Saturday 23rd February

We went and saw Niamh this afternoon which was great. She is doing so well and her feeds have now gone up to 3ml/hour which she is tolerating well. She needed her isolette changed today so it was a good opportunity for a cuddle! She really loves her cuddles! She was so calm and snug and kept flinging her arm around and waving at us :) She has had her cannula removed from her arm now so doesnt have the huge white splint there. Her little finger and index finger looked quite wonky today, we will ask the doctors about it.

Niamh really looked as though she wanted to open her eyes. There are little black slits there now and they are watering. When daddy started to talk to her she was really lifting her forehead and eyebrows to hear him, it was so cute! She is desparate to see us now I think! She also reacted really well to Bailey yesterday.

I forgot to say that I took him in to see Niamh. He had been asking to see her and refused the creche so I thought why not? I was planning a shorter visit anyway and was glad it was as he was pretty restless! He enjoyed shouting 'HALLO NIAMH, IM YOUR BRUVVER' through the 'portholes' in the isolette though and she really reacted to him (unsurprisingly, he was loud) :)

We have also decided to let Niamh participate in a trial. Premature babies need more protein than full termers and the trial involves increasing the level of protein in the formula that is mixed with breast milk. There is no guarentee that she will even get the trial version but the normal mix still has protein in it, just not the boosted level. She will start to get weighed daily now that she is stronger and this is one of the ways of monitoring her progress.

A picture of Bailey today, he looked so cute in his little wellies and he insisted on putting on his hat. He wanted to go outside a pretend to put petrol in the car! I also love the first picture of Niamh, she has her little mouth and face all scrunched up. Bailey used to do this as a baby and it looked really familiar today! So strange how they have similar mannerisms, even the hand up like that is the same.