In Hospital

Today marked a big step on Éowyn’s road to recovery and eventually her way home.  An X-Ray today has confirmed that the trapped air in her thorax has been reabsorbed and her lung re-inflated.  A big thank you to all the staff in St Peters Neonatal Intensive Care Department, such a fantastic bunch of people.

She has now been deemed well enough to move to the Transitional Care room on the main Joan Booker ward.  This means that for the first time, she will be sleeping in a cot next to her mum, and Lucinda does not have to go up two flights of stairs to feed her.  She still has her canula in her hand as she is still finishing her course of antibiotics that was started as a precaution. Her blood culture results will be ready tomorrow and will confirm whether she did indeed have an infection and whether she needs to continue with the treatment.  All being well they may be able to take the canula out and she will be free of the last of her medical attachments.

Like any good lady, she has been very coy about her weight.  When she was born the mid-wife Dorothy weighed her as 7lbs 9oz (3.422 kgs), however she was rushed within the hour to ICU and on admittance they weighed her as 8lbs 9oz (3.881 kgs) – some discrepancy.  However, due to the fact that she was under treatment they have only been able to re-weigh her today and currently she is 7lbs 2oz (3.220 kgs) which points to the midwife taking top honours in the weighing category.

Despite the confusion over her weight she is a very contented baby and we have both been able to have extended cuddle time today, which I think she has enjoyed as much as us.  She is only grumpy when she wants a feed (just like her dad) and Mum and daughter are naturals at breast feeding which is good for both and Dad has seemingly found his talent: the knack of winding her, as the stains on his T-Shirt bear testament.

We are hoping that she will be home with us in the next couple of days and we can really begin our life as a family.

A special mention to Lee and Caroline and congratulations on the birth of their daughter Georgia Elizabeth, another little playmate for Éowyn.

Peace and Love

Mum and Dad

The good news is that Éowyn is strengthening almost by the hour.  She has been taken out of the incubator, as she no longer needs the increased oxygen levels and is able to breathe normally in air.  This implies that her lung has re-inflated and the trapped air has been re-absorbed, although they will make sure, before she leaves ICU.

Mum is a star and Éowyn has been feeding from her all day.  She is also little miss independent and decided that she didn’t need her canula and pulled it out of the back of her hand.  Unfortunately, the doctor disagreed, she has not finished her course of antibiotics and so needed it re-inserted, which was a little distressing to watch.  She also has a touch of neo-natal jaundice, which is perfectly normal in babies a couple of days old.  Her liver is learning to breaking down her food, and should disappear in just over a week.  Hence she looks a little yellow in the photos below.

And there is the rub, the real reason why you are here.  These are the first photos of our daughter no doubt there will be many more as the days progress.

I would also like to thank you all for your kind messages and can’t wait to introduce Éowyn to you all.

Love Mum and Dad

At 04:01 (BST) on the 17th October 2008 in the hospital of St. Peters, Chertsey, Surrey our first child Éowyn Vera was born, weighing 7lbs 9oz (3.422 kgs), with her mother’s ginger hair, the Badger family ears and the Bagnall nose (will have to show her how to do the Bagnall nose rub!). Unfortunately it was soon apparent that she was struggling to breathe which meant that she was unable to suckle.

She is currently in an incubator in the neo-natal intensive care unit where they have diagnosed that her left lung has a condition known as pneumomediastinum where air leaks from the lung into the thoracic cavity. This results, in layman’s terms, in a collapsed lung, meaning that she needs to breathe harder and faster since only her right lung is working.

However, she is a little fighter and responding well to the antibiotics and extra oxygen she is being given, so much so that she was able to feed from Lucinda this evening. Her antibiotic course is due to end on Sunday (19th) and hopefully her body will have absorbed the trapped air allowing her left lung to re-inflate taking the pressure off her right one. It is, apparently, just one of those things that can happen when a baby takes its first breath and doesn’t seem to indicate that there is any underlying problem or condition, which is great news.

It was good for Lucinda to feed Éowyn this evening as she had been unable to hold the baby since the birth as the condition had been quickly diagnosed by the midwife and they had taken her from me and directly to the neo-natal unit for tests and treatment and she has been in the incubator for most of her life.

She is improving by the hour so hopefully when I return tomorrow I can have a cuddle too! But unfortunately there are no photos as yet but please keep popping by for updates and I will post the photos as soon as we have some.

Thank you all for your messages and we look forward to introducing her to all of you.

Peace and love (think I may have to change that since Ringo’s web message!)

Baggie and Lucinda x