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What wonderful news :happyforyou: A huge congratulations to little Heidi.
SCN is definitely a different experience :o and takes a while to get use to but you are doing a wonderful job. It takes a lot of strength the travel the NICU journey and that is why Heidi has chosen you!
Excellent news :D
All the best for a smooth journey upward and beyond!
Oh, wow, WOO HOO!!!!!
I don't get on belly belly for a few days & miss this AWESOME news!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done Miss Heidi! I would assume it is pretty daunting to get a SCN 'promotion' after weeks in NICU, with DS1 we only ever 'dropped' to High Dependency as he caught a contagious bug a the day before they were transferring him to a lower level hospital, so had to stay in his isolette in HD until he went home from the Mercy :lol: He still doesn't like change..... :lol: DS2 was only ever in SCN.... Different journey though!
Seconding Sally's wish for a smooth journey all the way home.......
Wow that is wonderful news Infinity!!!!! What a little trooper you have on your hands!! xox
DD is still going really well in SCN. She's up to 2270 grams now which is great. They're still fiddling with her feeds to ensure she's digesting things properly. After a few days of very watery output they've switched her to a different elemental formula to hopefully make a difference which it has. Things are looking much better now and they're slowly grading her up to 3 hourly feeds. I am still able to breastfeed her, she just needs to have the bulk of her nutrition through the formula for the time being until her gut settles and her liver kicks in again properly, then we'll re-introduce EBM. Its frustrating for me, especially seeing I have an overflowing stock on the freezer :redface: but she needs to grow & absorb every bit she can and she can't do that effectively until her liver gets better. I just need to be patient.
I am planning on sitting down with one of the consultant doctors early next week to discuss my breastfeeding goals...I've not been shy about my committment to her having EBM and I will be asking them to work with me to achieve my aim of taking her home breastfeeding successfully. Of course with top-ups if necessary, but I really feel the need to be clear with them & remind them again. So wish me luck with that one. We manage one or two breastfeeds each day and she's a champ! Latches on nicely and just gets going, its beautiful. I am so so proud of her.
And I'm getting a bit more practice at changing her stoma dressings and bags too, with the help of the lovely stoma nurses at the hospital. They've been great. They love coming to see DD - they tell me they deal with grumpy old people most of the time so helping DD is a nice change.
I've finally got to a place in myself where I've felt comfortable buying some new things for her, little teeny tiny clothes....so precious. And of course I've got all boys stuff at home so looking for girls things is lots of fun :lol:
We are unbelieveably tired and still have a long road to go but finally, finally we can see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it gets a bit stronger every day.
Night all xx
:hug: wow, you've traveled such a long road, it's fantastic to see that you're confident enough to buy her teeny tiny clothes. They must be so cute.
I was checking the thread earlier today wondering how you were going. That is wonderful that she is improving and getting good weight gainsl. Hopefully the liver and gut will get sorted soon. It is great that you are going to have a talk to them about your breastfeeding goals. One of the paed's at our second hospital for DD just assumed she would be getting bottle and breast even though we had a sign on her cot saying "no bottle" and it really felt like he was undermining my desires. Luckily the nurses were more important in her day to day care and they knew I was committed to getting DD home fully bf with no bottles. I was paranoid about nipple confusion - i do not even know if it really happens, but I became obsessed. Obviously they need to take in to account Heidi's gut and liver but go for it.
Have fun getting her clothes. They have some great premmie stuff around, and they are soooo tiny and cute.
And get some rest too. You are so strong and doing a marvellous job
xx
GL with your bfing goals and how exciting that you're finally able to plan for bringing her home and all the usual baby girl things you should enjoy! It is so wonderful to hear how far she's come.
I was just looking at your ticker... 3months today :D
What a great post to read, I'm so happy for you and it must be so good to see that light at teh end of the tunnel :hug:
I know! To think I would have been 39 weeks pregnant tomorrow as well kind of beggars belief. This journey is still tinged with a lot of sadness for me about the remainder of my pregnancy that I didn't get to share with DD but I'm slowly moving past that as she gets stronger & closer to home. As my wise, gorgeous, rock DP pointed out to me a while ago - it all feels so much worse because she's not home with me, where she belongs.:
I've just caught up on all the news!! How wonderful infinity!!!! What a little fighter you have, she has done so well!! Your strength also continues to amaze me. I'm so glad things are going well.
