Guilty As Charged

I knew it had to happen and I was warned. When you post something twice a day and then nothing for a whole day, everyone assumes something's wrong. Sorry if I've caused any panic folks but young Amy is just fine.

Yesterday we got back from Woodborough and shot off to do Amy's 9PM cares. When we arrived we found that she'd been attached to another piece of headgear, some prongs to give her Oxygen. Those of you following the whole breathing/lungs thread will be aware that Amy's Oxygen requirements have been on the up for the last few days. One problem with giving her ambient Oxygen (through a hose into the incubator) is that she's gone through periods of getting too much or not enough, thereby setting alarms off every 2 minutes. One way to combat this is to use the prongs and deliver Oxygen steadily on a constant basis. So far so good.

Amy has also been 'promoted' round the room and is moving ever closer to the door to the next room - where the bigger babies hang out. We're quivering with excitement.

This morning they tried again to get Amy on to regular bolus feeds as opposed to continuous and as of 11:00AM today she was getting 7.8ml of Anna's milk on the hour. They'll try and change this to 2-hourly feeds as soon as possible assuming she tolerates it ok. A couple of people have asked why they are so keen to get her onto bolus as opposed to continuous feeding and although we've speculated, no-one has given us a definitive answer. Well find out and let you know.

In the meantime here's a couple of pics for you including a sure sign that Amy is picking up some of her mother's nasty habits. She's using hand signals to tell us when she's had enough - see the last shot for an explanation of that one!

More tomorrow (promise)

Anna gets cuddles - Click to enlarge
Amy get some zzzs - Click to enlarge
We celebrate every small step - Click to enlarge
Amy lets us know when she's had enough - Click to enlarge

Quick One

We're off to the Woodborough Bank Holiday Bonanza Barbeque so full post later but popped in to do Amy's cares this morning and all quiet. She came out for a 10-minute cuddle but she's still needing plenty of O2 so we left her to rest. We'll go back for cares at 9:00PM and I'll do a post with some piccies later.

Looking Good

Well yesterday afternoon's cares were pretty uneventful and this morning Amy looked really, really good. She'd had a really good night and her Oxygen requirement was steady at around 30%.

Changing the nappy revealed huge wadges of poo and the subsequent weigh-in showed a gain of 15g which is pretty small in comparison to the previous 60g hike. Consultation with the doc revealed nothing unusual in this so we're not concerned.

One great piece of news is that for the past 3 days there has been no detection of the heart murmor we were talking about a week or so ago. For those not up to speed with this read the post entitled Heart of the matter for the full story. It looks like the duct has closed for now which is very good news, although we need to be aware that distress or setbacks in the future could cause this to open again.

On the whole the news from the doctors is very uneventful at the moment - thank God! Amelia is doing very well and everybody seems really pleased with her progress. 10 more weeks of that please Amy!

I have a couple of pics and movies today but failed miserably with my chance to catch Amy weeing and pooing on Anna who had just changed her nappy and bedding. Ahh motherhood!

We're going to try and start featuring some of the ace booty we've been getting too. Today for your delight is a smashing blanket from my old mate Tom and his wife Claire, plus the unmistakable Jemima Puddleduck who came from the wonderful Sibberts in Heysham. See the upcoming My Longest Day post for details of their rather abruptly interrupted summer getaway thanks to Amelia's sudden arrival. Sorry folks!

Anna grabs Amy for weighing (1Mb)
Amy on the scales (1Mb)

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Steady Away

Well we popped in to see Amelia this morning and all was quiet. She's had a good night and was holding steady on 32% oxygen (21% is normal & what we breathe in air). Lots of poo in the nappy so it was just a case of cleaning her up and changing her. We had a quick chat with the doc about oxygen levels, eye problems and the like and he was of the opinion that what we are seeing with Amy is all very normal. The disappointing statistic is that the chronic lung disease that Amy is encountering now, although very standard for 26-week premmies, will take weeks rather than days to get better. This doesn't mean that she's in discomfort or pain, it just means that they'll be making sure she gets enough oxygen artificially until the lungs are repaired and can cope better.

It's not nice to hear that kind of thing but the good news is all her other signs are excellent. She has a nice soft tummy, is tolerating all the milk Anna is providing and as a result she is gaining weight, the most crucial thing for now.

I forgot the camera this morning so I'll put some visuals up later today.

Happy 'Birthday' Amelia

Well it's 3 weeks believe it or not since our little kerfuffle at the maternity ward and Amelia weighed in this morning at over 1Kg for the first time which is great news. As you can see from the previous post there is some concern over her current Oxygen requirements but on the whole everyone is really pleased with her progress.

