Esther's first hospital outfit

William's first hospital outfit

18.8.2010

Esther and William are wearing clothes!  Arrived at the hospital to find William in a grey sleepsuit and Esther in a little pink dress!  I want to go home and get their own clothes!  I want to buy lots of special premature baby clothes!  I am so excited!  Esther and William are wearing clothes!

They both seem to be doing so well!  Esther gained weight overnight and now weighs 1250g which is 2lb 12oz!  Her cares are due at 2pm today.  She will come off CPAP at 3pm so I may ask for a cuddle from about 1pm?

William’s cares are due at 3pm, so will do just before he comes off.  Hope to have a cuddle with him too, maybe at the same time as Esther or later in the morning depending on the timing of the doctors’ round.

Did I mention that Esther and William are wearing clothes?

There are less babies in our room today and nice nurses so it seems a good and relaxed place to be, and Robbie is on the radio!  Always a good thing!

William lost weight over night. 25 grams.  He now weighs 1585g which is approximately 3 pounds and 7 and a half ounces.  I am glad that he has lost a bit of weight as this hopefully means that we can stop worrying about fluid retention and possible infections.  He looks really well.  He is starting to look like a proper little baby!  Today his OGT (Orogastric tube) is being swapped for an NGT – nasogastric tube!  The nurse says that this is because he is no longer so reliant on the oxygen or the pressure coming from the CPAP.  I am not so sure about this and I am quite worried about him having too many things up one nostril!

I only have 3 pages left in this journal, I hope nothing too exciting happens today!

The doctors are pleased with both Esther and William.  Esther’s off CPAP time is being extended to 4 hours and William’s to 6!  He will be off from 2 – 8 am and pm!  The nurse is confident that he will manage fine but I must admit that I am rather apprehensive.

At 11am I did Esther’s nappy quickly before having her out for a cuddle for almost 2 hours!  She was on CPAP but just in air for much of the time.  We did kangaroo care so she was tucked up inside my t-shirt.  It was just wonderful!

After a quick lunch I did William’s oral care and nappy before he came off his CPAP and then came out for a cuddle.  I held him in my arms so that I could see his face.  He was wide awake and practising his facial expressions.  He is such a gorgeous boy!  I love him so much.  I love them both and I want to take them home!  Tina, one of the nurses, said that this could be as early as 36/37 weeks and to be ready by 34 weeks as I will be expected to be at the hospital all day every day from then to establish feeding.  That means that we have 3 weeks to get the house sorted and they could be home in 5!!!!