Slowly but surely.... progress!

Hi all,

Apologies for the delay between updates, but it's been tough to get any time spare now that I'm juggling work with Hospital - I know, excuses excuses! (I'm currently typing this update from my desk in the office whilst munching down my lunch!).

So - what's the latest?, well, I'm pleased to say that it's been a positive few days.

Alice has surprised us a bit by continually progressing her breathing. I've mentioned previously about the mix of oxygen being quite low at around 24%, which is great and has continued. However, the level of pressure pumping the air in has also now been reduced. Just to give you context/reference point, the level has been stable at "7" for a good few weeks now, meaning that alice doesn't have to work as hard to draw the air in.

About a week ago, the doctors decided to reduce the level of pressure to 6. All good. No change. hurrah!So, it was reduced again to 5 a couple of days later. Still all good. As I type we're now on level 4, which is fantastic! (or "amazeballs" for the youngsters out there?!)

Now - We're keeping an open mind and not getting too carried away, as we all now know the rollercoaster is perfectly capable of going the other way at a moments notice.... But... Let's assume for a moment that she continued to be stable on low levels of oxygen and lower pressure over the coming days, the next steps would be to switch over to the final stage of breathing support - which is called humacare (spelling probably not accurate!). This is basically a small wire and prongs which go up the nose, removing the need for a full mask to be trapped onto her head. It provides only a small supplement of oxygen on a low pressure, meaning she's breathing more on her own, but just as importantly, we'll be able to see her face :-)

Other bits to update you on:

• Weight - a mighty 1 pound 10 ounces now.
• Heart - the duct that I mentioned previously that needs to close has shrunk a little bit, but still not closed. The approach is the same though, it's not causing her any problems so we continue to keep an eye on it. There is every chance that it might close on it's own, if not, medication and then surgery are the next steps.
• Head - She's really having a good look around now, although sight and hearing tests aren't conducted till around 6 weeks I'm told, it looks like she's already holding her gaze on us and reacting to our voices. Which is great!
• "plumbing" - yes, it all works. Enough said. Although she is developing a habit of waiting for the nappy to come off before "opening fire"!
• Noise - no sustained crying yet, which is apparently normal, just the occasional squeek or shout. I'm assured that she'll make up for this in time, so no complaints here.

Finally - conscious that I'm doing the updates on here at the moment, I need to say at this point that Catherine is doing an amazing job being Mam. Especially now that she's on her own looking after Alice every day at the hospital while I'm at work, hosting visit's from family, doing the morning cares, expressing milk every few hours.... all this whilst coming to terms with having our first baby stuck in an incubator for 5 weeks (with at least another 12 to go). She truly is superwoman!

That's it for now, but coming soon.... clothes, more milk and hopefully entry to the "1 killogram club"

Thanks

Geoff

p.s. here's a pic the nurse got whilst her mask was off the other day :-D :