777 All the Sevens!

Niamh now weighs 7kg! And is still sleeping 7-7am sometimes even a bit later! She is doing so well and is a happy little girl. Somebody stopped me today at the shops as Niamh was beaming away at her and she wanted to say hello! She gets so much attention everywhere we go, its funny. She is beautiful though ;)

Niamh is having 3 solid meals a day now as well as her milk feeds. She loves her food and opens her little mouth for more, she gets quite grumpy if I'm not quick enough! She is grabbing toys with both hands now and today passed a toy between her hands which I hadnt seen her do before. She still favours one side so we try and encourage her to look the other way. She can physically turn her head, just prefers not to.

I could swear she woke up and said "Mumma" the other day. It was pretty clear, even Anthony heard it!! Though he thought I had lost the plot when I suggested she had said "I'm Niamh" LOL!

Bailey has been getting better at playing nicely with her. He still has his moments but he does love her very much and the feeling is definitely mutual! Niamh adores him.

Progress Report

Niamh is doing so well! She has been sleeping through the night (7pm-7am) for over a week now and its brilliant! She loves her food and eats lots!

Heres a photo I took on Tuesday November 11th.

Melbourne Cup Day

I think Niamh enjoyed her first Melbourne Cup Day! She placed a bet on Prized Lady, but didnt win anything! I placed a bit on Mad Rush as life seems to be a constant one, but no joy there either! Should have trusted my instincts and backed the winner lol!

Hee Hee!

That post makes it look like Niamh has grown up into a little boy! LoL!

Niamh is having a growth spurt!

My kindy boy

Aah, brotherly love :)

STOP taking my photo dammit!

cherries, sweet cherries ;)


A lovely friend sent us a gorgeous little outfit today for Niamh, thanks Leoni, heres the pic as promised, and a few others too that I couldnt resist!Girls and their wardrobes!

Hello again, well Niamh is certainly growing lots these past few weeks. She is loving solids and has finally outgrown 0000 size clothes! She is now in 000 (or 0-3 months) but she will fast outgrow these too and is already in some 00 sleepsuits! I cant believe that after spending the last 6 months in newborn size that she is going to spend only a few weeks in 000, but there you go! Im just disappointed that I have so many clothes for her that she wont get the wear out of.

We have a friend visiting from Interstate tomorrow which will be great, she hasnt met Niamh yet ;) We also have a physio appointment again on Friday so hopefully Niamh will be co-operative and show what she can do!


I have started to plan Niamhs first birthday party, its all booked! Im in the process of sending out the invites but have a few addresses I need to find first! I know, I know, its months away, but theres a lot to organise!

A few photos

Hi again, its been a while, time flies so fast! I can't keep up! This is the only month that Niamh's corrected age is half her real age (8 months old/4 corrected) From now on the difference should get even less and she should start to catch up a bit more.

We had a photo shoot with a friend today and Niamh thought it would be funny to roll every time she was on her tummy! Thats the most she has rolled in weeks, funny little chicken :)

These are not the photos from that shoot, they will be much, much better, but just a few to update you.

What a day!

It started off very early with a play date at Ikea. Bailey has done so well with Toilet Training its a treat he deserves :) We then had an appointment at the hospital for Niamh with the physiotherapist. This didnt go as well as I had hoped. She was supposed to score 10 or 11 on the chart to put her in the 10th percentile (doesn't seem too much) but unfortunately only scored 7 which puts her in the 5th percentile.

I felt bad as I hadn't realised to the extent that she favours her right side. I was aware of it but not enough. Her neck muscles are a little tight on the left side so we have to work hard now to stretch them. I think I exhausted her today as she had to do lots of work after her feeds! She also seems weaker in her left arm, she holds her thumbs so we have to massage them too to get them to go outwards. She doesnt reach out and grab toys (she is four months corrected now) and doesnt put her hands on her knees. She has rolled although of course wouldn't do it yesterday when required so that went against her marks. I think she will be ok now we are on it and will work very hard to correct her where she needs it. The poor little thing will always have to work harder than everyone I think. I wonder if she will need to prove herself later in life as she will be so much smaller than her peers.

