Evening all,
Another positive day. Dad was at work so I had Mum all to myself. I did a brilliant job at looking cute and spent the whole day on just air (only 21% oxygen) whilst on CPAP. Well done me!
Weight watchers will be pleased to know I have increased again and now weigh-in at 1.612kg. The doctors are so pleased with me they've changed my feeding from hourly to 2 hourly so I now get 24ml of milk/formula in one go with a longer gap in between. I took this in my stride and everyone seemed pleased with me.
My neighbour and I started the day in matching body suits which Mum found very cute. He seems to be doing OK as well. He has a twin who is also stable. Their parents are getting used to the 'stable' word just like Mum and Dad had to.
I had a really good cross-patch moment with my nurse at one point when she tried to change my nappy, change my body suit AND do a blood gas. A bit too much messing around all at once but still managed to produce a stunning blood gas with a new low for my carbon dioxide levels. More smug points for the little man.
Mum went shopping briefly and she's bought me a bag. Apparently it has a feeding pod, a changing pod and more pockets than she knows what to do with. It is bigger than me so I'm working on a suitable distraction for my escape plan. Kings Road here I come!
In the meantime, here's another small vid.
Love to all (30,000 hits!!!!)
Arthur x
Monday, 7 March 2011
Blogging..!
Dear Friends,
It's not easy being small. But it helps to share - so with help from Mum and Dad, and with thanks to my Uncle Toby - I blog.
And for the last six weeks, since I first appeared, you seem to like it. To the whole family's surprise I have 115 followers and have now had over 29,000 hits.
I know my Gran, Granny and Nana each think that they're responsible for most of those clicks but some of you come from some very far away places:
Thank you for taking the trouble to check up on me. I'm going to keep growing and Mum and Dad have promised to show me all these places on a map when I'm bigger.
Have a video of me at my best from last week, as a reward!
Today was just fine, thank you. I gained another 54 grams taking me to 1.58kgs. Super progress. And a lovely cuddle with Mum.
With love and best wishes to all,
Arthur
It's not easy being small. But it helps to share - so with help from Mum and Dad, and with thanks to my Uncle Toby - I blog.
And for the last six weeks, since I first appeared, you seem to like it. To the whole family's surprise I have 115 followers and have now had over 29,000 hits.
I know my Gran, Granny and Nana each think that they're responsible for most of those clicks but some of you come from some very far away places:
1. UK
2. Australia
3. USA
4. Canada
5. New Zealand
6. Hong Kong
7. Lebanon
8. Argentina
9. France
10. Isle of Man
11. Mexico
12. Germany
13. Italy
14. South Africa
15. Ireland
16. Columbia
17. Kuwait
18. South Korea
19. Philippines
20. Singapore
21. Oman
22. Sierra Leone
23. Morocco
24. Indonesia
25. Czech Republic
26. Austria
27. China
28. UAE
Thank you for taking the trouble to check up on me. I'm going to keep growing and Mum and Dad have promised to show me all these places on a map when I'm bigger.
Have a video of me at my best from last week, as a reward!
Today was just fine, thank you. I gained another 54 grams taking me to 1.58kgs. Super progress. And a lovely cuddle with Mum.
With love and best wishes to all,
Arthur
Sunday, 6 March 2011
In the pink!
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| Hello! |
I came out for a lovely cuddle with Dad - I was all cute and yummy but he fell asleep! Apparently worrying about me is quite tiring. I wouldn't know - I sleep about 22 hours a day.
 |
| Proud Daddy |
I lost 8 grams last night but overall graph of weight gain still looks good. I'm trying to outgrown the special super-tiny babygrows that Mum went to such trouble to buy. She says she doesn't mind as it means I'm getting bigger and thanks to lovely friends - they have lots of bigger ones.
More good news - M&D are making friends with other parents on the unit, though Mum reckons the dinner with the M&D of one of my neighbours, last night may explain Dad's nap.
