When she was born, she weighed 1lb 13.8oz and was 13 inches long. She breathed on her own for the first 30 minutes before getting tired, and she was then put on the ventilator for a while just to give her a bit of help.
A slightly jaundiced Sophie under the UV lamp, day 2
I was finally allowed to see her on the Monday lunchtime, when she was around 21 hours old. I'd been given a hideous bed bath just before that (the most humiliating thing I've ever experienced!) and had to get myself out of bed and into a wheelchair, which was not fun at all, and very painful! Alan wheeled me to see Sophie, and I couldn't believe how tiny she was. She was very red and thin, and when the nurse told me to touch her, I was scared to! I touched her with one finger very quickly and came straight back out of the incubator again. She just looked so tiny and fragile. I only lasted about 5 minutes before starting to feel faint and dizzy, as I was due painkillers and it's so hot in the neonatal unit.
In the afternoon, Sophie's grandparents came to visit. My mum and dad brought a lovely rabbit for her, and Alan's dad brought me a cuddly cat in case I was missing Jessicat :) They all fell instantly in love with their tiny granddaughter.
Later that day I was moved back up to a side ward and the next day I was up for a shower and spent longer with Sophie.
Sophie was slightly jaundiced early in the week and had to go under a UV light. She looked so cute in her little mask! She had lots of visitors in her first week, and got so many pink and fluffy presents! She has been getting so many lovely pink outfits - even the ones for tiny or premature babies are too big for her!
Just a few of Sophie's gifts!
I have been learning how to express milk for her and on Tuesday night she started out on 0.5ml of breastmilk every three hours. She gets it through a tiny syringe into a feeding tube and is tolerating it well. I have to wake up every three hours in the night and take the milk out to the midwives when I'm done. On the Wednesday morning at 5.30, one of the midwives suggested I might like to take the milk down to her myself, so she took me down to the neonatal unit in the wheelchair! I got to stroke Sophie and talk to her and I spent about half an hour with her. The nurse looking after her told me that she was already beginning to respond differently to me to how she responds to the nurses! She must know I'm her mummy already :)
By the end of her 1st week, Sophie's skin was already maturing
Sophie's daddy has of course been coming in all day every day and we've been spending time with Sophie as well as getting lots of visitors. Alan and I are allowed in the neonatal unit between 9am and 10.30pm but we have to also work around visiting time in the unit (3-7.30pm and visiting time on the ward (2.30-4pm and 7-8pm). Young Sophie needs a secretary, as we have four visitor passes per day for her and so many people wanting to come and see her! My room is absolutely full of flowers, balloons and pink gifts, and Sophie already has a much better wardrobe than I have.
Snug as a bug in a rug
I am still getting monitored for my blood pressure etc and was allowed out of hospital on Saturday (6 days after having Sophie). It was touch and go as to whether they were going to let me out, as my temperature was slightly up when it came time to go! They did let me but I have to get checked by the midwives in Berwick every day. When I saw the midwife on Saturday night on the way home, she nearly sent me back to Edinburgh as my bp was higher than she would have liked but luckily she put it down to a long stressful day!
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