Love]

She's doing so well! I'm glad you are comfortable with DS in the playroom, it must be one thing off your overloaded mind.

[Jennifer13]

Oh yay on the big girl cot!!! I bet she looks so much more like the baby you'll be bringing home soon enough.

I hope you find some answers soon on her digestion.

[onthefly]

for the open cot!

[Inanna]

OMG!!!!!!!! This is the BEST news! What a little fighter you are Heidi & what an inspirational, amazingly devoted Mama you chose to Mother you!

[Ryatha]

yay for the big girl cot

so glad that she is doing so well. I look forward to hearing she is doing great with her feeds too

[thepixie]

This is a huge milestone Infinity! I can see from your post that you feel so much closer now to taking her home.
I'm just amazed at how far she has come in the last few weeks.... it's just wonderful. Sooooo looking forward to the day you post that you are taking her home!

[Kazmar]

Well done baby girl, an open cot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats wonderful

[*Beema*]

Woooooo Hoooooo!!!!


WOW and open cot!! WTG Heidi!!!

What a fabulous start to the week, you are both doing a fabulous job, so proud of you and you are both truely amazing

Take care xxoo

[Liviam]

OMG How exciting!! WTG Miss heidi on your open cot!! Every step is a step closer to going home with mummy, daddy and your big brother!!

[*Infinity*]

And we're in Special Care Nursery! Man things can move quickly LOL! Its a great step for her but I must admit to having a minor meltdown about it all last night. We knew it was likely she would get bumped into Level 2 nursery if they needed the space in NICU and yesterday they did. The whole Neonatal Unit is overflowing....babies everywhere last night.

I know she's ready....I'm just adjusting to how different it is. In NICU there is never more than one nurse to two babies and often Heidi would have one-to-one care when she was unwell. In SCN its 6 bubs to one nurse so veeeerrry different. And very busy. Noisy OMG the noise. Heidi is the most settled baby in there probably because she's had to put up with so much noise & fiddling around already.

And after the spending the whole day today with her in there I've started to adjust a bit more and get the hang of things and I'm working on embracing the 'promotion' she's had as one of the consultants put it today. They're still fiddling with her feeds but I'm confident it will get sorted soon. Frustrating that I can't give her more EBM though....patience patience I keep telling myself. They're still happy for her to have proper breastfeeds though to keep the suck feeding up.

I'm pooped, what a big few days. Thanks ladies for all your love & support xo

[onthefly]

Wow, what a big development! Congratulations to Heidi on her promotion.
Hope you get a good night's sleep