The last few days have been so much more positive and I have half a
spring in my step again! The boys were weighed on Sunday and Joey Chunka
Chops Fox now weighs a hefty 3lbs! 3lbs!!! Little Xander weighs 2lbs 11
so he's not far behind. Joey had another blood transfusion yesterday to
boost his Oxygen in his blood as the doctors are keen to get them off
Sipap now. It took 4 attempts to get the cannula in and i nearly lost it
at the doctors. I think I made one of the doctors a little nervous as
after two attempts by the first doctor I asked her to please not do it
if she wasnt 100% confident. I think the death stare I gave her
following this statement made her decision a little easier She said
she'd leave it for the registrar to do.
Joey has been
doing so well since the transfusion and Xander is doing just as well.
The doctors are really pushing them to get off Sipap and today we left
Xander doing 4 hours off and 2 hours on and Joey was doing 3 hours off, 3
hours on. They cry when they go back on the Sipap machine which is good
as it shows they're strong enough to fight it. Come on my babies..you
tell them you dont need it anymore!
Every day I get to
the hospital and see new babies that have arrived. New babies come in to
the pink nursery where we are. This is the nursery for the sickest (or
youngest ) babies. We've seen babies come and go for weeks. No one stays
as long as we have. We see them move to the purple nursery to the right
of our nursery which is for babies who are almost ready to go home but
just need a bit of extra monitoring. We can see them through the glass
windows looking so happy holding their babies. Once they've done well in
the purple nursery, they move on to the blue nursery. This is the
exciting one - its to the left of ours and through the windows we see
mums feeding, holding and playing with their healthy bundles. When
you're in this nursery, you know you're going home soon. One day we'll
move out of the pink nursery...it's weeks away but I can almost feel it
in my bones!
I'm at the hospital so much and it's been
so long now that the canteen workers ask if I'm staff when paying. I'm
tempted to say yes..I'm a nurse..no, doctor, no..surgeon! But I won't,
instead I say the same thing every day. "No, I'm just visiting my baby
boys". Lucky for me, I quite like hospital food! It's like airplane food
but the portions are bigger. You never know what surprises you're going
to find in your meals but that's part of the fun... Blurgh!
So,
highlight of the week. It's a great one!! It happened today and I'll
remember it forever. The boys were coming off their Sipap and nurse
Julie was on shift. She'd seen me get quite upset over the cannula
incident yesterday and wanted to cheer me up. She took Joey out of his
incubator and put him in with Xander! On his way in, she put him on her
shoulder and kissed his little head. Like a proper baby! She then gently
lifted him on to my shoulder and I held him and covered every part of
his head with little kisses. I've never held him like that before and I
obviously burst into tears. Happy tears! He was nuzzling into my neck
and opened his eyes a little. He was so precious and tiny. I could see
my reflection in the window and I looked like a real mum holding her
real baby! He was in air with no Sipap and no Oxygen...such an amazing
feeling. I held him for about 20 seconds and we then put him in the
incubator with Xander where the O2 was pumping so they could breathe
properly.
Joey was wide awake from his cuddle with me
(and probably from being Oxygen deprived!) and he stared at Xander for
such a long time! He looked at his face as if he was studying him and
then lay his arm down and gently held his brothers hand. Cue floods of
tears from me. The nurses were all coo'ing and calling other nurses over
to come and have a look at them together as they were just so sweet.
Pauline, the parent relations co ordinator came rushing in with the
camera and took photos of them. She gave me a little album with their
photos in to keep. So precious. Xander was so sleepy but opened his eyes
a little to see Joey. He looked at him and held on to his hand as if to
say "Where've you been Bro". They closed their eyes and fell asleep for
about half an hour. Complete bliss. They were both being monitored and
their stats were exactly the same which was great as it meant that they
could stay with each other a little longer. Xander then woke up and
sneezed on Joey but he didnt seem to mind! Joey then put his hand on
Xanders face and Xander patiently let him leave it there...Half an hour
later Xander started stretching and looked a bit like he wanted some
space! We moved Joey back to his incubator and they've both been doing
so well since. Joey was in 22% O2 in his incubator...21% is air so
that's amazing!
I can't wait to see them together again and to see them interacting and staring at each other.
We've
not had any visitors now since the beginning of Feb as there's a
visitor ban to keep viruses at a minimum. Apart from the fact that I'm
going slightly mad from being alone all day looking after my two angels
it's also sad that our family and friends cant see them growing and
developing. I'm sure they'll make up for it when we leave...everyone is
welcome to come over and do the 3am feeds when they're home!
Joey
Xander..maybe they are identical afterall!
Xander
Joseph
Boys together!
Hi Bro, I've missed you!
Xander starting to get fidgety
"Get out of my bed!"