After that were her 6 months immunisations. They went fine although the nurse was a bit defensive when I asked her about the MMR which is due at 12 months. I have no objection to it but enquired as to whether or not you can get them done separately. Apparently not anymore, but she was very uppity as to my reasons for asking. I think with all the question surrounding the autism factor it was a fair question, whether or not it has been proven to cause problems. Why take the chance if it could be avoided? As it is I have decided to get the MMR two months prior to the rest of the 12 month vacs. At least then it will minimise the amount of live virus at one time.

Niamh went to her first fancy dress a few weeks ago and heres a picture I took of her with her daddy. She went as a fairy!

Rolling again

Well the minute we put Niamh down tonight, she flipped onto her side! Of course I was too slow with the video camera so missed it again! She then tried to roll the other way but got too frustrated as her arms wouldn't cooperate with her :) Her bottom half of her body was completely twisted in the right direction and her legs were so high she looked like she was about to take off!

At this rate she will be crawling next week lol!

She just had a large amount of rice cereal and a nice warm bath and has zonked out :)

I had a bit of time out today with a girlfriend which was great. We went to the garden shop and bought some herb seeds! Bailey missed me, he said he loved me to the moon and back which was gorgeous. I say the same to him as my nanny used to say it to me but its the first time he has said it back. Aah bless :)

Real Food!

I think I forgot to mention Niamh started solids!! (Monday 15th September) She loves them :) So far she has had rice cereal and home made apple puree. The shop bought stuff has too much citric acid in and junk, Bailey is fructose intolerant so I am hoping Niamh wont go the same way. He seems to have grown out of it now mostly though, thank goodness! Phew, that was a long sentence!

We have some video of Niamh eating so when I upload it I will post it here.

She is so cute, she still catches my breath when she smiles at me. Her eyes light up so much, its wonderful! She is still a very good baby, happy and content most of the time. She even seems to like Bailey mauling her lol! She was smiling at him today while he was waving her arms around and making her eat her fingers ;) Funny kids.

Niamh seems to be doing well on the physical front, she is sucking her hands and clasping them together. When I put her on the floor she kicks the ball on her play gym and seems to do it for pleasure rather than just reflex. She also apparently rolled yesterday so she must be ok. Its a bit later than I thought as Bailey rolled at 3 months, but I am probably being too enthusiastic :)

I learnt a new word last week: Mumnesia! I definitely have a double dose of that, its funny the things I forget! Ill be mid sentence and go blank, forget peoples names, or where I know them from. I put Baileys milk in a glass last night instead of his bedtime bottle, I could go on forever!

A general observation at the moment is that you cant buy decent tomatoes anywhere at the moment! Even at Central Market last night, they were all overripe with saggy skin or just yukky looking.

Anyway, I am rambling in a bid to avoid finishing painting the door frame. Im using gloss so you can see why Im avoiding it! Right back to it before Little Miss wakes up :)

The boys have gone to kindergym and then on to see the Qantas A380 jumbo landing! Its HUUUGE :)

Im going, Im going.......

Friday 26th September 2008

Niamh rolled!!!


Shame I missed it! I put her on her tummy for tummy time, went to get a drink and by the time I came back she was on her back :) I tried to video it but she was too tired to do it again. Woohoo Niamh!!

Monday 15th September 2008

Visit the hit counters

Good morning :) Not a lot to report today really, Niamh is wonderful. She still has a little rash on her face but it seems to be going away slowly. She didnt wake until 7am today and Bailey woke at 8am so I actually feel human for once!

We went to the Adelaide Show last week which was great, Bailey had a great time on the huge super slide and giant bouncy castle, that child is fearless!

