Thursday 6th March

Niamh is coping really well on CPAP. She occasionally forgets to breathe which causes her to turn a funny colour as she drops her oxygen levels etc, but she does recover. She looked very comfy on her tummy when I left her.

Ive been taking some Domperidone to increase my milk supply which does seem to be having a good effect, its much easier to express when there is a visible improvement.

We have been asked to take part in another trial which measures the amount of pressure delivered to Niamh's lungs on CPAP, it involves taking out her feeding tube, putting a different one in to measure pressure and feed her at the same time, taking that tube out and then putting back the feeding tube. We will have a chat about it tonight.

Mum just sent me the most beautiful gift for Niamh, two pretty, pretty little pink and white dresses, an early arrival baby diary, and a milestone calendar for her time in the NICU! I will post photos later, they are gorgeous! Thankyou mum xxxx

I have made Niamh two matching wookies for us to share, I wanted to make our own ones so that they were more special. I also made her a little blanket. Bailey has some of the leftover pink ribbon from the wookie and calls it his "pink wookie'! He is quite possessive of it actually :)

Wednesday 5th March

Not much to report at the moment, I phoned earlier for an update and they were only just extubating her (taking out the ventilation tube). We will be there in a couple of hours, so will wait until we get there to find out how the CPAP is going.

Bailey has been wonderful today, so gorgeous! We went to the beach this morning as it was 37c today. We had a great time. He loves splashing in the water! It was nice to do something normal and not have to rush around.
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Niamh has been on CPAP for 7 hours now and is tolerating it well. Still a bit up and down though. She has the feeding tube down her throat now instead of up her nose and is able to make very tiny sounds. We heard some small squeak, but nothing really audible.

This is a picture of her without the CPAP on. She has to wear the hat to keep it all in place. Her nostrils will look wider than they are for a while as the prongs are quite big and push her nose up, but they should go back to normal after she is off this a while.

Today's Birth Announcement in The Advertiser

The Advertiser|04 March 2008

ROYLE. _
Siobhan and Anthony would
like to announce the early
arrival of
Niamh Annabelle
on February 7, 2008 weighing
570 gms. Born at just 23 weeks,
she is a beautiful little sister for
Bailey. Many thanks to the
wonderful staff in NICU at WCH

Tuesday 4th March

Bailey has his childcare day today, so I can go to the hospital and know that he is taken care of all day which is nice. The day started with dropping him off and then arriving in time for the parents coffee morning. Its nice to catch up with the other mums and have a chat and swap notes. When I went to see Niamh she had had another unsettled morning. She had been a bit up and down but settled while I was there which is not unusual for her, I think she is trying to tell me something :) I helped the nurse do her cares which was great and even got a small, sneaky hold of her while I lifted her up so her sheet could be changed.

It was highly unlikely she would be taken off the ventilation today as the ward was so busy. Three more babies were expected to arrive, and two did while I was there. Once Niamh has be extubated and has the CPAP on she will need to be left and monitored and it was too busy for that today. I think she was going to weighed, but that was after I left. She was also too fragile for a cuddle unfortunately, but there will be other times.

I had the strangest experience in Spotlight today (fabric and craft shop). I was buying some fleece to make a mini blanket for Niamh and got chatting to everyone in the queue (as you do ha ha)!! One lady was telling me I could get $5 off if I was spending $25 (which I wasn't) but then we got talking about what we were making etc etc. I said I was making baby blankets for my daughter and it transpired that she had just made a hat and booties for her friends son who had been born prematurely and was in NICU at WCH!! It turns out that the baby is Niamhs neighbour and I knew the mum and had been chatting to her! What a small world, but thats Adelaide for you. Another lady in the queue had had two premmies herself 30 years ago, but unfortunately neither had survived. They were 34 weekers too, so it makes me realise how lucky I am that Niamh is born now with all the technology that has been developed. The poor woman was quite teary so it was a very unexpected trip to Spotlight!

Photos later, I need to make a start on this blanket!

Monday 3rd March

Todays update: Niamh had a few 'bradys' this morning but was basically pretty good. She is 'in air' which is fantastic and means she hasnt needed much oxygen support. We have another doctor looking after her at the moment and he has suggested that she may be taken off ventilation as early as tomorrow, all being well. Im so excited for my little girl, I hope she handles it well or she may be retubed. Fingers crossed!

The duct seems to be closed at the moment and those little bendy fingers I mentioned a few days ago seem to have sorted themselves out.

I hope our mums had a good Mothers Day yesterday! Miss you xx

Birth Announcement Placed

I have finally gotten around to placing Niamh's birth announcement in the paper! It will appear in tomorrows SA Advertiser. For those that would like to see it online go here:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/

Just copy and paste and pop it in your web browser.

It is under classifieds,The Advertiser, SA, under Announcements.