Sophie aged 2 weeks, with the lovely Jane in the background - the first nurse who looked after her
There was a missed call on both our mobiles on Sunday morning, and we found out the number was the hospital but it didn't accept incoming calls! We were panicking in case sometime was wrong with Sophie. Eventually we managed to get hold of the number for the neonatal unit, after ringing the maternity ward and various other numbers that we had, and it turned out it was just Moira, the nurse who was looking after Sophie that day, wondering if we were going in with some more milk, as she was being a wee piglet! What a relief.
Alan has been on paternity leave last week and this week, so we have gone up to the hospital every day this week. We've had to go to see the midwife every morning on the way there and seem to have got into a little routine of seeing the midwife late morning, buying some lunch somewhere on the way up and having it in the hospital canteen before going in to spend the afternoon with Sophie. She has had loads of visitors and is turning into a very popular - and very spoilt! - little baby!
Sophie is getting better every day and we can already see a difference in the way she looks. We were told that during the first ten days or so, her skin would mature to the same stage as a full term baby and become much less red, and we saw that happen this week. She seems to be filling out a bit already as well.
On Monday I got to change my first nappy! I was quite scared in case I hurt Sophie but the nurse helped me and showed me what to do. I couldn't believe the power in those tiny legs - she was able to push me off when I was trying to take her dirty nappy off! It's not easy trying to change a tiny nappy through two holes in an incubator, but I will no doubt get the hang of it soon enough.
Young Miss Baxter decided half way through the week that this breathing lark is just too much hard work and had fun winding mummy and the nurses up by constantly dropping her heartrate and setting her alarms off. Eventually they decided to put her back on the ventilator for a while, as she is still very little and her lungs are really immature so she just needs that little bit of help for a few days. She has done well to be on the CPAP for so long at her age.
Sophie's feeds increased to 2.5ml every hour on Wednesday which is a lot more than the 0.5 every three hours that she started out on just a week ago. She opened her eyes for the first time (that we had seen, anyway!) on Tuesday and looked sooo cute keeking at us!
She is also off all the antibiotics that she has been on, and generally doing really well. The nurse showed me how to wrap my hands round her to make her feel as if she is still in the womb - it makes them feel secure. Sophie loved it and so did I - it was the closest thing I've had to a cuddle. She has started reaching her hands out to touch us when we stroke her, and she also grips our fingers - she has such a tight grip! I feel much more like her mummy now that we are having a bit more contact with her and I've changed a nappy and been allowed to feed her through the feeding tube.
All the nurses keep telling us how feisty Sophie is, and how she knows how to tell them if she doesn't like something! I saw her kicking a nurse when she didn't want her nappy changed at the beginning of the week, and when the nurse moved Sophie's leg onto her blanket, Sophie pushed her off with her foot and put her leg right back where she wanted it!
Granny and Grandpa ordered Sophie's pram this week and it arrived on Wednesday - much quicker than expected! It somehow makes it all seem so much more real having a pram sitting in the living room! We will need to learn how to put it up and down and find out all the things it does - plenty of time for that though. We just can't wait to have Sophie home to put in it now.
It's getting harder and harder to leave Sophie, the more time we spend with her :(
I'm recovering well from the c-section although still feeling really tired and the painkillers and blood pressure tablets are making me feel quite horrible. I've worked out that's what is making me fall asleep half way home from the hospital every night!
Daddy giving a feed
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