Tomorrow Amelia will be officially at 30 weeks gestation which means we still have 10 weeks to go before she can come home. It seems like an age but I guess it'll pass quicker than we think.

Anyway the visitor count for the site topped 500 this morning too so I guess our young lady is still 'pulling in the viewers' as it were. I have to say that Anna and I have been overwhelmed by all the cards, emails, flowers, pressies, chocolate (mum) and cakes (Lu) so in case we don't thank you personally soon, let this act as a big
thank you to all of you from all 3 of us. It really has been appreciated during what was and still is a very trying time.

The cards especially were so nice I've decided to put up a gallery on the site next week. It'll do everyone good to share in the goodwill we've been receiving.

Oxygen Issues

Amy had a restless day yesterday. According to Anna she was very agitated and couldn't seem to get comfortable. It may have been that the chopping and changing from bolus feeds to continuous feed the previous evening could have caused her to ger annoyed.

At the moment Amy's Oxygen requirements are creeping up and this is not a step in the right direction. This morning however the doctors were still of the opinion that she is doing very well. Apparently when premature babies are taken off ventilation they can do very well for a time and then regress for a period and require more oxygen; it's one of the side-effects of having under-developed lungs. While this is definitely not good, it's also par for the course for babies of this age. What we do have to watch for is her Oxygen requirements shooting up and up as this would indicate a problem elsewhere.

So all in all she didn't exactly have a bad day yesterday but more that we've been spoiled with almost 3 weeks of very encouraging progress followed by a day of not really moving forward. They did say it would be like this and I guess we'll have many more like this before November.

Anyway Amy was wide-awake this morning so here's a quick movie of her having a look around.

Morning All!

Back On Continuous Feed - Boo

Well they did say she'd take 2 steps forward and 1 back. We arrived this morning to find Amelia back on continuous feeds as opposed to the 2-hourly intermittent bolus feeding we were hoping she'd take to. Apparently she sicked up 3 times during the evening yesterday so late last night they put her back on the drip.

Nobody seems too surprised as she's still less than 1Kg but it's still a big disappointment for us. Obviously we want her to be doing everthing as normally as possible so it's bad news when she can't. Anyway apart from that she was in fine form when I saw her today but don't take my word for it - here's a piccy and 3 short movies. Please note the movies are back to their original size of about 0.5Megabytes so you won't have to call for a bed-bath while you're waiting for it to download now.

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Amy Yawns
Amy Squirms
Amy Yawns (again)

A Weight Off My Mind

Well Anna was chatting to one of the docs this morning who doesn't seem to think that 40g over 2 days was too much at all. Young Amelia is changing today from continuous feeds of 180ml per day to 2-hourly feeds of 14ml and this will gradually increase if she can tolerate it to culminate at 4-hourly feeds of as much as she can take.

One other area of concern (they giveth and take away you know) is the amount of Oxygen Amelia is requiring. Basically we breathe air which contains about 21% Oxygen. At the moment Amy is requiring more than that, up to 30% at times and this is not good. However, same Doc was of the opinion that when premature babies come off assisted breathing they can do very well for a time but then slip back for a prolonged 'healing' period. I read from this that there's no immediate cause for concern but we'll all keep our eyes peeled and fingers crossed.

Amy gains weight - too much?

Amy was weighed again this morning and seems to have put on 40g in 2 days. This is perhaps a little too much so we're not entirely sure whether this is normal weight gain or water retention. It's a fine line at this stage so I am a little concerned. I missed the doctor's round having to come to work so I'll find out from Anna later on what was discussed.

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Amelia Unites Continents

Less than 3 weeks old and Amy is already making friends from all over the world. Yesterday I added a new user tracker to the site because I had a suspicion that we might be getting visits from more than just friends and family - how right I was. In the last 24 hours alone, Amy's Fan Club has been viewed by not only 40 different UK users, but also by 14 in the United States. Additionally we have had guests from Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Singapore, Thailand and even Chile! I'm not kidding either.

So to everyone who has arrived at the site by chance or by following a link from a related site, welcome. We hope that watching Amy's progress over the coming weeks will be as rewarding for you as it is for her mum and me. We're lucky - we get to see her every day for real.

Amelia Jane Wilson-Barnes - English Citizen

It's official and we've got the paperwork to prove it, Amelia Jane Wilson-Barnes is now registered. England has a new rose.


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New Tagboard - Leave Notes Please!

OK so it's pretty obvious the comments system isn't working. It seems a bit daft really that comments are only available at the end of each post - I might have to delve into that later. Anyway for now I thought a Tagboard would be a good idea. It's quite good if you want to throw a few words up that everone can read - it's not geeky I promise. Also it took me ages to sort it so PLEASE use it to let us know your thoughts.

