Joe, just relaxing
Harry, back on his ventilator
Harry - a cpap baby, brieflyThe babies are 6 weeks old today. I sometimes wonder what I did with my days before they arrived because it feels like I have been visiting them for months already. The last few days I've really started getting fed up of the drive down to Portsmouth and back every day. I'm just so tired of it and for the last two days I've fallen asleep sat next to Harry's incubator. If you could hear the noise in that place you'd know how tired a person has to be to be able to manage that. I may think about staying in a room on the unit again for a couple of nights. We'll see.
I haven't updated properly for a few days so will go back to the beginning of the week. On Monday Harry had a heart scan to check his PDA (patent ductus arteriosus). This is a vessel in the heart which normally closes soon after birth in full-term babies but this sometimes doesn't happen in premature babies. Harry's duct has increased from small to moderate in size so a consultant cardiologist was called in from Southampton hospital to assess him for possible surgery. He came today and has said that he would prefer to monitor it for now. We are so relieved, no-one wants their baby to have an operation, but it would also have meant being transferred to another hospital, away from Joe with no guarantee he would have a bed to come back to in Portsmouth. Having them in seperate hospitals would be my worst nightmare so fingers crossed it won't happen now.
The other big news today is that Harry was taken off his ventilator and moved to cpap. I have looked forward to it for so long and was so excited. The nurses warned me that Harry may not tolerate it and might have to be reintubated and they were right. He really struggled and only lasted 40 minutes before being put back on the ventilator. They said he's just not ready yet and they'll try again in a few days. I am a bit disappointed but you can't rush these things. I'd rather they wait til he is completely ready, than tire him out and make him poorly.
Joe is plodding along. His sats were swinging around a lot today and he didn't seem quite himself but hopefully he'll be okay overnight.
I also got thoroughly fed up of the round trip to Portsmouth and back. I was going to the old unit at St Mary's, I hope that you don't have to fight all the football fans at Fratton Park to get to the new one at QA. I used to dread the football matches!
ReplyDeleteHope that Harry's PDA start shrinking. I can only imagine the additional stress that would be caused by having the boys in two different hospitals.
Harry's first try on CPAP sounds like my J's. I was so desperate for her to manage first time but she also struggled. But she got there in the end and loved her CPAP eventually. I'm sure Harry and Joe both will too!