We are going for a routine check to the hospital today and Bailey is excited to be going to the creche, funny boy.

I thought I would share this video of Niamh smiling, she is such a happy, content and placid baby. Bailey adores her and is constantly telling us he 'luffs' her. Sometimes he 'luffs' her to the point of mauling her, but we try and limit that! The feeling is very much mutual as well, yesterday Bailey fell and hurt his head, he was bawling and Niamh dropped her bottom lipped and howled for him! Bailey had to reassure her he was 'allwight' before she was happy again, too precious!

And just because its cute in a different way, the diving pigs at the Adelaide show:

What a week!

Wow, last week was a shocker!! Bailey was going through a very interesting stage last week which was challenging to say the least. Niamh was also quite ill, I hurt my knee and was feeling about 90 and it just got worse!

On thursday night (August 28th) Niamh seemed to get worse (she had bronchiolitis again) so I took her in to see her lovely doctor (again) who wanted to admit her. I must admit it came as a bit of a shock and when they put her on oxygen again I was devastated. I hate seeing her beautiful little face covered with tape and tubes and she was most unhappy about it too. She was so miserable and I had a good cry too :(

We had a nurse on Saturday afternoon who thought we should wake Niamh up every two hours to feed her smaller amounts, this was passed onto the night staff to continue. It was a very, very long night. Poor Niamh, inbetween being woken by the nurse, the alarms beeping (or rather shrieking) every time she wiggled (I had never realised how often our little girl wiggled) and her coughing we did not get enough sleep. By 6.30am the nurse realised it was too much for her and said we should stop waking her now. It took for Niamh to be unable to feed as she was so exhausted to come to this conclusion and I was not happy. I must admit I let them know this too, I was completely frazzled and frustrated! I just wanted to take her home. Thankfully we had a really good paediatrician who could see my point and he let us go home. He is also Baileys paed which was good as he already knew us.

When we got home, Niamh had a good feed and then slept for five hours! She was worn out poor love. We bought a vaporiser on Tuesday and we are amazed at what a difference it has made, she is so much better. You can hardly hear her little chesty purr now! She has been smiling a lot this week and is so gorgeous. She is still wearing newborn/0000 clothes and now weighs 5kg! (11lbs) and is 13 weeks corrected (or 7 months) Incredible!

Wednesday 13th August

Another post at last! We have been so busy lately. Niamh is doing really well and is going through a huge growth spurt!! I fed her every two hours today, she just wasn't satisfied and was chewing her tiny hands off!! At 6pm she had 200mls of milk which is unheard of, she lasted four hours and then drank another 14omls. She is just gorgeous and I will try and upload some pics tomorrow.

I took Niamh to the cinema yesterday, it was a bit risky, but my little angel slept through most of the film, woke up and silently indicatedI feed her and then slept again! Perfect! The film was good too (Children of the Silk Road).

Anyhoo, better get some shuteye before our little princess awakens for more food.

Niamhs Eyes

We finally got the all clear! Thank Goodness! We don't have to go back until she is one now. Niamh is still poorly, very chesty and phlegmy. She sounds terrible poor little darling but hopefully is over the worst of it now.

Not much else to say today. We are toilet training Bailey which isn't going toooo badly, but not that great either! Hopefully it won't take too long to get there.

Saturday July 19th

Heres the newspaper article Sunday Mail


and here!

Its really lovely for Niamh to be featured in the paper, and as a couple of friends said

"Two pages before Britney Spears" LOL! Niamh was on page 7 ;)

Friday 18th July

Pictures at last!!

If you are in Adelaide, you may want to take a peek at this weeks Sunday Mail. Niamh was chosen to do a story on for National Premie Day next Friday 25th which is really exciting! We also did some video which will be on the internet. I will post the link when I know it :) Eek!

Another busy week of appointments next week. A routine check up with Andy on Monday followed by immunisations and hopefully the final eye check on Thursday.

