3rd may

1st May: I can't remember who went to see Oliver this day, but I can speak for the both of us when I say we were disheartened. The next thing to overcome was getting his pda duct sorted, and without getting this sorted, he was at a sort of standstill. As stated in my previous blog post, he was scheduled to go on the 1st of May for the surgery. Oliver was booked into London st Thomas's Eveliena, but unfortunately, they didn't have any space for him at this time.

It's an unusual feeling, holding onto the hope that a space would become available, all the while just sitting and waiting with him for something to go wrong.

Because that's what you are doing really, you know you're not going to get the news “you can go home tomorrow”. So, what do you do? You sit there waiting for them to tell you something else has gone wrong.

A few days later on the 3rd of May, he was booked in to go and have his pda duct surgery. Apprehensive and scared, we awaited the phone call to say he would be going.

So again, the waiting game begun, finally we got the call we were desperately waiting for. Unfortunately, it wasn't the news we wanted.

It seemed an infection had taken hold of Oliver just before he was to go to London.

His trip had to be called off due to the nurses finding raised infection markers in his blood. This prompted them to put him on x2 lots of antibiotics which were a 5-day treatment. With knowing this, we knew he wouldn't be going for at least 5 more days. I felt upset, not with anyone but just in general, and I just wanted him to get past this stage so we could move on. I was informed that it was unsafe to do the surgery while he had an infection, which makes sense.

The good news was that they had found the infection early. But the only thing was, what was the infection and where was it coming from?

Only thing in my mind was, “let's get these antibiotics in and working, and in 5 days’ time my boy should be going to London”.

4th May: Sitting with Oliver and just taking in his presence was a feeling you can't describe. It was the best feeling, just sitting with him, touching his hands or his feet. Just simply stroking his head and watching him move ever so slightly was enough to make my day.

While sitting with him, we got back the results from his infection. Oliver had abdominal sepsis; this was spreading from his post-surgery wound on his bowel. Luckily it was caught early and now the right antibiotics could be given.

On a positive, Oliver was gaining weight at a good and steady speed. He now weighed 2lb 2oz (1 kilogram), and for this he got his little certificate.

Also, I managed to get a little picture of him with his eyes open, I took a few of these photos. Every time I would try, he would close them, but I got one in the end 

8th May: Oliver looked rather well in himself, it was always nice going in to see him and seeing these little changes, even if it was something small. His skin looked colourful, and he was moving well, and it was just nice to see. The infection markers were going down rapidly, and the antibiotics were soon to be finished.

His weight was still going in the right direction, weighing in at 2lb 6oz. Another small milestone had been reached; it was official, he had doubled his birth weight, and he was also now 29wks. (6wks post-birth)

9th May: No changes, just calm and settled, but a new hat.

Next, I didn't recognise him… “am I at the wrong incubator?”.