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Hoping you all got your cuddle & a big WHOO HOO FOR POO!
Haven't been on for a couple of days, but as soon as I got computer access, logged on to find out what little Miss Heidi has been up to and was so excited to read your post. What an exhausting time for you all but happy to hear she that she seems to be on the mend
What an amazing little girl you have!! Enjoy your cuddles and can't wait to hear about daddy's first cuddle.
Hun, you can try lanisoh or a similar lanolin based 'cream' on your crack to help it when you can't walk around bare-breasted. Ask at the hospital, they might even have some, otherwise, any chemist will.
I can't wait to hear about DH's cuddles tonight, so excited for you both. And :crossfingers: Heidi's little tummy tolerates the milk well. Sounds like both of your kids are benefiting from your wonderful milk! That's going to help DS if you're fighting off colds in the household too. My DD had ebm on her weetbix for months as a toddler while I used up my freezer supplies.
The special band-aids designed for healing blisters are good too - the compeed type ones. Combine with the BM and airing and it should heal.
Sending big hugs and hoping that Heidi is able to be back on the EBM very soon.
Thanks Nai, where do I find these band-aids? Are they a particular brand or do they have a name? Might try them out. And Jen I've been using some pawpaw cream to date but will upgrade to the Lansinoh today I think. And dig out my bigger flange for the pump too. I'm annoyed because the crack is on my slower boob so I've had to turn the suction right down and get even less milk. Or just sit there for 45 minutes letting it dribble out! Oh well, thank goodness for power boob!:
Well I finally got to hold my baby girl in my arms again last night. I settled in with her tucked down my top and she went straight to sleep, and I just wept. Tears of sheer relief, of exhaustion, tears that wished the whole world would go away for a while so I could have her in a quiet room all to myself. DP & her nurse sat there holding me and wiping away the tears. Even though it was visiting hours and they were very busy, her nurse insisted the lights get turned off so we could enjoy the cuddle as much as possible, and I was so appreciative. Its the closest I can get to having her back in my womb, and it just feels so much better having her with me, where she belongs. Inside or out.
:cry: :cry: :cry: You brought me to tears hun :hug:
Oh honey... at work and so shouldn't be posting but just here in my office crying a few happy tears for you getting to hold your gorgeous little girl again.
:hug:
Infinity, I'm so glad you got to hold her :hug:
The blister healing patches you can get from the chemist - there is a brand called Compeed which I have used before and they seem to be the best.
Oh hun, that's beautiful. :hug:
You can try the Advanced Wound healing bandaids (will do the same kind of thing). But they work better when they're left undisturbed for most of or up to a day. So I'd give it a go with the creams too. Pawpaw is good, I hope it doesn't take too long to heal for you.
Your cuddle with your gorgoues little girl brought me to tears - so beautiful. Do daddy get his first hold?
The things we use at work for cracked/blistered nipples is called Mepliex. You can get a box of them at your chemist - they are absolutely fantastic!!! If you can't find them let me know and I'll be more than happy to find some and post them up to you.
Oooh, baby cuddles :D
Oh, sweets..... sitting here in tears.....happy tears & bittersweet tears for all that you had in your arms last night and all that you have lost from your womb.......
Strong, sweet little Heidi....
What a little fighter you got on your hands!!! Make sure you keep the little foot probes, ( we kept the feeding tube too lol) they only chuck them out! Nice keepsakes i think. Good job on expressing, wondeful job. Keep going darl, your a strong woman!
oh sweetie. that cuddle sounded so precious and beautiful! I think i need your nurse to wipe my tears now :)!
what a moment that must of been for you! I am CERTAIN that she was loving it just as much (if not more!!)!
Infinity, what wonderful news! Enjoy all the cuddles. Hope it smooth sailing from here on.
Infinity, I just read your story and it brought tears to my eyes!
Sending HUGE HUGS out to you and your hubby!
Your little girl is such a fighter! She's beating everything that's thrown into her path and coming back stronger than ever! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll have her BFing like a trooper and home where she belongs very soon!
Liviam honey, thank you so much for your offer to send the bandaid thingys to me - thankfully with some paw paw cream, 'the larger flange for my pump and some careful boob positioning I have almost healed the crack! YAY!