Saturday 12th July

First, good news!! Niamhs eyes are looking like they are developing normally! The blood vessels have started to grow through the haemorrhaging which is great. We have one final check in a fortnight and that should be the end of it. Im sure she will have to have checks in the future, but we seem to be out of the danger zone.

My endoscopy didnt show anything apart from a bit of gastritis. The doctor took a biopsy and the results should be back in a few weeks.

We have a very sick household at the moment, Im not 100%, Anthony is out with the flu and really bad toothache apperantly caused by the flu, Bailey has a cold and has been very tired today and Niamh still has a very bad chest and cough. She is doing remarkably well though and is feeding really well still.

Bailey and I chilled out at a fave local cafe of mine. Its called The Store and is a deli/cafe. I love it there. Bailey had a baby cino and a gingerbread man and I had a cappucino and we hung out together, he can be such good company now, I love taking him out. Anthony stayed in bed all day and looked after Niamh.

Better go and rescue dinner! A very british roast beef tonight complete with yorkshire puds (imported mix from Yorkshire too lol)! Sad ain't it?!! I made galaktobureko (sp.?) to go with it, I may not have spelt it right, but thanks to a greek friend of mine, I sure know how to pronounce it rofl. (Shes always laughing at my attempts)!

Wednesday 9th July 2008

Its been two weeks since I last posted! That time flew past! Things are certainly busy here.

I did my good mummy duty last Thursday and hit the Annual Toy Sales! There wasnt much to be had this year but I got Bailey a giant Fire Truck and Niamh a cute doll for her pram. It was very civilized this year, no trolley rage lol, but then I was there at 7.30am :)

I went to a Growth and Development talk at the hospital yesterday (see, still can't keep away). It was interesting and has prompted me to put down some things that may be useful as we were asked for our input. One of the parents suggested a support group for after we leave the hospital. I think this is a great idea. There is premie playgroup which I have yet to go to, but I think there is room for more. Bec has been an amazing, constant support for us parents and the coffee mornings were excellent. I always really looked forward to them. She is about to have her second baby tomorrow, so a huge congratulations to her and her family. Hope it all goes really well!! xx

We had some bad news today, Niamh has bronchiolitis. She had a cold for the last couple of days, which she has dealt with before, but this morning she woke me up at 3am wheezing. She was struggling for breath and choking on phlegm which sounded horrible. I was awake for the day then and watched her while she slept to make sure she was alright. I phoned her wonderful paediatrician this morning and he saw us as soon as he could. I cannot speak highly enough of Andy, he always makes time for us and is brilliant. Info on Brochiolitis is here: http://www.rch.org.au/rchcpg/index.cfm?doc_id=9512

We have to feed little and often so she doesnt get tired or bring it back up, and let her rest. There isnt much else we can do at the moment. Her oximetry was good (96) Anything above 93 seems to be good so I hope it stays that way. I dont think I could cope if she had to be hospitalised, and especially ventilated, not after everything she has gone through. I keep telling her she will be fine and get through this so lets hope her fighting spirit is still alive and well!

I am in hospital tomorrow having an endoscopy, it never ends does it? Not looking forward to that but we need to find out what causes the pain. I had the worst attack ever, about 3 weeks ago and was bringing up bright, yellow bile and nothing else. It was terrible, Anthony wanted to take me to hospital, but ironically I was too ill. We called out a doctor instead, but of course I felt a lot better by then.

On Friday we are back at the hospital once again for Niamhs eyes. Fingers crossed this is something we can move on from at last.

Time for sleep.

Wednesday 25th June

Thanks for all the comments! She is a little princess and is so adorable, we do kiss her a lot actually lol!

Well, good news on the eye front! Things are looking better,she still needs to have another test but not for two weeks now. It looks like it is settling down so fingers still crossed please :) It wasnt too bad going to Flinders today, its miles away but we had an easy ride and they saw us fairly quickly as they knew we had another appointment in the city afterwards to get too.