All you have to do is enter your name & email address, then your message in the box at the bottom and hit 'TAG'. Easy!

Oll.

CPAP No More

Today is Amelia's second day off the cursed CPAP contraption and so far, so good. Her blood gases from yesterday were 'perfect' to quote the nurse so for the time being she's staying off it.

Weight-wise we found out today that ideally, she's be gaining 15 grammes per day (and nothing on Sundays apparently!!!???). At the moment she's some way short of that but no reason to panic we're told.

Couple of pictures from this morning - the gunk around her eye is ointment so don't panic.

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XML Newsfeed

For all of you complete AFC addicts out there we have added ultra-funky functionality to your favourite reality web-site, an XML news feed.

Basically this will allow you to know when a new post is made to Amy's Fan Club so you won't have to wait an instant for all the gossip. Those of you already familiar with XML, RSS and Atom, will have seen the new logo on the front page and have probably already added the URL to your list of news feeds. For the rest of you, read on. It's a whole new world!

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, BBC, CNN and personal weblogs. RSS-aware programs called news aggregators are popular in the weblogging community. Many weblogs like Amy's Fan Club make content available in RSS. A news aggregator can help you keep up with all your favorite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds and displaying new items from each of them.

If you're pretty au fait with installing stuff, go to www.rssreader.com to download a pretty good (and free) news reader. Make sure that you have all the latest Windows updates first as you'll definitely need Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 for this.

Everyone else Click Here for everything you ever wanted to know about RSS including tutorials and reviews of good RSS readers.

If you're still stuck after all that, email Amy - she's well up on it all and will help you out.

Humans are incredible - OFFICIAL

At today's weigh-in Amy was 920 grammes (up 20g from Saturday) and they have increased her feed to 180ml per day with additional fortifiers. It's evident from all the conversation that weight gain is pretty much Amy's main priority for now.

Having said that, Anna told me she witnessed something pretty amazing today. As she was watching, Amy who was face down at the time, lifted herself up on her elbows clear of the blanket and turned her head 180 degrees to face the other way before letting herself down again. This is a 3 month premature baby at 2 weeks, 2 days old and weighing less than a bag of sugar supporting her own weight!

Looks like we'll be needing locks on the incubator before long to keep her in!

3 More Movies

Hi all!

Dropped Anna off this morning but didn't have time to go inside because I had a 9:00 appointment at the Register Office. That's right the deed is done, Amelia Jane Wilson-Barnes is now officially an English citizen - hurrah!

Here's some more movies of the little tike, all from 22nd August

Amy 1

Amy 2

Amy 3

Consultant left speechless

What a difference a day makes. Seeing Amy this morning in comparison to yesterday when she was restless and uncomfortable because of her eye, was like looking at a different baby. The eye infection seems to have cleared up almost completely, her skin looks wonderful and she was expressive and lively without being even remotely short-tempered.

The consultant arrived to do the rounds and having given her the once over and saying how healthy she looked he then actually couldn't think of anything else to say apart from that she needs to keep doing what she's doing. She needs to fill out a bit but he couldn't hear the heart murmur now and thinks she looks just like a normal, healthy baby - only smaller!

It's hard not to be excited when you hear that kind of thing. I know that we always have to temper every piece of good news with the possibility, perhaps probability that Amy will have setbacks and problems between now and November but for now we'll bank every step forward thank you very much. Here's how she's looking today:

Amy on Anna
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Amy dozing
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Anna with Amy
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Amy gets the hiccups

It's cruel but I HAD to get this on film. It's quite a large file but WELL worth waiting for.

She'll kill me for this when she's older.

# Amy gets the hiccups

OK, OK So I'm A Bit Late!

Many, many apologies to all those AFC devotees today. I admit I have been negligent in my responsibilities but time seems to have hurtled by today leaving me somewhat in it's wake.

Amy is fine. She had a really good night and is now enjoying her new place by the nurses' desk. She's been promoted to 'head of room' apparently as she's no longer in any need of a ventilator and these are only available on two of the 'pods'.

Anyhow she seems to fine with her new CPAP regime of 6 hours off, 2 hours on. She has however developed what we hope is a minor eye infection, possibly a blocked tear duct which is causing her to exude some gunk on a regular basis. It should be fine and they've administered some eye drops to help it on it's way.

