PREMATURE BIRTH, A GRANDAD'S STORY

Back to evening postings, been at the hospital this afternoon and Dilan is still doing well, weight is still basically unchanged, but her drops in blood/oxygen have improved slightly again. Thats it for today, hopefully have some more pics on the photo site tomorrow. Will be visiting Dilan again on Sunday to onward to the next 24hrs.............

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 6:53 pm 0 comments

VIsited Dilan last night, she is doing well, still dropping on the blood/oxygen front but as I think I have said before this is a normal thing for a "Prem" and she WILL grow out of it. She has put on a bit of weight, although nothing like the gains of last week, and as of yesterday was 3lb 11oz, so more than double her birth weight ! She took 95% of her feeds from a bottle and I think the next big step for her to reach is the removal of the feeding tube in her nose, not to far away I hope. Keep up the positive thoughts everybody, and I will report again in 24hrs...........

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 6:54 am 0 comments

I think Dilan's progress in the last 24hrs would best be described as slow but steady, she has improved slightly on the Oxygen in blood front, she is dropping still but is recovering herself without the aid of an oxygen mask, her milk was cut slightly and her weight gain appears to be slowing down, this in turn will, hopefully, help her. We get the opinion that the doctors and nurses are still very happy with Dilan's progress and don't really see this as a problem, just something that "Prems" go through, I suppose that after the last week or so of major moves forward even the smallest dip can seem huge to people close to Dilan, after more than two months of seven day a week hospital visits Mum and Dad, and us, just want to see her go home ! Talking of which Alison has done just that, Mother and baby are both well.
As for Dilan, well I am sure it will be her turn soon, lets just all keep thinking positively and move on to the next 24hrs............

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 6:44 am 0 comments

Not long after I posted yesterday, Dilan's situation changed a bit, when the consultant saw her with the oxygen on he was not happy about it and had it removed, at the same time he arranged a blood transfusion, this will give her better blood with more hemoglobin, this in turn should stop the low oxygen level in her blood, there is a possiblity that because she has put on such a lot of weight in a short time that her internal functions are unable to keep up as they are not developing as quick, this means that although Dilan is making all the right things there is not enough of them to keep up with her size. On this basis she has had the quantity of milk reduced slightly to slow down weight gain for a while. We will know the results of this by this AM. today.
On a lighter note Dilan had her second bath last night and was "A kicking and A splashing" and to all accounts had a great time. So lets hope that the blood will work and the next 24hrs will see an improvement in Dilan's situation..............

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 6:39 am 0 comments

Two days to catch up on as I have been otherwise involved for the last 24hrs with our daugther Alison, who had an 8lb 5oz girl at 9am on Monday morning.
Dilans Sunday was good, she gained more weight and was still looking "Cute" in her cot, however Monday has not been quite so kind to her as the last few days have been, nothing too major, just a small set back hopefully.Since she has come off the breathing aid her hemoglobin levels in her blood have dropped, this aids in the level of oxygen in the blood, on previous occasions the hospital have just given her a blood transfusion, however this time as her body appears to be starting to create the chemical needed to up this level itself they have decided to give a chance to rectify on her own this however has meant that she has had to go on an oxygen feed to her nose, I suppose you could call it a progression rather than a set back, it just seems that way when you see the tubes back on her. To finish on a more positive note Dilan is now a "HUGE" 3lb 6oz, so things probably are'nt that bad really! I will report back in 24hrs..........

posted by Dilan's Grandad @ 6:47 am 1 comments