It was quite funny actually, Bailey knew we were going to the 'hofpital' to see a doctor for Niamh and when we went to our second appointment (which was right next to Womens and Childrens ironically) he said " Are we going to another hofpital for Niamh mummy"? Poor little darling, he has been bounced from one hospital or doctor to the next for the last five months, its just normal life for him now.

Niamh is a dream. Last night she fed at 10.30pm and then slept until 5am! Amazing! I felt great this morning and even had a lay in as Bailey woke late too!

I had another very bad attack with my stomach on Sunday, thank goodness I am seeing a specialist next week (yet another doctor lol) It knocked me out all day and I was a wreck the next day. Which reminds me, Niamh had an appointment with her wonderful paediatrician, Andy on Monday which went well. She is doing very well with the weight gain and has had her steroids reduced again to .05 of a ml. Its about 4 drops every other day.

Photos!

Thursday 19th June

We had a good visit with the Child Youth Nurse today. Niamh now weighs 3.4kg which is a gain of 400g in a week!! She is in the 25th percentile for growth so at least she is on the chart! :) We dont have any real concerns so it was all straight forward and the nurse said she looks great.

Wednesday 18th June

Eye Exam again!

It took ages to get to the other hospital today. We had to go to Flinders which took nearly an hour. Then when we got there we got to every floor in the building as no one had any idea who we were seeing or where they were! We found it eventually as some kind soul took us there, we would never have found it otherwise! We were horribly late by this point!

We had to wait in the family room there. Its really just like the visitors room at the WCH but a bit bigger and with tea and coffee facilities. It would be great to have that kind of room at WCH as well as a visitors room for outpatients and relatives etc.

Anyway, we finally got seen and unfortunately it is still inconclusive. Niamh still has the haemorrhaging but it hasnt gotten worse, just no better either.
We have to go again next Wednesday.

Saturday 14th May

Niamh's Eye Exam

Didn't go quite according to plan, there has been some haemorraging of the blood vessels so a top eye specialist was called in to give a second opinion. Laser surgery is still a possiblility at this stage, but not definite. We are going back again on Wednesday for another eye exam.

Feeling very frustrated with this and wish it was just over. We spent almost the entire day there yesterday, luckily Bailey was easily amused and very happy to be there! I think its his second home, he didnt want to go in the creche though but was happy to see everyone and chat. We visited a good friend of ours who is in the parenting unit this weekend. Im so excited for her! We went for a visit and she was so happy to be there!

It was funny trying to get out of the hospital yesterday, the doors to the wards kept opening and we saw so many of Niamhs lovely nurses we couldnt get away lol! It was great to see them and they were so happy to see Niamh, it was good to have a chat. We joked that they should keep the doors shut or we would never escape :)

Not much else to report, Niamh is doing really well. She is still very placid and feeds at predictable times (12am,4am,8am,12pm,4pm,8pm)! She only ever waivors by half an hour or so and then gets herself back on track. Shes a happy little girl and has settled in really well. Bailey really loves her, even the doctor yesterday commented on how good he is with her. He always wants to see her and if she cries for even a second he is telling us to "Go see Niamh"!

We got a call from our local Maternal Health Nurse, so we must go and see her soon.

Will update after the next eye test.

Tuesday 10th June An update at last!!

Sorry for the delay! We have been really busy (unsurprisingly) having two children is pretty hectic :) Niamh is powering along though, she had her check up today with her paed which went really well. She has put on 447g in two weeks and now weighs 3.07kg! Little porker, I think its all in her cheeks :) She has a cold/viral infection in her nasal area so she is now on antibiotics. She is doing really well though and we have been using the nasal aspirator to clear her out. We havent been getting much sleep as Anthony stays up to do the midnight feed (which ends up trailing on until the early hours as she doesnt always want to settle right away) and then not long after he wheels her in at 3am, Im up clearing her nose and getting ready for the 4am feed. She goes every four hours which is fantastic, yesterday she went 5 hours while we enjoyed my birthday lunch.

