Millie's Milestones

THE Winnie the Pooh room has some new residents.

When daddy visited Millie this evening, two sets of parents he hadn't seen before were looking after their new babies.

He said hello and went to Millie's incubator, where he said hello to her too and gave her a stroke.

After a few seconds, daddy suddenly remembered that the nurses usually move the incubators around when new babies arrive.

Having often thought that one baby looks much the same as the next, he immediately wondered whether he was actually at the right incubator.

Daddy then had to check Millie's name tag just to be sure it was her. Fortunately, it was. Unfortunately, she then started to cry. Loudly.

Nevertheless, mummy and daddy are gaining in confidence and can now nappy-change, wash and tube-feed Millie without help from the nurses.

This is called "doing her cares" and is shown in her records.

The records also show the position in which Millie is lying - whether prone (on her front) or supine (on her back).

Her position is changed every two hours.

The nurses also change the side on which Millie rests her head.

This is because her skull is still very soft so Millie would develop a square-shaped head if she was left too long in the same position.

Even so, her appearance is changing daily as she continues to grow - a handy excuse for daddy almost failing to recognise his own daughter.

After little weight gain yesterday, Millie has put on a whopping two ounces.

She now weighs 1.522kg (3lb 6 ounces), which is an increase of 62 grammes over the past 24 hours.

Her feed has increased to 32ml every three hours, and she continues to combine this with a nuzzle at mummy's breasts whenever she can.

posted by Johann @ 10:48 PM