14.8.2010
Happy Birthday Babies! You are 3 weeks old today! Feels like you have been here forever, yet there is still so much I do not know. I love you both more than all the world and I am so proud of the progress you have made these past three weeks. Well done Will Henley and Little Star! Well done indeed!
Today we arrived at the hospital just after 9am. Both babies were fast asleep and so though their cares were due I let them sleep for a while. David went straight home because he is coming back at 2pm for cuddles. At 9.30 I did both babies’ cares and changed their bedding. They now have the teddy blankies that Laura bought them whilst their elephant and giraffe are washed. They look so cute in their new beds!
William seems very stable this morning. He has a low heartrate and is not really desaturating at all. He managed 3 and a half hours off CPAP over night and is in air most of the time that he is on. Esther seems less stable and regularly desatting to low 80s on 27% oxygen. She does, of course, have her mouth wide open all the time but I cannot help worrying that it is something more than that. Just waiting for the doctors now.
Both babies have stayed the same weight over night. Hopefully that may mean William’s feeds going up again today so that he is on the same food to weight ratio as Esther.
Yesterday I got photos taken for my provisional driving licence application. I will get them signed tonight and send the form off on Monday. I have also bought my maternity allowance claim form to sort today so that I can start to get some money. Next week we will go and register the birth, so we should start to get child benefit too.
Esther is now on 25% oxygen and seems to be steady and well.
10.50am and still no doctors!
At 11.15am I gave up waiting and went to do my milk. I came back to find Esther really struggling. Her oxygen levels were dipping to mid 60s and were mostly in the low 80s. I asked the nurse when desats become dangerous and she told me that though they are not dangerous, over a prolonged period of time (months) they can affect brain development. I asked if Esther was struggling so much because she is still so small. She is not really that much bigger or heavier than when she was born, particularly in comparison to William who is now stable much of the time.
The nurse took Esther’s temperature because she was getting so agitated but her temperature was fine. Then she decided to try Esther off her CPAP and in ambient oxygen to see if she was fed up with the tubes and prongs. She was really unhappy and just could not stabilise.
Through all of our worrying and fretting about Esther, William just carried on regardless, asleep and stable.
Once Esther was settled off her CPAP she had a lower heartrate and her O2 levels stabilised in the low 90s. She was fed up with CPAP and she wanted to let us know! She did still desaturate but not often and not as much. It would seem that we have a very willful daughter! Her incubator was set at 34 – 35% oxygen and her levels were mostly mid 90s. Funny little creature! She was showing off, saying to us all – “Look at me! Look what I can do! I don’t need any help! I am breathing on my own!”
By 1.30pm her incubator oxygen was down to 30% and her oxygen levels were in the high 90s. I think it was the two Milly Molly Mandy stories that did it! She does seem to love being read to.
The doctors came at 1.30pm.
William is to stay on 10mls of milk an hour and 3 hours off CPAP. Ecerything is also to stay the same for Esther. This is the second day in a row that assessments have been made without examining the babies!
Not sure how the cuddle situation is going to work out today as Esther is not going to want to go back on her CPAP and William will soon be due to come off his. Maybe we will have to have them out separately today? David to cuddle William and me with Little Star.
Doctors round now so I am waiting in the lounge. David should be here soon. I am dying for a cup of tea and some chocolate! Need to do some milk!