Sylvie's progress

Sylvie had another good day today. Simon got to have his first cuddle today and she gave him the cuddling seal of approval. I also had two more cuddles but its so hard to put her back in the cot. We changed another nappy, this time without supervision. One of the tubes going into her cord was taken out this afternoon, there are so many, can't remember what this one was for! They have also begun to put little t-shirts on her but they need to have buttons down the front so that they can get access to the monitors and tubes so we'll have to stop by Mothercare in the morning as we have thousands of vests with poppers but no t-shirts.

She is quite shaky which is part of the withdrawal from the morphine and another painkiller or antibiotic which begins with a V - again can't remember the name, but this should right itself once she gets it all out of her system. Her liver function is being monitored at the moment to decide the right time to start introducing her to colustrum then milk. She will only be given absolutely minute quantities to begin with so progress may be very slow and if her tummy reacts to the milk they will stop giving it to her.

The nurses in ICU are fantastic and we already have our favourites! Debby is one of the night nurses and when I phone in the wee small hours she puts the phone up to Sylvie so that I can hear her breathing and she can hear my voice! She also gives her lots of cuddles. Tracey looks after Sylvie most days, and always explains everything fully for us. Pauline is the parent liaison officer, she is a volunteer. She takes photos of Sylvie every day and left a little photo album for us today, she makes little cards and lots of thoughtful stuff for us to keep as a record. She also organises the baby blankets, knitted by volunteers, makes tea for everyone and is so super-kind to everyone it's overwhelming! She was a 27 week baby and all four of her children, now grown up, were cared for in the ICU.