Evening all, thank you all for checking in on us. We've had a good few days and have a bit more certainty to a degree now which is great.

We are back to breastfeeding now which is fabulous. The docs didn't seem to think that cutting out the little bit of breastmilk made much difference at all to her output so they're happy for us to have one breastfeed a day right now which I'm happy with. They said breastmilk alone will speed things up for her in itself - its so easily digestible its just running through very quickly hence it will make her output more watery - but as the head of the unit said to me yesterday, its a nuisance but its not doing her any harm and its more important for my supply and her suck practice to put her on the boob every day. So YAY for boobies! Double YAY for boobies! She got on and sucked away with gusto! Normally we will top her up with a gavage feed of 30-40ml after a b/f just to make sure she's getting enough. After her breastfeed at 2pm this arvo she was bombed so I wrapped her up and we decided not to top her up and just see how long before she demanded again. She didn't wake until her next feed which was 4 hours later so I'm reasonably confident that my supply is good enough and she's feeding efficiently enough to get her fill. Although she was tired too after a bath and her dressing changes too so that may have konked her out too. But its a great feeling knowing she was satisfied for that long.

The little chubba is up to 2650grams and looks so healthy. Its lovely (and somewhat bizarre in many ways) to see her looking so big and getting chubby arms, cheeks & chin. She still has chicken legs LOL!

The big news is that she will be in surgery again next Wednesday (the 20th) when they will reverse the ileostomy and reconnect her bowel. The surgeon & doctors have concluded that her bowel problems were a result of the NEC and her prematurity and that she's had sufficient time to grow and rest her gut, so she will be all back in one piece next week. TBH when the surgeon told me that was her plan I was floored. I was truly expecting to take her home with the stomas, managing it at home for a few months yet, but not so. So, the surgery means another little trip to Intensive Care. She'll be intubated for a few days and need pain relief and lots of TLC. They'll rest her tummy and she wont have milk feeds for up to 5 days. Not sure how to deal with placating a hungry full-term baby who doesn't know why they're not getting any mik but I'm sure the nurses will help us through it. '

It means she won't be home for my birthday (which is the 30th Oct). But knowing that she'll have the surgery next week means she'll probably be home sometime in November. Once she's recovered from the op and goes back to SCN, its really just a matter of getting her suck feeds sorted and confident that she's gaining well and they'll let me take my baby girl home. And that light gets brighter everyday now. Its still going to be a long few weeks but we can do it. I know we can do it. I know she can do it.

Thanks again my friends, you're all absolutely beautiful xox