20.8.2010
Today we arrived at the hospital at 9. We made a lovely plan for the day with Dorota and then had to change it all when I remembered that the Sainsburys shopping is coming at 7pm. Oh dear! And so anyway, our day went like this …
About 9.30am the doctor came round. Basically everything is staying the same!
William has gained 20g and now weighs 1635g or 3lb 9oz. His milk intake will remain 24mls every 2 hours. He has vitamin supplements, iron, caffeine, sodium and phosphate. He is staying on 6 hours off CPAP, all being well!
Esther has gained 50g today and weighs 1310g. 2lb 14oz. So close to 3lbs! She will continue on 9mls of milk hourly and have 4 hours off CPAP. She is on the same minerals and supplements as William.
After the doctors’ round I changed William’s nappy and took off his sleepsuit that had poo on it! I left him naked so that we could have some ‘kangaroo care’ before I do his ‘all cares’ at 12.00pm.
When William was settled I did Esther’s cares. Louise showed me how to change her on her side so that she does not get so distressed and short of oxygen.
At 11am I had William out for a cuddle for 50 minutes before he came off his CPAP. We snuggled kangaroo style and sang nursery rhymes. It was lovely! At 12.00 I did all his cares while he was off CPAP. He was very awake, alert and adorable! It was great! I talked to him as I changed his nappy, washed him, dried him and put him in a clean sleepsuit. Then he had his milk with vitamins and promptly threw up on his clean, white sleepsuit! Ooopsy!
I did some milk just before 1pm and then walked to Tesco to buy some lunch. I came back a bit after 2 and both babies seemed to be finding their time off quite hard with lots of desaturations. Esther is in 29% ambient oxygen and William 27.
Hopefully David will be here at 5pm to have a cuddle with Esther, then we can do their cares at 6pm and then go home. I feel so tired today! Esther is tired today too. Towards the end of her 4 hours she started to really struggle. She had hiccups and was forgetting to breathe. Poor little Star! I changed her nappy at 3.30pm which calmed her down a bit before she went back on her CPAP at 4pm.
Dorota gave me a book today about preterm baby development. “A Guide to Infant Development in the Newborn Nursery”. These are the things I have noted down.
About half of infants born extremely prematurely (before 28 weeks gestation) will need some form of specialist help when they start school.
About 10% will have significant disability e.g. cerebral palsy
“The infant comes into the world bringing formidable capapbilities to establish human relatedness. Immediately he is a partner in shaping his first and foremost relationships.” Daniel Stern
31-33 weeks – likes to be held close to parents, likes to be held with long periods of skin to skin holding.
Close contact with parents is important.
Adapt cares in response to baby’s behaviour rather than just by the clock.
Daily kangaroo care.
Place close to breast during feeds.
At 5pm David arrived for his cuddle with Esther whilst I read William a story. Tomorrow we will swap who has time with who and hopefully we will be able to have them both out together.