Bailey is enamoured with her, he is so affectionate with her. If she cries he is quick to tell me and is genuinely concerned. He also loves to come and see her in the morning and stands on his chair to watch me change her and get her ready. He loves holding her and is pretty good with it. We watch him like a hawk though, just to make sure :) but try to do it subtlely.

Ive been pretty flat. I think everything has come to a head and it has hit me all at once. I feel burnt out and have been trying to take it easy and not get too involved in anything. I just havent had the energy or emotional capacity and have been avoiding talking to people as much as possible. Ive been very grumpy! Still, this week, so far has been better, its been great having Anthony home, Im not sure how I am going to go without him as I have come to rely on him a lot. I dont quite feel right in myself still, but hopefully I will back to 'normal' soon!

Monday 2nd June 2008

Its taken a while to get back here! Niamh has had a great week. She is thriving and has put on over 200g!! She had her eyes tested on Friday morning and Im pleased to say that there was some improvement there. She needs to go back in a fortnight for hopefully what will be her last check and then she should get the all clear.

Niamh is such a placid, settled little girl. She is a delight. Her steroids (for her lungs) can make her a bit wakeful and agitated, but generally she is perfect. I almost forget she is here! We are fully breastfeeding with a formula top up which is working really well. Niamh even slept from 11pm until 4.20am last night! Bliss!

Bailey just loves her, he is very affectionate with her and after an initial, scary moment (he tipped the bassinette over whilst trying to look at her) it is all good. He is obviously very curious but thats only natural.

Ive had an abdominal ultrasound to see whats going on with me but wont get the results until Tuesday.

Apart from that, life is very busy! I will get back and put some piccies up later.

Niamh Annabelle Preemie Doll

I have a wonderful friend who just sent us the perfect gift! It is a perfect miniature replica preemie doll of the exact same length, weight and head circumference of when Niamh was born! It is incredible to think she was that tiny, how quickly I have forgotten how she felt in my hands that first time. I remember being shocked that there was actually some weight to her, like that of a small paperweight, but I have little concept of her physical size now.

Thank you Mish, you are a gem!

Monday 26th May

I think I have worn Niamh out lol! We had an intensive physio session at home today, she had 5 minutes tummy time, some gentle leg massage and some little 'bicycles'. I pushed against her feet so she could push back as well. She is a strong little thing. She then had a nice, warm bath and is currently fast asleep :) She has been great, it's so good not having to go to the hospital everyday, I seem to have so much more time to do things! It is lovely to be able to relax with Niamh and do normal mummy things.

Anthony took Bailey to playgroup this morning and then to a friends for lunch so I had a blissful morning to myself with my little cherub. Bailey had great fun too and made a robot which is very impressive!

Here is some video I took while in the parenting unit, Niamh is holding her own bottle lol!

Sunday 24th May Day 1 at Home!

We had a great night, Niamh is still feeding four hourly although when she woke up at 3.30am she had a breastfeed and then a bottle feed which took ages! I think the teat we have isnt fast flow enough as she was obviously still hungry when I put her down but it was taking a long time for the milk to go down. All credit though, she took a blooming long time, but was still sucking away! A friend has dropped some faster flow teats around now though so the next feed should be better. This mornings feed was fine though and she is fast asleep next to me now and very content. I love having this bassinette on wheels, she comes all round the house with us and we can keep a close eye on her when Bailey is around too.

Bailey has been great with her but is quite enthusiastic about standing on a chair to peer in at her! We are keeping a careful eye on him without telling him too much to keep away from her, its a fine balance between involving him and keeping jealousy at bay and him squashing her lol! I think he has been overwhelmed with everything the last week or so, he was very teary today and upset. He was also quite hot so I gave him some panadol and put him in bed. He fell fast asleep with no protest so I hope he feels better when he wakes up.
We are going to go for a walk later and take him to a local, quiet, playground. Niamh has never been in fresh air before apart from leaving the car to the front door yesterday!

