24 Apr 2005

Well just a quick update, it's been a while.

They're still in hospital, coming up for 21 weeks this Thursday. They're in the local hospital and they're both flippin fantastic.

Edmund is fat, he's almost 6 pounds now, and Aubrey is just behind by a few ounces. They are on such tiny amounts of oxygen now, it's not keeping them alive anymore, just helping them grow.

They'll come home still on on oxygen, which means having to lug small oxygen cylinders around with us, and they're going to install an oxygen-generating plant in our flat, cool or what! So if you fancy popping round for a mountain-top-experience...

They are awake for many hours of the day, staring like incredibly amazed tourists at anything and everything, Edmund's favourite thing is to stare out of the window, he falls asleep gawping at the blossom on the trees outside his window. Aubrey loves the television in the staying-over room, particularly the snooker.

They both need an operation but it has been put back until they're big enough for it to be done.

Tomorrow morning we have a meeting with the home oxygen team and this week we're getting training in resuscitation and other medical necessities. So we might be having them home in the next two weeks. It's going to be brilliant, scary and tiring.

So we've been furiously sorting out everything in the flat ready for the complete surrender of our lives to these two tiny dictators, and it's been the most together we've been for...well...ever.

That's it really. Aubrey and Edmund are on their way.

25 Apr 2005

Just got back from the hospital, phew it's been a long day.

Found out that that they're coming home THIS WEEK!!!!

They've turned off all the monitors, which is s-c-a-r-y but lovely so now we have no bleepers, no probes, no saturation levels to watch.

28 Apr 2005

We had the resuscitation training today, very Monty Python. It involved a lovely man called Vince showing us his plastic baby. He smacked the heel of its foot and pummelled its chest, all the while talking about how
"crying is g-o-o-od, pain is g-o-o-o-d, it's the one time you can HIT a baby and get away with it".

Not at all as bad as it sounds, because he was making resuscitation very very clear and simple. Apparently the first rule of resuscitation is to get them crying and wailing and thrashing around, because that means their whole body is fine and working, which is preferable to the alternative.

During the choking part of the training he had us in stitches with his "i'm a baby and i'm choking" impersonations, a bit like Lee Evans in a white coat. The thing is, it worked so well, we remember every little thing he taught us.

We've got the oxygen being piped in our house tomorrow.

Now all we've got to do is buy the buggy, the cot, the car seats, the bath, the bouncy chairs etc etc...

As a forward-thinking charity, Action Medical Research is creating a healthier future for everyone. Although we will still fund work into a wide range of diseases and conditions affecting all age groups, Touching Tiny Lives will give extra impetus towards solving the problems of pregnancy, childbirth and the early years.

Go to the get involved or giving sections to find out how you can help, or make a donation now.