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| The medics will realise that the middle number is a touch low. This was on Friday - none this low today! |
Love to all,
Arthur x
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Hmmmm
Hmmm. That's the noise you'll hear if you ask the grown-ups how I am. Not bad but not better. Hmmm.
I did a big poo overnight - this seemed to make Mum happy.
They transfused me today - more blood should make me more perky.
Still no bed at Tommies - so Mum still a bit unsettled.
The highlight of my day, other than Mum's visit, was my new cot cover:
Hoping for a lovely weekend,
Love Arthur x
I did a big poo overnight - this seemed to make Mum happy.
They transfused me today - more blood should make me more perky.
Still no bed at Tommies - so Mum still a bit unsettled.
The highlight of my day, other than Mum's visit, was my new cot cover:
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| Thank you Katie, Blake and Aggy x |
Love Arthur x
Thursday, 3 March 2011
A troubling day
Something is bothering me. I can't put my finger on it - well perhaps I can as I have kept a firm grasp on my evil tormentor the CPAP machine. But I suspect that isn't it.
It certainly isn't growth - today I weighed 1.53kgs (3lbs 6ozs) But I haven't managed a poo for a couple of days and am beginning to feel quite uncomfortable, so my weight may drop! But that isn't it.
I know I'm not right because I really can't keep my oxygen levels up. Right now I'm getting 42% O2 and running saturations around 93%. When I was put on a more usual 25% O2, I dropped both my heart rate and my sats - a lot. Both bad number and for a long time. Enough to lead Dad to try the world's fastest wash and nappy change - less than 15 seconds - he must have been properly worried.
Perhaps it's nerves about the move to St Thomas'. They keep saying I'm just about to move and then there isn't a bed. It's slightly unnerving but Dad says their really good at Tommies, and to be honest I just sleep most of the time, so that isn't it.
My head circumference is a bit bigger than expected - so Sanjay, one of my lovely doctors, came and rescanned my head - but that all looked lovely with no evidence of hydrocephalus (too much water) or of cysts in the brain where my bleed had been. In short, an almost good news scan, and certainly no bad news. So that isn't it.
Dad has chatted to Sanjay and it may be my blood. My haemoglobin (the stuff in the red cells that carries the oxygen around) is quite low at 8.3. If it gets below 8 they'll give me a little transfusion.
Oh, and from time to time, if no-one is watching, I manage to get the horrible CPAP probes out of my nose - that screws up my numbers a treat!
Frustrating stuff. Nothing major, nothing important - but rather unsettling. I'll just try to sleep through it all,
Lots of love,
Arthur x
It certainly isn't growth - today I weighed 1.53kgs (3lbs 6ozs) But I haven't managed a poo for a couple of days and am beginning to feel quite uncomfortable, so my weight may drop! But that isn't it.
I know I'm not right because I really can't keep my oxygen levels up. Right now I'm getting 42% O2 and running saturations around 93%. When I was put on a more usual 25% O2, I dropped both my heart rate and my sats - a lot. Both bad number and for a long time. Enough to lead Dad to try the world's fastest wash and nappy change - less than 15 seconds - he must have been properly worried.
Perhaps it's nerves about the move to St Thomas'. They keep saying I'm just about to move and then there isn't a bed. It's slightly unnerving but Dad says their really good at Tommies, and to be honest I just sleep most of the time, so that isn't it.
My head circumference is a bit bigger than expected - so Sanjay, one of my lovely doctors, came and rescanned my head - but that all looked lovely with no evidence of hydrocephalus (too much water) or of cysts in the brain where my bleed had been. In short, an almost good news scan, and certainly no bad news. So that isn't it.
Dad has chatted to Sanjay and it may be my blood. My haemoglobin (the stuff in the red cells that carries the oxygen around) is quite low at 8.3. If it gets below 8 they'll give me a little transfusion.
Oh, and from time to time, if no-one is watching, I manage to get the horrible CPAP probes out of my nose - that screws up my numbers a treat!
