A day of two halves...

I'm beginning to figure something out here... The minute I start to think that things are going swimmingly, and all I have to do is count off the days until my release, that's the point when things will start to go wrong!

So... I've had a great night, my oxygen is down to 50%, the Billyrubin light has gone and the nurse has just told me that Mummy is coming in to see me with Daddy and Charlie, when all of a sudden the gentle bing bing of my monitor turns into an almighty BAAAARP BAAAAARP!!  It frightened the life out of me and seemed to have a similar effect on the doctors who all headed swiftly in my direction.

Another thing I might not have mentioned up to this point is that occasionally very premature babies sort of well... forget to breathe!  It's called apnea (or apnoea if you want to be all pedantic about it!) and some babies do it all the time.  Bit stupid if you ask me.  I mean I can see how I might forget to adequately deal with the used up red blood cells in my arteries but forgetting to breathe?  Surely not!

Well yes apparently! And at ten thirty this morning - just as mum, dad and Charlie were chugging up the A46 to see me, yours truly forgot to breathe.  It takes a bit of time for the monitors to twig what's going on.  It's the one that measures the oxygen in my blood that finally realised that something was up but by the time it started singing my oxygen saturation was down to 8%!

It seemed I'd lulled everyone (including myself) into a false sense of security.  There was only one thing for it... I was bagged!  Now to some of the more broad-minded readers of this blog that might sound like something that should on no account be done to anyone under the age of 18, however that is not the sort of bagging I was subjected to!  I was simply encouraged to breathe again through the use of a manually operated bag blowing air into my lungs.  And it seemed to work.  A few minutes later and I was back on track.  A bit more oxygen and a bit more positive pressure through the C-PAP and all was well.

Not good though.  The general view of the doctors seemed to be that if it was a one-off it was probably because I was just tired, but they're a bit worried that it might be down to infection, so my bloods have gone off to be tested again!  On the positive side, one of the treatments is caffeine so from now on I'm having a coffee with my lunch and dinner!

Anyway, all this hullabaloo kicked of just a few minutes before Mum (who remember hasn't seen me now for three days) was due to arrive with Dad and Charlie.  I'd just got my breath back (literally) when in they walked.  My incubator is surrounded by activity and before I could stop them (which would have involved the development of sophisticated communication skills, so would have taken maybe three years or so) the doctors and nurses launched into an animated explanation of what had just happened.

'We've just had to bag her!' they informed Mum, Dad and Charlie.

Of the three of them it was Charlie (aged 3) who seemed to be following the conversation best.  Mummy looked like she was going to faint and very nearly did, and Daddy put that face on where he pretends to know what people are talking about when in reality he hasn't got a clue.

It took a good fifteen minutes or so for everyone to calm down by which time Mummy was very pale.  Dad took Charlie off to the siblings play room for a debrief, leaving me and Mummy to finally have a bit of quality 'girl time' together.  From this point on, the day improved considerably.

Charlie came back in a bit later with Daddy and this time I was able to give him his presents which he seemed very pleased with.  I could see from his face that he was trying to work out how exactly I'd procurred them but then the penny dropped... Amazon.com! 

I'm a bit worried about my big brother... he did look happy to meet me at last but I think the machinery got to him a bit.  Don't worry Charlie Bear!  I'll be fine... you just wait and see!

Yay! A cuddle from my mummy!
Check out all my kit in the background... and look
at Charlie's face (not happy!)

And the day just kept getting better!  Just when I thought Mummy was going home the nurse had a little chat with her and persuaded her that we should have a proper cuddle before she went.  So what do you know... next thing I'm OUT OF MY INCUBATOR and CUDDLING MY MUMMY!! Yay!

It was cool!  They sort of put me down her T-shirt which was a bit weird at first but it felt great.  I could smell her and feel her heartbeat and everything.  The best thing that's happened to me yet - which when you consider what has happened to me so far should come as no surprise!

So there you go... a day of two halves!  Bagged in the morning and cuddled in the afternoon.  They said this was a going to be a roller-coaster ride... and it is!