Party pooper!

Well, we have finally given in and accepted that we can't go to a party for New Year's Eve! We had planned to stay at my mum and dad's and see their many friends who have been such a support to us, but Elizabeth has other ideas. She is being a challenge at night to say the least (she seems to have digestive problems and Gaviscon - our last hope - did no good last night). It's clear that for now our social life (together) needs to be confined to the hours of daylight and we should stop being over-ambitious.

Luckily we have all been invited to daytime parties over the next couple of days, which will be lovely. We also have Chloe's fancy dress birthday party on the 3rd to organise. Lack of sleep forced us to give in yesterday and hire a children's magician out of sheer desperation!

The great news on Elizabeth is that she has rolled over for the first time and the attached photo is of her looking a little bit shocked at her own abilities. What a little (daytime) star. Also, the doctor has referred Elizabeth to the lovely Dr Turmer (consultant pediatrician) to keep an eye on her development. Elizabeth seems to be doing brilliantly and is as bright as a button, but it will be wonderful to have someone to keep an eye on her and make sure that the impact of her bad start is minimised.

This evening I think we will enjoy a glass of champagne and think how lucky we are to have two gorgeous little girls with us.

J
xxx

PS: BREAKING NEWS - Nev the Potter and the lovely Mel are expecting a baby in June. Bless!!
Also, we think that Les's partner, Michelle, gave birth to a baby boy yesterday, but the text message was garbled so we're waiting for confirmation!

There's no business like snow business

As you can see, Elizabeth really enjoyed her first time in the snow!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Day in Hartlepool. Last year was somewhat overshadowed by our wait for test results showing whether Number 2 (as Elizabeth was then known) was suffering from a chromosomal disorder called Edwards Syndrome.

It was wonderful to be able to finally introduce Elizabeth to her Uncle Sijbolt and cousins Hugo and Georgie who live in Holland. My sister, Suzanne, last saw Elizabeth when she was four days old and in Intensive Care, so I think she especially enjoyed seeing her niece looking so happy and healthy. Elizabeth was unimpressed by the festive fare on offer and stuck to fromage frais, porridge and breast milk.

Today was spent with Ed, Sheena, Ruby and Ted also and it was great to have the whole family together.
********************************************************************************

Our thoughts tonight are with all of those who lost loved ones in the tsunami.
J
xxxx

Weight issues

Well, Elizabeth was in big trouble this morning. I took her to the baby clinic to discover that she had gained...Absolutely nothing. That's a very low return on my investment of night feeds as far as I can see. We have now put her on the Fatkins Diet, so it's extra cream with everything and she enjoyed Heinz Chocolate Pudding for her tea. As I was strictly an 'organic, no added sugar, Guardian reader type of mother' with Chloe it will be interesting to see how this nightmare regime impacts on Elizabeth's future tastes.

She sat up for the first time yesterday for about five minutes without keeling over. Her tummy control has come on really beautifully this week.

PS: Some of you (sorry anyone abroad) are yet to receive a Christmas card. They are on their way, but you can see above what it will look like when it arrives!

In the swim

We enjoyed a family trip to Slaley Hall this afternoon and Elizabeth had her first 'swim'. Slaley Hall is a local (very plush) hotel with a lovely pool and we were given some vouchers for entry by our lovely family friends Marg and Trev who often put comments on the Blog.

Elizabeth seemed to enjoy herself wearing her baby wet suit and Chloe had a grand time too. We rushed back to see ourselves on the news, but it looks like we won't be on until tomorrow.

Jx

Media domination!

There was a lovely article and photo about Elizabeth in our local paper today which resulted in my having rather a strange Friday to say the least...

A news agency picked up the story and I returned from the Baby Clinic and a coffee at my friend's house to be greeted by a journalist. We had a chat and he said that lots of magazines had been in touch. As they would donate a few hundred pounds for the story to the Sick Children's Trust I heard him out, but unfortunately they were all of the ilk of 'Chat' and 'Closer', so I said no to him. He called back later to say that the Daily Mail and Express wanted the story, but I again said no as I'm not a big fan of tabloids - you never know what kind of spin they're going to put on a story. They cheekily sent a photographer (just as Elizabeth was about to have an injection), but I sent him packing (politely, honest!). We'd much rather raise the money through other means.

We are, however, going to be on the local news tomorrow as a heart-warming Christmassy story for the end of the bulletin. All we want is the chance to get some positive publicity for the SCT and to say thank you to all those who have helped us, so hopefully we won't be bothered by the nasty nationals again!

J
x

PS: We'll scan the photo into the Blog ASAP. It's sweet!
PPS: Elizabeth only put on 2oz this week. Had lovely chat with the lady at the Baby Clinic, so hopefully we'll do better next week.