I am so so happy that you are all finally being able to see the light that becons to take your amazing precious little girl home :hug: how ever far away it is we are here for you every step of the way and I know there will be a lot of tears shed that day xxoo:
:hug: I am glad that you ahve all settled into the SCN routine, it can be such a big change from NICU. I hope that her liver improves and the amount of EBM can be increased over time, I am so glad you are able to still BF her, and it is fabulous to hear that you are putting your foot down and really pushing them so that you will be able to take home a BF'd little girl, it is a hard work with the top ups, expressing and BF'ing at home, but it is so very rewarding :comfort:
:leap: Wooo Hooo for doing getting some retail therapy in, the teeny tiny clothes are pretty amazing especially when you hang them on the clothes line! DD came home at 2190grams and I had only bought 000 and a friend had given us one 0000, which I hadn't washed as I didn't think we would need it, in the end Dh along with our family and friends bought her clothes (which were a lot harder to find even just a couple of years ago) and the 00000 were too big on her, we used the PP teddy bear clothes, but they have a new Tiny Premmie range now which is just gorgeous!
Take care and thinking of you all xxoo
More good news Infinity!! :leap: :leap:
I'm sure you will be able to get to full BFing in time... and for top ups you have a massive supply of EBM!
Great work and so happy to hear that you are feeling closer to taking your tiny princess home :hug:
so nice to hear how things are going, you have done so well and so has Heidi :hug:
Thats awesome news hun! I'm so glad to hear she's doing so well. Yay retail therapy is awesome, very good 4 the soul :p
I gave DD her first tub bath today! So cute. And boy did she need it LOL she was very pongy and collecting things under her chins! We've given her sponge offs before but waited for her stoma wounds to calm down before a proper soak. And she really enjoyed it, very relaxed.
She's up to 2335 grams and they're moving her to 4 hourly feeds today. Which is a bit confusing (given you would expect a newborn to demand A LOT more than that all things being *normal*) but I'm fairly sure demand feeds are the next step. Happy to go with the flow. I talked to the doctors this week about my feeding goals and they're right there with me. Suck feeds at the breast is the ultimate goal for when she comes home but if we need to adjust that a bit to ensure her gut is ok and her growth is consistent then I'm ok with that. We're still fitting in a couple of breastfeeds each day and thanks to a nipple shield and the support of some wonderful staff in SCN I have managed to breastfeed PAIN FREE for the first time ever! Woohoo.
I'm getting much more confident caring for her stomas and I could probably do it all by myself if I needed to now which is a good feeling.
She will hit her 100-day milestone on Saturday. And I feel like I should mark it somehow - it feels a bit weird celebrating it, but its part of this road we've been faced with and I feel like I should be acknowledging that? Am I a bit nuts? LOL. Maybe I'll take some cake in to the SCN on the weekend. Everyone loves cake!
Thank you all once again for your support, it is lovely coming back to BB to reflect on all of this.
xox
Ohh how exciting for you!! She is doing so well now!! So happy to read this!
Cake is a great idea!! All nurses and mw love cake!!!!!
Well done on BF.
xoxo
You are doing such a great job xx Well done xx
Definitely worthy of a celebration, she has come such a long way! I'm sure the nurses in SCN will appreciate a cake to celebrate. Love that first bath... :loveshower:
100 days is a huge milestone, of course you should celebrate it! Our 100 dayers at the Mercy used to get special handmade quilts to go onto the open cots the babies were in, and often the nurses would make a card or poster with footprints & photo's from the babies stay.
Congrats on your bath too!!
Woohoo at the bath!! I'm sure Heidi smells just beautiful now.
You are doing so well with the bfing and I hope you get to demand feeds soon. Sounds like she's really stepping up with the weight gain. :clap:
Looking forward to hearing more positive news soon - you should celebrate the 100 day mark!
Oh that's so exciting :leap:
it's like the steam train express to bringing that gorgeous bundle of love home!!!
A massive woohoo to Heidi's first real bath :dance: it's little things like this that truly bring a smile to your face.
100 days! What a milestone, definitely a day to celebrate :birthday2: In saying that, I spent most of the day in tears, tears of joy that DS had made it that far. Walking into the SCN at 4.30am for a BF, I was surprised at what I saw. The nurses had decorated the ceiling above his cot with balloons and streamer he even received cards and gifts.
To celebrate 100 days and to thank the staff for everything they had done for DS and our family, we brought them in some platters of cold cut meats & cheeses, turkish bread & dips, hot finger foods, fruit and not to forget cake and chocolates.