Lucy shot down from Manchester this morning and has just left to hurtle back home again. Jane and Chris were here to take Anna to what was originally booked as a 'pre-natal relaxing massage' but was hurredly changed to a head & shoulder pampering session. All in all pretty groovy. I got to cuddle Amy for almost an hour and at the weigh-in this morning she topped the scales at 900gms, up again from the other day. Go girl!

'Auntie' Lucy
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Amy dozing
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Back on The CPAP

Amy was apparently quite tired yesterday after so much time off the CPAP and so she's now back on to 3 hours on, 3 hours off. This morning though I did manage to take a couple of pics before this mask went on including Amy's first with some clothes on!

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Olly & Amy Exclusive First Pics!

Sensational headline eh?

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Anna's first go taking a movie. Can you spot the deliberate mistake? Please note these files are now about 3.5MB each and may take a while before being displayed.

Olly & Amy #1

Olly & Amy #2

A VERY Naughty Girl

We arrived at the hospital this morning to meet Louise with a trying-to-be-stern-but-actually-laughing look on her face. Apparently during the night, our little princess had ripped off her CPAP mask on no less than 3 occasions. Each time they put it back on she created such a fuss that by 8:00 this morning one of the doctors finally relented and suggested we leave it off altogether. They'll do regular blood gases to make sure she's not getting too tired breathing completely on her own but for now she's Darth Vader no more!

Also I was trying to scoot out the door to get my car fixed but Louise rugby-tackled me and insisted I have my first hold of Amy. All the dads out there will know how that feels but after the 2 weeks we've had I think this one was a bit special. Pictures later because Anna has the camera today.

Go and save someone's life

On August 6th, 4 people we have never met and probably never will, quite possibly helped save Anna and Amelia's lives. They were nothing to do with the hospital and probably had no medical training, but were 4 people who had been generous enough to take time out and give blood. Anna needed 4 units transfusing after her caesarian which is more than a few drops I can tell you and without it she'd have struggled.

If you're reading this then you either know Anna, or someone you are in regular contact with knows her. This proves the point that shit doesn't just happen to anonymous people who you read about in the newspaper, it can happen to YOU and the people you love. We've all seen the ads and heard about giving blood but how many of us actually do it? If you want to feel good about yourself, go and give blood, keep reading this weblog every day to see how well Anna and Amy are and then give yourself a pat on the back. If you can imagine what difference those 4 units of red stuff have meant to me you'd feel pretty great about giving some of it up.

To find out quickly and easily where you can give blood close to where you live or work Click here and go and help save somebody's life. It's better than sitting on your arse and you get free tea & biscuits.

Catching Up

Anna was pretty tired this morning. I think for the last few days she's been in recovery mode with as much attention as possible being paid to Amy which is great, but I think that this morning it all caught up with her a bit. Hopefully she'll have a snooze at the hospital today followed by an early night.

Young Amy was fine this morning. When we arrived she had a baby-grow on for the first time which suited her just fine. The doctor's round was at 9-ish and they seemed really pleased with Amy's progress. At the moment she's having 3 hours on the CPAP followed by 3 hours off but if she looks OK at midday today, they'll try her with 4 hours on, 4 hours off.

Also they've taken the stitch out from where the umbilical lines were so she now has a normal-looking belly button. It does look a little like it might be an 'outy' though which of course simply won't do - I'll have words. More later but for now, all is well.

What A Card!

Anna and I went into Winchester to make an appointment to register the birth and to look for some jewellery to commemorate it. Nothing leapt out but we'll keep you posted. When we returned, somebody (or bodies to be precise) had heard it was Anna's birthday.

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Anna had a good cuddle with Amy before we decided we really neede to get to Mothercare to buy some nappies. We'd almost bled the NHS dry of teeny-tiney itsy-bitsy nappies (Pampers Micro) and felt we needed to contribute. Unfortunately to complete this task we had to drive to Basingstoke so you can tell how badly we needed the nappies!

Anyway I promised great pictures and here they are. Now with new improved 'click-and-they-get-bigger' Oll-o-vision!

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Heart of the matter

It's OK, it's a C.S.I. Miami we've already seen so I'm back early.

So we arrived this morning at 9:00AM for cares and Amy had had a really good night. While her nappy was off they did a quick weigh-in as you can see from the previous post, and afterwards Anna had some Kangaroo Care (skin on skin) with Amy for about an hour and a half. Afterwards the doctors did their rounds and amazingly this was the first time I'd seen them. They ran through the usual routine checks until one of them mentioned 'hearing the heart mumour'. As we didn't know if this was good or bad but suspected the latter, we thought we'd ask. Expecting the answer to be quick and simple, I got more than I bargained for...