The joy of fromage frais

Elizabeth continues to do really well. Our lovely physio, Sylvia, came to see her yesterday and reckons that she is only a month behind average as far as sitting up and so on is concerned - I think that's very encouraging considering the circumstances. Elizabeth tends to curve over very easily when she's sitting, so she needs her back muscles building up. We'll pop her onto her front as much as possible over the next few weeks on her gorgeous flat tummy.

Another piece of good news is that I have discovered that Elizabeth loves fromage frais and that has a knock-on effect on her sleeping, so I get a nice four-hour block every night. Bliss!

By the way, Elizabeth will be a media star on Friday as her story is going to be featured in our local paper. I wrote the piece to get some publicity for the Sick Children's Trust. Keep an eye out for the Hexham Courant if you can - we will scan the article into the Blog for those whose lives are lived without the 'Rant.

J
x

Santa and scars!

As it's nearly Christmas, here are two festive shots - one of Elizabeth's tummy and one of Chloe with Father Christmas. Both make us feel very happy!

We had a lovely family weekend visiting Hexham Christmas Market and going to see Father Christmas at a local National Trust property followed by a nice walk in the unseasonably warm weather. Chloe also enjoyed a bonus second trip to see the Happy Gang with her friend Alex as she was brought in as a last-minute reserve.

A and I both felt a bit down at times this weekend. I think we are still reeling from the shock and relief of Elizabeth's surgery going so well. I guess it will take a while for us to get over 2005 and we are still very tired out. It seems very ungrateful to have even a shred of unhappiness left when I think how things could have turned out.

We need to go sky diving to finally release that tension - I am booking now!

J
xxx

Elizabeth's progress

Well, this morning Elizabeth seems to be almost back to her old self (minus the bump, of course!).

She has been very subdued over the past few days and in need of constant cuddles. This morning she is full of fun and smiles and that's without any pain relief of any kind so far today.

Elizabeth spent a couple of days exploring her tummy, trying to find her bump. but seems to have given up hope of finding it now!

J
xx

Home again, home again, jiggety jig...

Well, it's just 2 days after the op and we're all home again. We're all a bit incredulous but absolutely thrilled as you can imagine !! The marvellous Gillian, my mother-in-law, has looked after me and Ella wonderfully over the last few days, and is headed off home today. Huge thanks to Gill.

I'm off work for the next few days so Elizabeth can take it easy at home without having to go out. But right now J can hopefully have a well-deserved sleep, and I'm going to get the champagne (well, Cava) on ice for later !!

Ax

You've come a long way, baby

Day eight in PICU after birth

Day before op at 5.5 months














.Day after op


Anna has a transparent dressing under which you can see a bit of blood that's been there since she came out of Theatre yesterday. The dressing should be coming off tonight! Anyway, just LOOK at that flat stomach !!

Friday

Thanks for everyone's lovely comments over the past couple of days - I am logged in at the hospital and this was my first chance to read them.

Elizabeth did really well last night and even woke up at 3am for a play! She is now happily in her cot without oxygen or any morphine. Amazing! She still hasn't had a feed, but she doesn't seem hungry and is, understandably, sleeping far more than usual.

Mr Jaffray popped in to see her last night in his scrubs (it was past 8pm and he had been in theatre from 9am as far as I know) and seemed very pleased with her progress. A is waiting for Mr Jaffray back on the ward - he hasn't seen Elizabeth yet today as he is carrying out an emergency operation.

She looks so wonderful minus her bump - I can't quite believe how well she is and I couldn't sleep last night I felt so excited and happy.

J
xxx

Post-op and relaxed

Elizabeth's Op - update

Hi all,

Greetings from the library at the hospital. Elizabeth's op went really well. She got back from Theatre to her room at about 12pm. It's amazing - she has a flat stomach !! There's a transparent dressing over the wound so you can see exactly what it's like. She's morphined up and other than the odd jitter - a side-effect of morphine - is very comfortable. She just has a whiff of oxygen from a mask put at the side of her head. Other than that she's got a saline drip to keep her going and a sensor to monitor her oxygen saturation... and that's it. She's got great colour in her cheeks, and looks really well.

Mr Jaffray was very happy with how the op went; he did get muscle closure and he did create Elizabeth a belly button of sorts. He mentioned that there might be a hernia of some sort just below Anna's ribcage, but that he wasn't worried about it. We haven't spoken to him about what, if anything, he would do about it. I guess it'll probably wait until Elizabeth's older.

Anyway, I'm off to get chocolate and then back to the ward!

Ax