Infinity, be proud! Your precious little one has put up an amazing fight and has come so far. The light is getting brighter and the smiles on your face so much more.
Enjoy Saturday! :hug: You will all be in my thoughts :hug:
Rosebud xx
Well today we marked DDs 100-day-old milestone with her first adventure outside in the sunshine. DP, DS & I all walked into the nursery to see a great big 100 day plaque at her cot, with a card and certificates for her and us for getting to 100 days. It was so lovely of the staff, they've been amazing. And now that she's off all monitoring we took her down the courtyard at the hospital with duck ponds & beautiful gardens and FINALLY got her into some fresh air & sunshine. It was lovely to have that little bit of freedom and see her taking it all in. Had some photos of all of us and watched DS run around and play too. He was somewhat disinterested in her, and more interested in the ponds LOL! Not surprising! Took her back to the nursery for another lovely breastfeed and spent some time relaxing with her. Its been a great day.
Her weight has plataeued somewhat over the last few days but they're not too concerned. She has a few more tests coming up this week to rule out any more bowel issues too then I think they'll start planning when to reverse her stomas. We still have a few weeks ahead of us and TBH I really don't know where I'm going to muster the energy from to keep going. I am truly almost spent. But we have come this far, we just need to keep on going for a wee bit longer.
I was in tears of joy for you reading about your little girl's special day, it must have been wonderful to take her out in the sunshine. Wishing you the best for the next few weeks, to find the strength to make it to the end of this very difficult time and take your beautiful girl home to your family xxxx
What a fabulous day! She's doing so well :hug:
What a fantastic day :D I'm so pleased you were able to get her outside too :)
Sending lots of strength :hug:
That is brilliant Infinity!! What a huge step & how you have all come in those 100 days.:
After 100 days I'm sure you are :hug:. I hope you can draw a bit more strength to see you through these next few weeks. This a marathon you never anticipated, I'm willing you on the best you can do. xx:
100 days is looonnggg babe...wow, no wonder you are t.i.r.e.d. and no doubt now that Heidi is on the mend and almost ready to come home that exhaustion from those 100 days is really starting to hit as you begin to mentally relax ITMS. you're body/mind is feeling safer so now is the time that it all hits...:hug:
what a lovely way to celebrate her 100 days!! love love love the sunshine!
Such a massive milestone for a precious little baby girl!
Keep holding on hun, I know you will - and you know too. I can't wait for you to be able to take Miss H home and settle into a family life :)
What a beautiful way to mark Heidi's 100 days! So glad you had a great day :D
:hug: I so know how you are feeling atm :hug: 100 days is a long time. One foot in front of the other Hun and before you know it you will be walking out the door with your gorgeous little miracle in your arms heading for home.
100 days :hug:
What a truely amazing 100 days it has been, we have celebrated all the the highs and surrounded you with prayers, sent all the strength we have during the difficult and dark moments, and throughout the whole time you have been such an inspiration. You have shared all of the raw emotions that you have experienced, in the months and years down the track when you sit back and read this journey of Heidi's you will be amazed to read how you did it. You have shown that it is ok to breakdown, that you don't have to be a pillar of strength every single day, and that you can get through it.
Thankyou for sharing such a personal experience, I am glad you have had a place where you can come and vent, seek support and celebrate, we will be with you right to the very end of your NICU journey and I know that they day Miss Heidi come's home there will not be a dry eye on BB.
Take care and that light is getting brighter :D
xxoo
:hooray:
Happy 100 days Heidi!
In Korea they mark 100 days for all babies with a special little ceremony. Your little trip outside sounds just perfect :hug:
:cheer: What a lovely way to celebrate her 100th day! I hope it won't be long before you'll be celebrating her homecoming. :hug:
Take care of yourself, hope you're finding some time to recharge.
WOW! I have just read through all you posts Infinity! You are amazing as is you family and especially you little Heidi, she sounds amazing! Congratulations on the 100day old milestone, I can't wait to hear about her getting more and more breastfeeds and coming home!
I hope things are going well for you all Infinity :hug: xx
Congratulations on your 100 day milestone hun. That is very special and I'm so glad it was a great day. I'm sending you strength hun :hug:
Congratulations on the 100 day milestone!!
This story continues to inspire me :hug:
Congratulations on a beautiful 100 day milestone and celebration... together as a family! How perfect. I can imagine maintainingyour steam is very hard now when you must just want to bundle your darling daughter up and take her home :hug: