Millie's Milestones

ALL three of us had a much better day today.

NURSES on the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) say Millie was the best behaved baby during the night.

She weighed 2lb 8oz this morning.

This means Millie has put on 1 1/4 oz (40 grammes) since yesterday and is rapidly regaining the weight lost in the two days following delivery.

The days seem to have evolved into a 24-hour routine based around the key times of 8am, 12 noon, 4pm, 8pm and 12 midnight.

The plan is to avoid handling Millie unnecessarily.

Unless it is an emergency, anything that needs doing is done at these intervals, allowing both her and her mummy to rest.

At each of these times, mummy visits the SCBU where she expresses her milk and then places it in the freezer where it is stored until needed.

Mummy also checks and changes Millie's nappy. Then she washes Millie's mouth with a cotton bud. The nurses call this 'topping and tailing'.

The nurses help at feeding times. This morning, Millie had 1ml of mummy's milk for breakfast. It was fed through the tube which goes into her tummy.

She is fed every two hours and the quantity of milk is gradually being increased. The nurses up the volume by 0.5ml every eight hours or so.

As Millie improves, she will drink her way through all the milk stored in the freezer. Once she is ready, she will be able to breast feed.

After the 8am session today, mummy had a little walk to see the ducks outside the hospital - one of the rare times she has been outdoors in the past three weeks.

This evening, daddy had what he described as his 'First Proper Cuddle' with Millie.

He held her for over 45 minutes while she slept in his arms.

Every so often, Millie woke up, looked up at her daddy and then went back to sleep again.

She is starting to feel less boney and seems to be growing into her skin.

But Millie is still very small - you can see just how tiny by comparing her thumb with daddy's thumb in the picture.

Times like this make it all worthwhile, but the daily routine is tiring.

Unfortunately, mummy and daddy have had to cancel two very special visits this weekend.

Nana and Papa were going to visit Millie for the first time. So were Uncle Sven and Auntie Sally.

But for mummy and daddy, this has been the longest week of their lives.

They are both tired and need time to relax so they can get ready for when mummy leaves hospital on Monday.

This will involve a whole new routine - of driving to and from the hospital up to four times each day, clocking up almost 100 miles daily.

But above all, it is important to do what is right for Millie and we would like to thank everyone for understanding.

posted by Johann @ 11:45 PM