I cant believe how the coccoon on the pram swallows her up! She is so tiny :) I also have not got the hang of her girly bits and how she can subtley wee everywhere without me even realising lol! Ive had to change numerous outfits and change mat covers as I wasnt quick enough with the nappy! Little monkey x

She is so quiet and content, when she is hungry she will let us know, but she is still so sleepy at this stage. Im sure she will get more demanding as she gets older, but Im enjoying this right now :)

Thank you for all the comments you have left!! I couldnt believe there were 18 this morning!! Zoe, thank you for your comment, you made me cry!! Its been really lovely meeting you and you are a fantastic nurse, Niamh enjoyed having you look after her, thank you for everything :) All the best for a long, happy career.

Saturday May 23rd Day 108

We are home!!

Everything went really, really well. Niamh is feeding brilliantly, we are breastfeeding and topping up with formula which is working very well. Friday flew by really quickly, there was some form filling to be done and appointments to be made for Niamh's follow up checks. Apart from that we concentrated on her feeding and watched some interesting videos on communicating with our baby and CPR etc. Bailey came to see us and was really lovely with Niamh, he gave her a soft toy that our friend Cheryl had bought for her. She then took him home and looked after him for the night. We had a good night with Niamh, she is feeding four hourly at the moment and although it takes a long time to feed her, it wasn't too bad. Just hope she keeps that up! I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be and it all went very well. I kept forgetting she was there! We really missed Bailey and were very conscious that he may be feeling left out so as the night had gone well we thought we would come home early. He was really pleased to see us and as soon as we got home we all went to bed for a sleep. Niamh needed a feed straight away so it took a while before I could get to sleep but we had a good rest. Bailey woke up at 7 and we played for a while before dinner and had stories after before he went to bed again. Niamh just woke again for a feed which was a bit early, but hopefully she will settle and I can get some sleep.
Im loving having both my babies under one roof, certainly makes things a lot easier!! So far so good! Bailey has been wonderful with Niamh, she bought him a coming home present of a Firemans dress up outfit and he stroked her head and told her he loved her. He is very cute with her and has gently held her already, I really hope that keeps up, makes it a lot easier. I think it helps that he has been gently introduced to her for the last few months.

It was sad to say goodbye to the staff, but we will pop in from time to time when we have our appointments to say hello. They have been so wonderful and everyone was genuinely happy to see Niamh doing so well and going home. Many of them remarked how incredible it was she was going home without oxygen and how healthy she looked, we cant believe it ourselves and we are so proud of her! Its so good to be home :)

Thursday May 22nd Day 106

The end is nigh!!

We have heating!! Woohoo! About time too ;) Now Niamh will be lovely and toasty (or warm and cosy as Bailey likes to say).

Ive been flat out today, ironing, washing, packing our bags (yippee)! I set up the bassinette and now have to go out and pick up the cake and get some groceries. Its 3pm already, the day has flown by! Bailey is in Child Care thankfully, it would have been a nightmare while the installers were here as the front and back doors were open all the time.

Niamh is doing great today, still off oxygen and doing well and feeding well! I am really missing her but just wont get time to go in today now.

Better get moving!
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Phew! Thank goodness thats all done! Havent quite finished putting washing away etc but it will wait. Im so excited and nervous at the same time! I cant wait to see Niamh tomorrow. I had almost forgotten about her eye test in the morning, I really hope that is all ok too, the final hurdle! She had been feeding well today and breathing well too.

I cant believe this is finally coming to an end. I know things will be different for us and her due to her being premature and life hasnt't finished flinging these little challenges at us, but I truly believe we can get through anything together now. Niamh has astounded us with her strength, we have been very lucky to have such a robust little baby. I have met many wonderful parents who have faced far tougher challenges than we have but still manage to cope in some way.

