The journey of a premature baby is a very emotional time for the whole
family this is why nearly 17 months later i am just beginning to capture
the moments in writing.
Miles away from home and family both Ollie and i are recovering nicely.
Although Ollie suffered with RDS ( Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome) this had not hindered him in any way and at just 3 days old is now able to breath with out the aid of CPAP(continuous positive airway pressure) for a good hour or so!
Over the next couple of days he grows stronger and stronger and is able to tolerate more time off the CPAP until he is spending more time off that he is on! He has even been started on mummy's milk.
Miles away from home and family both Ollie and i are recovering nicely.
Although Ollie suffered with RDS ( Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome) this had not hindered him in any way and at just 3 days old is now able to breath with out the aid of CPAP(continuous positive airway pressure) for a good hour or so!
Over the next couple of days he grows stronger and stronger and is able to tolerate more time off the CPAP until he is spending more time off that he is on! He has even been started on mummy's milk.
Ollie grows stronger as do i and with my discharge from hospital looming there is still no bed in out local NICU for Ollie.
Saturday afternoon came and Matt arrives to collect me. The though of leaving our baby boy so many miles away from home on his own is heart wrenching. You can not describe in words the feeling in side that you have. I cried most of the way home, most of that afternoon and most of that evening.
Friend who were looking after the other children stopped a while longer and helped Matt sort the kids as although i was ok to leave hospital i was in not fit state.
What was worse than not bringing your baby home or having to leave them miles away is not being able to visit them. Sunday i was very sad and filled with frequent phone calls to the hospital to see how he was. Early Sunday evening we received a call from the hospital .....My heart stopped! Thinking the worst and a million though racing through my head wandering what has gone wrong, the nurse tells us there is a bed available in out local NICU and Ollie will be transferred tonight! The hours pass and i am become a bit uneasy as is Matt. Another phone call from the hospital. There has been a delay. By now its getting late and we are both on tender hooks!
At midnight we get another call. This time its from ANTS (Acute Neonatal Transfer Service) telling us Ollie will be arriving at our local hospital in the next 20 mins. Im jumping up and down with happiness!
Aged 7 days old Ollie is 'Home'.
Saturday afternoon came and Matt arrives to collect me. The though of leaving our baby boy so many miles away from home on his own is heart wrenching. You can not describe in words the feeling in side that you have. I cried most of the way home, most of that afternoon and most of that evening.
Friend who were looking after the other children stopped a while longer and helped Matt sort the kids as although i was ok to leave hospital i was in not fit state.
What was worse than not bringing your baby home or having to leave them miles away is not being able to visit them. Sunday i was very sad and filled with frequent phone calls to the hospital to see how he was. Early Sunday evening we received a call from the hospital .....My heart stopped! Thinking the worst and a million though racing through my head wandering what has gone wrong, the nurse tells us there is a bed available in out local NICU and Ollie will be transferred tonight! The hours pass and i am become a bit uneasy as is Matt. Another phone call from the hospital. There has been a delay. By now its getting late and we are both on tender hooks!
At midnight we get another call. This time its from ANTS (Acute Neonatal Transfer Service) telling us Ollie will be arriving at our local hospital in the next 20 mins. Im jumping up and down with happiness!
Aged 7 days old Ollie is 'Home'.
Ollie is now CPAP free!
Monday morning after all the children are dropped off at school we both make our way to the hospital.
Today we get our first cuddle.
Monday morning after all the children are dropped off at school we both make our way to the hospital.
Today we get our first cuddle.
These are snippets of updates i would do for family and friends on a well known social network
Wednesday Ollie aged 9 day
Ollie is doing great and we receive the biggest shock of all when we visit. Ollie isn't in the room we left him in the night before. Ollie is doing so well he was promoted to SCBU! And daddy get the lovely job of doing his cares.
Now weighing 2lb 9oz. Its usual for all babies to lose up to 10% of the body weight after birth.
Ollie is doing great and we receive the biggest shock of all when we visit. Ollie isn't in the room we left him in the night before. Ollie is doing so well he was promoted to SCBU! And daddy get the lovely job of doing his cares.
Now weighing 2lb 9oz. Its usual for all babies to lose up to 10% of the body weight after birth.
Saturday Ollie aged 12 days.
Whilst on our way to visit him we are stopped by the staff nurse. " I don't mean to alarm you but....." Not the best words to hear.
It seems Ollie bought back visitor from the other hospital in the form of MRSA!
Ollie has been moved into a tiny isolation room. Fortunately because he is still in an incubator this stopped the spread to the other babies on the unit
He has also started to have
Apnea and Bradycardia episodes.
Wednesday Ollie aged 16 days.
Ollie is doing great tolerating his feeds still, Apnea seems to have sorted its self out for now but today he has been desating like there's no tomorrow, most of the time managing to bring himself back up but at one point needed a whiff of air.
MRSA results came back this afternoon and they are CLEAR but there was a bit of umming and ahhing about whether he was allowed out of isolation or not as some of the nurse are sure he needs 3 clear swaps before
So it was back into isolation for him but we don't have to gown up and he can now have a few visitors :)
Sunday Ollie aged 20 days
Ollie was put onto bolus feeds which he seemed to cope with ok.