Very happy to report that DD is continuing to improve. She is now off CPAP and back to high-flow which means she is doing most of her breathing all on her own again. And she loves it! The CPAP is really quite cumbersome for the tiny little babes around their head & face and she was getting quite restless yesterday so they thought they'd try her out to see how she would cope. The little darling is so much happier and has barely required any additional oxygen today which is still astonishing for me. Last week she was sometimes up in between 30-40%!
More cuddles today, we sat together for almost 2 hours this arvo, her asleep and snuggling in the whole time! She's looking so much better, its really quite amazing given how sick she's been. And weight is up to 1630grams! WOOT! What a chubba.
Thank you again for all your love & support. I'm still feeling quite fragile about things but less on a knife-edge this week thankfully. Here's to more positive weeks ahead.
Such wonderful wonderful news Infinity - two hours of cuddles!! and 1630grams is absolutely awesome. You are both doing so well.... She has come such a long way. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before you can start to think towards the day when you will get to take her home with you.
She is an amazing little girl! I am so so happy to hear of your cuddles - those cuddles are THE most precious. Thinking of you both. xxx
Oh wow, she must be looking so good at that weight!!! So glad you are getting beautiful long cuddles, they are SO SO precious. Enjoy them hun, cos it's never the same once you bring bubba home ;) I'm sure you feel amazing after the snuggles, I know I always felt so relaxed and content. I can't really find a word to describe how good I felt, that flow of oxytocin is amazing.
I'm so so pleased to hear that Heidi is progressing well once again :D And good on you for working so hard at the expressing. I'm sure you know what a difference your BM will have made with how she coped with the NEC. And it's obviously doing wonders for her weight gain!!! Well done babe xoxo
She's amazing! :leap:
What a great weight gain!!
I'm so so happy for you, your family and of course Miss H :)
Lovely to read your little girl is doing so well. xx
That's fabulous news hun!! :clap: So pleased to hear of the weight gain, cuddles and the breathing improvements.
Chubb chubb Heidi!
Here's crossing fingers for a much more relaxing, uneventful week with more outstanding weight gains & lots of cuddles. :lol:
This is lovely news to log onto Infinity :hug:
she is certainly doing well with her weight! (isnt like double her birth weight???).
so happy for you all and wow, good girl with telling 'em that the CPAP wasn't needed! she's so strong and knows what she wants ;)
Wonderful news:) Such a stronge little girl:)
That's fantastic news infinity. I hope Heidi has an uneventful week and you and your DH can enjoy more snuggles with her :D
Such amazingly, beautiful news. Wiping tears away here too. :hug: Thinking of you always. :goodluck:
oh my gosh infinity your lil girl is a real fighter and sounds like she is very comfortable when you and ur partner are near her i hope she keeps thriving!! i havent seen her but she is sooo beautiful.. great job!
Wow *Infinity* isn't Miss Heidi just an amazing little girl, I was completely over the moon to hear of her weight gain, it is sooo impressive that she is more than double her birth weight especially with all that she has gone through the past few weeks.
WTG Heidi for giving the CPAP the flick, clever, clever girl, stepping up to high flow is a big step, so proud of her and I love it when premmies dictate what they are ready for, I think they know what they want :D
You and your family are always in my thoughts, take care and sending you continued strength xxoo
Absolutely fabulous news!! Your little angel sure has some spunk about her that's for sure!! Keep loving those cuddles.
so glad you got to have those cuddles again..
Well done Heidi , what a strong little girl you are. Great weight gain xxxx
Thrilled to hear that Heidi is doing so well with her weight gain and no longer requires the assistance of CPAP.
Enjoy your precious cuddles! and hoping that you can now see that glimmer of light at the end of the NICU tunnel.
Sending continued healthy vibes Heidi's way.
Just popping in to see how Miss Heidi is going :)
I hope you have all been well and getting some much deserved rest as well.
Thinking of you and Miss Heidi daily and hopefully the remainder of her NICU time is smooth and gentle xxoo
I second Beema ! :lol:
Well done Miss Heidi off CPAP, how weird is it to see their head ?!?!?!? Does she have lots of hair?