The nurses in the NICU are very special and have been magnificent in getting Niamh to the stage she is at. She spent 11 weeks in the NICU and I met some wonderful nurses there and felt a great rapport with some of them.

Niamh flew through SCBU 1 and only spent a week there! She had her first bath there and her first bottle feed. The nurses there and in SCBU 2 have been fantastic in getting Niamh to bottle feed and get her off the gavage. She has really progressed quickly, and certainly much quicker than we ever imagined. We didnt expect to be taking her home two weeks before her due date!

I could rave all night about how perfect she is and how much we love her, but I won't lol! I would like to thank you all so much for your support, your comments, emails, texts, meals, clothes, ironing, gifts and valuable Bailey sitting!! It is all very much appreciated and I have been totally overwhelmed by how much you all care and have looked after us, both physically and emotionally.

I will let you know when we are home. xx

Wednesday 21st May Day 105

Thank you everyone for your comments and support! Niamh has inspired me again, so here I am pumping! I have to admit to milk envy today, I opened the fridge at the hospital to put my milk in and there were six FULL pots from one lucky mum! I never want to hear anyone moan about oversupply ever again, it sucks seeing so much milk, it seems really unfair! Anyway, Im over it and soldiering on :) Niamh is amazing!!

She is OFF oxygen!!! Can you believe it? It's like she has always known what is required from her and just does it. She was being monitered for her oxygen saturation levels whilst feeding and didnt skip a beat, she had a good breast feed and I topped her up with 50mls of EBM which she took really well, she even left a little bit so I must have guessed her intake pretty well, she is on 75mls at the moment. The next feed she should have a bottle instead of a gavage which if she does well would be 6/6 suck feeds a day, maybe another tube we can lose now? Niamh will keep the oxygen tubes taped to her for 24 hours just in case and then they should be removed tomorrow morning hopefully!! I cant believe it, just as I was preparing myself to take her home on oxygen!

Niamh Annabelle=Super Star :) x

Anthony and I were up late last night making little thank you cards for the NICU staff, we wanted to do something personal so hopefully we have enough for each of them!


Ive also ordered a huge cake for them all, that always hits the spot lol! There is so much to do in prep for Niamh coming home, Im just washing all the sheets, clothes and the baby bjorn, then theres the ironing! Im panicking I dont have enough food as I dont want to go shopping next week at all, there seems so much to do, aarrgh! We are also having the heating installed tomorrow which will take all day.

Did I mention that I may have a stomach ulcer? Ive got tablets to see if they help and had bloods taken. I get the results next week.
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Just got back from seeing Niamh, they have taken all her tubes off including the nasal gastric which means she is now on all suck feeds! I cant believe it, we have a 'real' baby with no wires attached. I wasnt expecting to see no tubes tonight as they said 24 hours but she was doing so well ;) Here are a couple of pics of her cute little face :) xx

Tuesday 20th May Day 104

Well, its been an emotional day for various reasons. I'm feeling very let down with my milk supply. I haven't come this far to give up but I can't do much about it any more, Im taking domperidone and expressing regularly. Ive hit the wall again and am so exhausted now, we have finally reached the end and I think I am going to flop over the finish line rather than jump over it!
Niamh was sick this morning, she brought up some of her feed. She has really bad nappy rash, so much so that the skin is broken. It looks really sore. She has a little red rash under her chin too, poor little thing! Niamh was given some steroids today to mature her lungs so we can start weaning her off the oxygen. She may need to come home on minimal support after all, we will wait and see.

Monday 19th May Day 103

Niamh is doing really well. She was sound asleep in her nice, dark room today. She didnt want a breast feed but woofed down a bottle! Im really struggling with expressing at the mo, Im not getting much and am wondering if its worth all the effort. Niamh is on 75mls every four hours and I only get 20mls now every 3 hours. Im really in two minds about using formula, at least I will know how much she is getting and if I cant sustain her with my milk, whats the point?