PREMATURE BIRTH, A GRANDAD'S STORY

1st July 2006, a new month, received a text from Jen at 9am saying all is well, a new pipe had to be attached during the night, to give Dilan anti biotics and caffine, this evidently is to aid in the retention of her bodily fluids, food stuff etc, this I assume in turn will aid weight gain. Visited this afternoon and was delighted to see Jen holding Dilan all be it still attached to all the pipes, I have not seen Dilan look so contented as she did at this time, a few whimpers but a suppose hearing Jens heartbeat and voice as would be in the womb, must settle her. So it seems once again things are good. Got a text from Gareth at 8pm to say the doctor had been round and, in his words, Dilan was "ticking along nicely", guess you can t ask for any more !
Yet another 24hrs passes.............

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 10:09 pm 0 comments

30th June 2006

The next great hurdle crossed today, Dilan has been "okay" for three days, all organs appear to be working, she is "peeing and poohing" The brain scan is still showing bleeding and although it must be watched closely as it could cause problems in later life, the general consensus is that , at this time , it is "normal" for a baby in Dilan's situation.
Jen has been officially signed off today so has been given a small private room next to the prem. baby unit, some where she and Gareth can stay as long as they want, day and night, unless a need of greater cause comes along........ fair enough I suppose.
I realy feel that even in three days Dilan has improved in all ways, but still a long way to go.. another 24hrs..

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 10:41 pm 0 comments

29th June 2006.
I am pleased to say all is still well today, there has been a few gliches, sodium levels up and down, same with sugar levels, but nothing that we are told is nt normal in cases like Dilan's.
Gareth is now coming home in the evening, this gives him a chance to recharge and Jen a chance to relax and build her own strength back up...... another 24hrs passes.

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 10:36 pm 0 comments

Day Three, 28th June 2006, 03.15 the phone rings, its Gareth, Dilan could hang no longer and had been born at 02.45 weighing in at 1lb 15oz and about 9 ins from head to toe ! after a quick look is whisked away, all is well and more news will be forth coming in 4 hrs. I guess we arrived at the hospital around 10am, Gareth looks shattered and tired but happy that all appears to be well, so begins the day to day hurdles for Dilan to get over. The first thing is that she is breathing on her own so after some hours on a ventilator it is removed and apart from the occasional time when she forgets to breath she is okay on her own, it seems that the next thing to look for will be internal organ function, something that can only be observed in time. jennie is back to looking wonderful and is being a real rock for Gareth and Dilan, I sometimes wonder how, as the mother, she manages to keep on smiling and being constantly optimistic, what a lucky guy my son is !
Finally the time comes for me to visit my grand daughter for the first time, as I walk in to the room with Gareth I realise what a daunting task this was going to be for me, what can I say she is tiny, connected to a million wires tubes and pipes, but perfectly formed and as beautiful as she could be.

A brain scan has been done and whilst there is a small amount of bleeding the doctors do not seem overly concerned, another hurdle crossed.

An observation at this point would be that I find myself feeling guilty when ever I am not in the hospital with my son and daughter in law, at work , at home, anywhere, all I want to do is be there for them all even though I know there is nothing I can do.

Still ever onward, 24hrs at a time..............

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 10:35 pm 0 comments

Day Two, 27th June 2006, Gareth and Jennie managed to get some sleep over night and are both feeling much more positive about things, Dilan is STILL inside her mother, doctors and nurses are amazed she is still unborn, not only that but the contractions appear to have stopped, this is something they had hoped for as the hospital she was in felt caring for a small Dilan would be difficult, though not impossible, and she would be better of at Addenbrookes in Cambridge, so after some discussion Jennie was rushed there and settled into a new, better enviroment.
After check ups Jennie and gareth were told that the birth was inevidable but the longer Dilan could stay inside her mother the better things would be, tests and things showed things were good for both, the steriods had kicked in and now it was a waiting game. For the first time in more than 24 hrs the parents could finally relax a bit the relief for us all was obvious to see !

Again, as a day closes I can t help but pass comment about the high cost of free health these days. £20 for two weeks parking, so for two cars, ours and Gareth's £40, T.V at £3.50 per day, plus a private phone line at 10p per minute to call out, nothing compared to calling in, the purpose of the phone I would have thought, at 39p per minute off peak and 49p other times, and of course we mus'nt forget the 30 seconds plus of introduction you pay for before you even get through to your patient !!!!!!! Then there is the cost of food £10 ish each every day. It really is a disgrace.

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 9:45 pm 0 comments

6.40am Monday 26th June 2006, the trama started with a phone call from a very tearful Gareth, my son to tell my wife and I that our daughter in law Jennie had gone in to labour only 27 weeks into her pregnancy, and that things were not looking good for the baby. After rushing to the hospital to be with them, we were informed that unless Jennie could keep the baby inside, there was very little hope of saving her,(We were already aware that the child was a girl), but if she could there was things that could be done. The first and main thing was to get steriods into her in order to strengthen the lungs as they would be unable to operate properly as they are very sticky and unable to open and close, the steriods would help the breathing process but in order to work they must be in the system for a minimum 4 hrs, this was at 7am so 11am was the absolute minimal time.
Of course this time was agonisingly long, but it did eventually come and go, the hospital staff were pleased and at this time told us that monitoring indicated that the baby was doing okay, but if she could stay inside for another few hours till 7pm it would then be possible too give a second dose of steriods which in turn would move things on again, this time came and the second lot was administered, again, if these could act for ANOTHER 4hrs, things would be even better. All the time this is happening Jennie is having regular contractions and we all expect the birth at any minute, but still both our girls manage to hang on in there !!
As we come to the end of day one I think it is worth mentioning that due to the privatisation of all things NHS, we have spent £20 on parking, and probably the same on Food, whilst you don t care about money, there has to be a better way to treat people whose only concern is thier kids , still more on that subject as the time goes on.

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 9:08 pm 0 comments