Frustrating stuff. Nothing major, nothing important - but rather unsettling. I'll just try to sleep through it all,
 |
| Sshh, I'm busy growing |
 |
| What do you want? |
Arthur x
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
A hint of podge
Evening all!
Today I put on another 80g making my total weight a colossal 1.47kg (3lb3oz or so) in celebration of my 32 week birthday. All quiet on 'poo watch' so I may well lose some of that weight overnight if I give my lovely nurse a rather smelly present.
In fact, you could almost say I'm chubby! I'm developing a little double chin and my wrinkly knees are filling out. I'm even developing a small bum! Nothing to compete with J-Lo or anything but my nappies are fitting better.
I'm now on CPAP again rather than Vapotherm so my nose is a little squashed and my head is hat bound again. Nothing wrong with my breathing on the Vapotherm but the doctors want me to be as ready as possible for Tommies once they give the green light (have a spare cot). M + D seemed a bit upset about this and I got a bit unsettled with my heart rate and sats went a bit awry. Hopefully I'll get more comfortable tonight and be well behaved when M+D return tomorrow.
Love to all (now in 23 countries!)
Arthur x
Today I put on another 80g making my total weight a colossal 1.47kg (3lb3oz or so) in celebration of my 32 week birthday. All quiet on 'poo watch' so I may well lose some of that weight overnight if I give my lovely nurse a rather smelly present.
In fact, you could almost say I'm chubby! I'm developing a little double chin and my wrinkly knees are filling out. I'm even developing a small bum! Nothing to compete with J-Lo or anything but my nappies are fitting better.
 |
| Definitely less scrawny! |
 |
| Pudgy paws |
I'm now on CPAP again rather than Vapotherm so my nose is a little squashed and my head is hat bound again. Nothing wrong with my breathing on the Vapotherm but the doctors want me to be as ready as possible for Tommies once they give the green light (have a spare cot). M + D seemed a bit upset about this and I got a bit unsettled with my heart rate and sats went a bit awry. Hopefully I'll get more comfortable tonight and be well behaved when M+D return tomorrow.
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| Mum getting the velcro right! |
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| "Does my bum look big in this?" |
Arthur x
Slow news day
Studio: “Nothing really happened today. Let’s go to our HDU correspondent for that news in full: So what can you tell us from the frontline?”
Reporter: “Thank you. Well I’m here with Arthur Eccles, the young man at the centre of today’s events. Arthur, tell us, in your own words, what’s been going on”
Arthur: “Weight gain. Yesterday I put on 80 grams in just 24 hours. I’ve also slept a lot and drooled quite a bit”
R: “So, in a word: growth”
A: “Well growth certainly but remember that much of what goes in must come out again, and growth forecasts may need to be revised after my nappy change”
R: “And the drool?”
A: “The drool’s not really what’s important here. This type of growth takes a lot of hard work, hard work and inactivity, obviously. And that’s where the sleep comes in. I can safely say I have mastered sleep. Sleep and pooing.”
R: “Does pooing take much mastering?”
A: “To make it so strong it can be smelt outside the incubator takes some work.”
R: “Are they treating you well?”
A: “I have no complaints about my care. The nurses are saints and very gentle with me. That said; I have only two regular visitors who insist on changing my nappy themselves when they’re here.”
R: “We believe they are your parents. What’s the problem?”
A: “The problem is Velcro. My nappies are held on with Velcro. My babygrows are fastened with Velcro. My Sats probe and dressings are held on with Velcro straps. In the wrong hands this is a recipe for one big bundle all stuck to itself with me trapped in the middle.”
R: “What do you do about this?”
A: “Grimace, cry, and if all else fails, pee everywhere.”
R: “And have you managed to get out at all?
A: “Yes, I managed a one hour cuddle with Dad this afternoon, which was good”
R: “What do you do during these brief escapes?”
A: “I look cute – super-cute. And that takes the real effort.”
R: “Arthur Eccles, thank you very much. And back to you in the studio”
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| Just hunkered down. |
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| And why are you disturbing me? |
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| Oh, OK then! |
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