Last night how ever he has had a rather large increase in Apnea and Bradycardia episodes and desating in between so has now been put back on the continuous feeds to see if this was the cause and they will try again in a few days.
Monday Ollie aged 21 days
Ollie is now 3 weeks old and ironically now weighs 3lb 3oz, he is still coping well with the continuous feeds and starting to look like a chunky monkey
His second swab came back today and it is positive again for MRSA so they have taken bloods again to check there is nothing showing in there
His sats are still an issue, at one point being as low as 60 so just waiting to see if they are going to investigate a cause behind it
So its back to the twice daily bath and nose drops and 3 more weeks in isolation
Whilst on our way to visit him we are stopped by the staff nurse. " I don't mean to alarm you but....." Not the best words to hear.
It seems Ollie bought back visitor from the other hospital in the form of MRSA!
Ollie has been moved into a tiny isolation room. Fortunately because he is still in an incubator this stopped the spread to the other babies on the unit
He has also started to have
Apnea and Bradycardia episodes.
Wednesday Ollie aged 16 days.
Ollie is doing great tolerating his feeds still, Apnea seems to have sorted its self out for now but today he has been desating like there's no tomorrow, most of the time managing to bring himself back up but at one point needed a whiff of air.
MRSA results came back this afternoon and they are CLEAR but there was a bit of umming and ahhing about whether he was allowed out of isolation or not as some of the nurse are sure he needs 3 clear swaps before
So it was back into isolation for him but we don't have to gown up and he can now have a few visitors :)
Sunday Ollie aged 20 days
Ollie was put onto bolus feeds which he seemed to cope with ok.
Last night how ever he has had a rather large increase in Apnea and Bradycardia episodes and desating in between so has now been put back on the continuous feeds to see if this was the cause and they will try again in a few days.
Monday Ollie aged 21 days
Ollie is now 3 weeks old and ironically now weighs 3lb 3oz, he is still coping well with the continuous feeds and starting to look like a chunky monkey
His second swab came back today and it is positive again for MRSA so they have taken bloods again to check there is nothing showing in there
His sats are still an issue, at one point being as low as 60 so just waiting to see if they are going to investigate a cause behind it
So its back to the twice daily bath and nose drops and 3 more weeks in isolation
Thursday Ollie aged 24 days (Christmas Eve)
Last night they started Ollie on antibiotics as a precaution as the doctor felt he might be symptomatic for MRSA due to the large amount of de-sats but today he has been totally fine and only having a few which he has been able to self resolve.
For a few days now Ollie has been routing frantically to the point he was actually sucking the glove of the doctor as she put his IV in lol
Anyway it was suggested that i try to latch him on to see how he reacts
Well it was amazing he knew exactly what to do, unfortunately i had just expressed, but went back this evening and he did every thing he was meant too. He only managed a few mins but that was more than enough as he is still only little and it will take time to fully establish demand feeding but he is on the right track.
Merry Christmas Ollie!
Today is Ollie's first Christmas and today we found out that the MRSA isn't on his skin its at the back of his throat, no wonder the poor boy has been a little under the weather, they haven't been treating it until they started the IV weds night
Managed to get in a quick cuddle but little man was very tired
Sats are still the same going down to 50% at one point.
Last night they started Ollie on antibiotics as a precaution as the doctor felt he might be symptomatic for MRSA due to the large amount of de-sats but today he has been totally fine and only having a few which he has been able to self resolve.
For a few days now Ollie has been routing frantically to the point he was actually sucking the glove of the doctor as she put his IV in lol
Anyway it was suggested that i try to latch him on to see how he reacts
Well it was amazing he knew exactly what to do, unfortunately i had just expressed, but went back this evening and he did every thing he was meant too. He only managed a few mins but that was more than enough as he is still only little and it will take time to fully establish demand feeding but he is on the right track.
Merry Christmas Ollie!
Today is Ollie's first Christmas and today we found out that the MRSA isn't on his skin its at the back of his throat, no wonder the poor boy has been a little under the weather, they haven't been treating it until they started the IV weds night
Managed to get in a quick cuddle but little man was very tired
Sats are still the same going down to 50% at one point.
New Years Eve Ollie aged 1 month and 1 day
Swabs for the MRSA came back today negative so good news there but they are going to carry on with the baths for the time being until he has had at least 2 more negative ones.
His sat are still dropping quite low and today his tummy was very distended
they could also see his bowel through his tummy this afternoon so stopped his milk to see if it would settle, which it did. but a few hours later it was back to the same mottled look as they called it, so xrays of chest and abdomen where taken and blood gases done. They should have the results late tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest
My personal opinion was that it was constipation because by the formula they put him on.
Later that evening i got a call with the results all is normal and it look like i was right all along!
Swabs for the MRSA came back today negative so good news there but they are going to carry on with the baths for the time being until he has had at least 2 more negative ones.
His sat are still dropping quite low and today his tummy was very distended
they could also see his bowel through his tummy this afternoon so stopped his milk to see if it would settle, which it did. but a few hours later it was back to the same mottled look as they called it, so xrays of chest and abdomen where taken and blood gases done. They should have the results late tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest
My personal opinion was that it was constipation because by the formula they put him on.
Later that evening i got a call with the results all is normal and it look like i was right all along!