Good News and Thank Yous

Apart from the worry of my Granda being in hospital, it's been quite a nice few days.

On Sunday I had my first ever Mothers Day and was lucky enough to get not one, but TWO cards from Francis! One came courtesy of the SCBU staff who left it on top of Francis' incubator for me to find. I didn't get the start to Mothers Day I was hoping for - no breakfast in bed for me! I was up long before Graeme to express breast milk and then decided to go back to bed to catch up on my sleep. As the day went on I was convinced Graeme had forgotten it was Mothers Day and began wondering if he really was insensitive enough to not have bought me a card. I didn't think he was and thought that maybe he'd just forgotten to give it to me. When I asked him, he said I'd have to wait until I saw Francis before I could get my card, which had me thinking again that maybe he'd not bought one and would be having a sly trip to the shops later that day. As it turns out, he had bought one, along with a lovely box of chocs and cute teddy. I felt bad for ever doubting him, but then it wouldn't have been the first time he'd forgotten something like this. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt next time ;o)

On Monday we were thrilled to find that Francis has been promoted from incubator to cot! It makes such a difference to our visits not having a plastic barrier between us and him. I never was fond of having to open a little hatch just so that I could touch my baby. As well as the excitement of Francis now being in a cot, we discovered he is also developing his sucking reflex when he grabbed my finger, shoved it in his mouth and started sucking my knuckle! His Nurse was gobsmacked and suggested we try him on the breast to see if he took to it. He latched on straightaway, but could only manage about 3 sucks before falling off :o) His Nurse said he just needs some practise and he'll get better at it as his reflex becomes stronger. I actually felt like a proper Mummy, what with the breastfeeding and changing nappies (which we had to do twice as he pooed in the clean one about 30 seconds after we'd changed him). It's just a shame my first experience of these is in a hospital ward and not my own home.

Yesterday, Graeme was in London on a business trip so I made my own way to the hospital on the bus. It took me forever and I was carrying so much stuff I was exhausted by the time I got there. It was worth it though, as when I arrived at the SCBU I was met in the corridor by a Nurse who told me Francis had been transferred to the low dependency nursery! No more ECG leads, sats probe or monitors. To have Francis moved here so quickly is more than I could ever have hoped for. I sent Graeme a text to let him know and when he arrived later that evening he was absolutely beaming.

So it's all up to Francis now. He needs to be weaned off his tube feeds onto the breast, and has to put on weight. Once both of those boxes are ticked he'll be able to come home! I hate leaving him at the hospital, but as Graeme keeps reminding me, each day we leave him is one day closer to bringing him home.

Before I go, I'd just like to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone for the cards, gifts, emails, texts and money that they have sent for Francis' birth. It means so much to us knowing that so many people care, especially as we're so far away from our famiy. I have the feeling Francis is going to be very popular when we eventually take him to visit everybody!

Lisa xxx