Promotion at last!

Hi Everyone,

Alice is 7 weeks old tomorrow, yet still in 32nd week of gestation, so technically still 2 months early :-/

However, It's been quite a positive couple of weeks since I last updated you on progress, so here's the latest!:

Breathing: "See ya later CPAP!!!" - Alice has been promoted to Humacare and the nurses have been steadily reducing the flow, she's currently on level 3 (once it gets to 2 they move over to low-flow oxygen, which is the last stage :-D ). Oxygen between 22-28%, still has the odd dip but she doesn't need much help to pull it back to normal, normally just a bit of a wriggle. She has started a new game of "pull everything off my face and out of my mouth" recently, so the nurses have had to work a bit harder to replace tubes and keep her breathing prongs in her nose. Getting into mischief already, we're very proud!

Heart: The previously mentioned duct that hadn't closed is not causing any further problems, so other than keeping an eye on it, no further action required yet.

Eyes: First eye test done and dusted - no problems to report, although we already knew this from the wide-eyed staring she's started doing (mainly when my big ugly face is looming over the incubator!)

Lugs: no hearing tests just yet, so expecting this in the next couple of weeks

Weight: Alice joined the 1 kg club this morning (at last!), still on constant breast milk feed through a tube of around 7mm per hour. There is talk of moving to 2 hourly feeds through a syringe in the next couple of weeks, then eventually onto direct breast feeding at 34/35 weeks. Her arms and legs are filling out nicely too, so looking more like a baby and less like a baby bird :-)

Noises(!): Quite a few episodes of hiccups during our cuddles, which I've now named "squeekups" due to the tiny sound.

Other bits: her hair has gone a bit fairer, she doesn't like having her mouth cleaned (scowls at me!), she managed to sneeze 10 times in a row the other day (impressive), she now fits into some of her prem clothes which is a good sign too. last measurement was about 13.5 inches, but I'm sure she's a bit longer than that now too.

And now the headlines.... as of this morning she's been moved to the "Blue zone", which is much earlier than we expected. Needless to say we are both over the moon and a little bit in shock. The nurses and the doc's are all now talking about "when" she gets home, rather than "if".... so although she's still very small and needs a lot of help, we can almost see a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Almost.

Keep em crossed people

Geoff

p.s. I'm currently reading her "hippo's go beserk" as a bedtime story, I'm enjoying it more than she is I think, so thoroughly recommend it !