Making progress

The first time we were on Ocean Ward after Jessica was born, the daily weigh-ins were a source of anxiety, particularly on the days when Jessica lost weight. This time around, we find that gaining weight can also cause anxiety as Jessica seems to have gained 120g since yesterday, bringing her weight to 4300g (9lb 7oz). This amount of weight gain is likely to be due to fluid retention, possibly because she has gone from having her diuretics given intravenously to having them orally. She doesn’t look particularly puffy though and hopefully this is just a blip and will resolve quickly – although the cardiology team are keeping an eye on it.

On a more positive note though, Jessica was able to have her chest drain removed as the amount of chyle leaking out is very minimal now. She also had her last cannula removed and it is much easier to give her cuddles now that the vast majority of tubes and wires connected to her have been removed!

She is still being tube fed and the nurses have been teaching us how to give feeds and then supervising us doing the feeds in case we have to continue giving feeds via a tube when Jessica goes home. We have attempted to give the Monogen via a bottle and Jessica has managed about half the bottle before she decides she doesn’t like the taste anymore!

We are now seeing more and more of Jessica’s personality re-emerging and she was very smiley this morning and happily lying under an activity gym trying to hit the toys. It is such a joy to see her getting more back to her normal self and to know that she must be feeling so much better.