I know Sal, its just beautiful to see her precious little head again, those CPAP hats are just so funny. She looked like a little garden gnome in it. And yes, she does have quite a head of hair on her...gorgeous fuzzy stuff that seems to be growing at a rate of knots! But she has a kind of 'punk' look after they had to shave each side around the temples - when she was sick they had a few attempts at getting a central line in and unfortunately the best access they could get was through a scalp vein.:
Mixed bag today....she's up to 1800g and was almost up to full feeds of 11ml per hour. Yesterday when they tried to grade her up to two-hourly feeds of 24ml she decided to spill her milk back up. We don't think its related to the volume (they grade them gradually over a few feeds, they don't just whack down 24mls all of a sudden) we actually think she's a bit crook again. Well, I know she's sick, I can see it plain as day. She spilled a bit at virtually every feed after 11am yesterday so after holding a couple they decided to stop feeds overnight and give her 24 hours rest. She's looking quite flat & lethargic too, and her colour is a bit off so they're watching her closely. I don't think its as serious as her last hurdle but we just have to wait & see really. They'll decide in the morning whether they re-start feeds ever so slowly. I just hope she doesn't crash as seriously as she did with the NEC, but given how serious it was they're going to tread very carefully with her. The good news is that she's mainly in air & saturating well, she is requiring virtually no oxygen. And even being a bit sick, this has remained stable. Usually if these little ones are going downhill fast then they require a lot more oxygen and struggle with respiratory function at the same time, so I'm hopeful she's going to ride this one out quickly.
And although she is growing, she's not really growing enough for her corrected gestation. Due to being fed with IV nutrition for so long as a result of the NEC her liver function has been somewhat impaired and is slowing her down a bit. They are waiting to decide how to tackle that issue, but are obviosuly keen to get her on full feeds when she tolerates them enough.
So more wait & see, hope like crazy she keeps moving forward. We're up to day 64, and she's now 9 weeks old so 34+6 corrected. They always say keep her original due date in mind as to when you *might* go home, but to be honest, I think we're going to be there a little longer than that. I think the growth issue is going to impede things for her, particularly if she stop / starts with her feeds like this. We've been in NICU a looooooong time, I can't even see her being ready for SCN anytime soon. Just feels like a lifetime away right now. One foot in front of the other, one day (or one hour) at a time, she will get there in her own steam. I'm exhaused but I guess that just comes with the territory.
Night all x
:hug: the light at the end of the tunnel shines quite dimly sometimes :hug:
We were only in NICU for one day and then SCN for 2 weeks and at the time I felt like that was never going to end. I got talking to some of the mums in the expressing room who were NICU LTers and hearing the hurdles they overcame and were continuing to fight was such an inspiration to me.
You are also an inspiration... thank you again for your updates. I think of you often.
Heidi sounds like a little darling. Stay strong little one xoxox
1800g.... she has come such a long way, must be time for another party at 2kg :leap:
I hope she gets over this little hump quickly and starts to build up her strength again.
Being off CPAP is a huge step. I think Heidi will surprise us all and be home around her EDD.... She is such a fighter and doing so well.
:cheer: :cheer:
Well we're back on the down side of the journey again. Unfortunately the NEC has returned. Her tummy worsened overnight and its definitely back. DP just rang me from the hospital after the doctors spoke to him, he was in tears. I'm at home, DS is sleeping. I'm cleaning, trying to keep my mind off things. We're unsure as to what the plan will be this time. They're going to try and establish an arterial line this morning. Thankfully they didn't remove the central line in her scalp - they left it in just in case. So they don't have to put her through that again. We'll find out more over the next few hours. I'll drop DS off to my sister so we can head down together. I dare say they'll want to ventilate her again to keep her safe. I just really don't know what to say or do right now. I'm kind of numb. I need to have a big vent - this shouldn't be happening. I should be pregnant with a big round belly. I shouldn't have had the privelidge of meeting her yet. I should be planning to birth my baby in the comfort of my own home. She should be nice & snug on the inside and not being put through all this awful, painful stuff. I just don't know anymore.