Sunday June 19th

Well, the best-laid plans and all that... we were meant to have Elizabeth home for a visit this weekend, or at least for a day-trip out, but she got another infection which meant another course of antibiotics - so this wasn't possible. So Chloe and I went in and stayed at Crawford House as usual this weekend. We still had a lovely time all together though. Chloe is very affectionate to her little sister.

We spoke to one of the consultants today about Elizabeth's progress. Overall, she is extremely encouraged; for a child with an exomphalos that size, Elizabeth is doing exceptionally well. What the team do want to do is get her weight up a bit before we can get her home; she also needs to shake the latest infection. The expectation has been set with us that this will be at least a couple more weeks. Although we're keen to get Elizabeth home, we know that it has to be at the right time. There's no point getting her home and having to turn straight around again - having lost our place at Crawford House in the meantime.

What struck me today when Elizaebeth was having her bath is just how quickly skin is growing on the exomph now. This is great because once skin covers it there's less risk of infection. It's likely that her central line (the tube that was put in when she was very poorly) will come out in the next couple of days. Again, this lessens the risk of infections.

Despite all that is going on, we are counting our blessings. Things could be so much worse, a fact brought home by the experiences of some of our housemates at Crawford House.

Axxx