PATENT DUCTUS ARTERIOSUS (PDA)


The ductus arteriosus is a normal fetal structure, allowing blood to bypass circulation to the lungs. Since the fetus does not use his/her lungs (oxygen is provided through the mother’s placenta), flow from the right ventricle needs an outlet. The ductus provides this, shunting flow from the left pulmonary artery to the aorta just beyond the origin of the artery to the left subclavian artery. The high levels of oxygen which it is exposed to after birth causes it to close in most cases within 24 hours. When it doesn’t close, it is termed a Patent Ductus Arteriosus and this is very common in Premature babies and can be heard as a 'murmur' using a standard stethoscope.

The defect often corrects itself within several months of birth, but may require infusion of chemicals, the placement of "plugs" via catheters, or surgical closure. Everybody is of the opinion right now that this is perfectly normal for a 'premmie' and that it can be controlled for now by giving her less fluids. She's now on 140ml of Anna's milk per day (quite a lot I thought) and this is boosted by a fortifier.

For more information on PDA and a neat diagram of how it all works, Click here

Anna's Birthday!

Yes today is my beloved's 31st birthday and we've had some fun let me tell you. I simply couldn't cram everything into the next few minutes and as C.S.I. is about to start (it's crap but totally unmissable), I'll have to leave you with the news that Amy has gained 20 grammes in the last couple of days. Here's a quick movie of the weigh-in this morning. I'll be back before midnight with a totally superb photo of Amy plus an unexpected birthday card so make sure you check in to see it.

By the way - the site stats say we've had 99 visitors in the last 3 days. We don't know 99 people so whoever you are, we hope you're enjoying reading about Amy's progress!

Amy's Weigh-In

All Quiet On The Western Front

Dropped Anna off this morning and Amy's cares had already been done by the lovely Marguerite so all Anna had to do was cuddles for 2 hours. Luxury! Anna said the consultant was really pleased with Amy which always music to my ears.

I shot back home to do some work and them took Mum & Dad back at lunchtime for an hour before their train home. As it seems to be fairly uneventful today I'll introduce you to the parent's coffee room - our new second home. All mod cons with plenty of tea & biscuits.

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Coupla Movies

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Great Pressies

Amy is making plenty of new friends. This bear was a gift from a shop mum went to the other day.

This great baby book was from Paul, Di, Jo, Pip & the gang. Thanks folks!

The Longline Is Out!

Another milestone today when the nasty Peripheral Longline was removed. This is the tube that was inserted into Amy's ankle and snaked for 25 cm up her body to administer fluids. Now removed it means that Amy is able to use that foot and leg for kicking people trying to put her back on CPAP. Swine! Everything she needs is now going down the tube in her nose.

Good old Amy managed to throw a complete paddy as Anna was trying to change her with her heart rate exceeding 200 for the first time while I was there. Mine topped about 300 before Amy finally calmed down thanks to Anna's gentle touch. Kids eh?

Amy's esteemed guests today were Jane, Chris, Sue & Ted. Grandparents galore! We're all off for a slap-up binge at Mrs Miggins' pie shop - Doctor's orders apparently plus an early get-together in advance of Anna's birthday on Tuesday.


Unmasked!

Morning cuddles

Whizzo new CPAP machine

Ffelsh & Grouse (aka Sue & Ted)

New CPAP

The nose-bit that's being used for Amy's CPAP is starting to cause quite a bit of soreness so they've switched machines over this morning. The new headgear should cause less redness when madam is trying to remove it.

Anna had a really good cuddle this morning and today's weigh-in was a pleasant surprise - 850gms. Even allowing for some error factor due to a few wires, she's definitely gained weight since Thursday.

They're using a new technique for feeding too. Amy was being sick a little too often for everybody's liking on the 8ml every two hours she was being given. They're now going to gradually infuse 5ml every hour direct to her stomach which means it's not quite such a shock to her system when she gets it. She was getting significant Bradycardias which coincided with her feeding too.

Bradycardia is a general term that describes a number of conditions in which the heart beats at an unusually slow rate (fewer than 50 to 60 beats per minute). Electrical impulses travel through a complex network of cells and fibers making up the heart's circuitry, triggering a steady heartbeat. However, conditions can be such that these impulses are slowed, delayed, or blocked altogether.

Click here for more info on heart stuff

Evening Off

We're sciving off the 10PM cares tonight. Both knackered and in need of some rest and a quiet night in - just like the old days!

Afternoon Shift

Back at 4PM for more cares & cuddles.


Proud parents - taken by Kay

Anna & 'Fairy Godmother' Kay

Amy's DJ Equipment

Anna & Amy

City 1, Fulham 1. Fowler scored. This IS a strange week!