Rollover blog!

Sorry everyone. This is a rollover blog as Mum and Dad were busy celebrating getting older yesterday.

Well lots to celebrate today. Yes celebrate - yippee! First - I now weigh 1.84kgs, that's huge!

Next, they could see me without plastic between us. I'm out of my hutch and in an open cot. How cool is that!
Mum and Dad seemed very impressed:

Happy Daddy

Happy Mummy

This would have been enough excitment for anyone but I'm not just anyone. So I had lovely cuddle with Mum, then Dad came to see me before his dinner. And to his surprise I woke up and stared at him:


Hi there

And when he got close enough (I can only see about 20cm) I was able to fix my gaze on him very intently. We had quite a conversation. Mum said he was high as a kite by the time she saw him later on.
Still not enough excitement. So this morning, when M&D came in, this is what they saw:

Look no CPAP

I was trying breathing without help (well just a little oxygen). And I kept going all through a cuddle with Dad

And Mum and Dad and I all had a little hug. I think they were very happy.
They checked my blood gas - and I had my best ever results. I'm glad everyone was so pleased. But they wouldn't let me stay off the CPAP, the meanies. This was because, M&D and my nurses were worried about my getting too tired. So I'm now 'cycling' 7 hours on CPAP and 5 hours on just oxygen. If I do well, then they'll wean down the time on CPAP.

Because I'm now in an open cot I'm allowed a friend - so my wombat is in. He has to stay in his own plastic bag though!

Me and my friend

Just so you know how cute I am, here's a little clip:

Well I hope that's enough to make up for the gap since the last update. Progress is really good and I'll try super hard to do even better. Can I also ask you to think about my friends here on the unit? Some are having a very, very tough time at the moment and I know how difficult that is for their Mums and Dads.

With love to all,
Arthur x

Happy birthday Dad!

It's my dad's birthday today.  He won't tell me how old he is but Mum says it ends in an 0 and he's not 50!.  He's been given lots of cards and presents (but not as many as me).

It turns out my weight gain was refuse related.  I did a mahoosive poo last night and lost 10g!  This means my average weight gain over the last 2 days was about right at 60g per day.  Phew.  No fluid retention. 

I've been very chilled today.  No serious desats or slow heart rates and we may try me off the CPAP for a few minutes to see how I go. 

Mum is revising hard for her exams and travelling to Northwick Park, Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals to get teaching.  A big thank you to the Radiology network of London.  She knows she may not pass but will give it her best shot to get it out of the way before I come home minus my West London baby sitting task force.

Dad has been working hard at a conference about IT.  Sounds dull but then my blog owes it's existence to the internet etc so I suppose I should be more interested.  As it is, I prefer my sleep, milk and wiggles.

Sorry for the briefness of my blog but M+D seem a bit preoccupied this evening and mentioned that a Mr. Bollinger and Mr. Verve Cliquot were coming for dinner.  They must be important!

xxx

No news is good news

Quick blogette for my fans...

I continue to do well and have surpassed my previous weight gain with a whopping 180g increase.  Mum seemed a tad alarmed by this and my nurse thought it a bit much too.  However, I am a bit bunged up so may be my weight is just a stupendous present for the nurses overnight.  The only worry is that if isn't 'waste related' then it may suggest I'm getting fluid overloaded.  The doctors have therefore reduced my fluid intake a bit.  Still getting plenty of milk and formula (25ml every 2 hours).

M+D and the nurses have noticed that my larger feeds are making me desaturate whilst feeding and so today, Mum helped by feeding me slowly over 20mins.  Not one desat below 70%.  Now my feeding syringe is being placed lower in my incubator to help prevent all my food rushing down my feeding tube into my tummy too quickly when Mum, Dad or the nurses can't do it themselves.  Good, good.

Another cuddle with Mum today.  She says I definitely feel more chunky in her arms and the nurses who haven't seen me for a while all think I'm looking bigger too.  I've already grown out of the smallest babygrows.  The 4lb ones are my next challenge.  Bring it on!

Mum saw 2 of her friends from university today and talked endlessly about me.  She's being a proper mum already and embarrassing me by telling them about my little podgy bottom and my bowel habits!  Honestly.  They listened very patiently and even gave me some presents in my absence.  Thank you Jean and Caroline.

I've asked Mum (who's chief typist this evening) to say another heart felt thanks to friends and family for their gifts.  I've got a lovely collection of toys to come home to, a book made specially for babies, clothes and things which I can have once I'm bigger and stronger.  I'm doing my best to get there as quickly as possible I promise.

Otherwise, no major changes..still cute, still no bed a Tommies and still sleeping lots and needing CPAP for my breathing.  No backward steps either though. 

Love to all,

Arthur xxx

My perspective

Today I thought I'd share my perspective.

My sight's not too good just yet, so I can only see things close to me, and then only in black and white. Oh, and I don't really know what I'm looking at yet!

Hello grown ups!

My hearing is quite good. I certainly flinch to loud noises but I'm still pretending not to recognise my name. Dad says this habit may be life long.

My skin is super-sensitive and I most certainly know when I'm being stroked. If I get disturbed I make sure everyone knows I'm cross - lots of screwing up my face and waving my arms and legs about. If you're gentle then I'll happily squeeze a finger and wiggle contentedly.

Happy bum

Talking - now play fair, I'm not even meant to be outside Mum yet. But I have found my voice and can cry when upset. I'm still rather quiet, even at full volume, but I'm going to keep practising and I'm going to get louder.

Breathing - Again, I'm not meant to be doing this yet so it not a total surprise that I'm not brilliant at it. I haven't really got the hang of breathing at a regular rate. Sometimes I breath really fast, and sometimes really slow. I hope to get better when I'm bigger but still desaturate occasionally in the meantime.There's an art to a really good desaturation. Holding your breath or just getting gunk in your throat is child's play, all the babies on the unit can do that. The secret to a excellent desat is in the timing. First you have to pretend to be all peaceful and happy - if you're all upset, firstly they'll be watching, and secondly they'll be expecting something. Once you've got them off guard, and they turn their backs, then you go for it. Today I managed to get down to 33% before they made me breathe. A new record.

Oh, and did I mention: I like cuddles.

Human starfish!

Love to all,
Arthur x

New week, new routine

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

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:

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

In the pink!

Hello!

I had a little transfusion yesterday - what a difference that made. I changed colour - I went from pale and occasionally bluish - to a bright pink and super-wriggly!
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

Good news - I had my second eye test and everything still looks good. Too much oxygen is bad for the back of tiny eyes, which is why they're so careful to get my levels right.
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.

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