Released into the Community!

I had no idea how exciting it was going to be... no idea at all!

The calm before the storm!

I'd heard people talking about 'going home' but to be honest, when you're 90 days old and still 10 days early (if that makes sense?) you have very little understanding of what on earth goes on outside the doors of the Neonatal Unit.  I could tell there was something afoot on Wednesday from the minute I woke up for my 9 o'clock feed.  Everyone was a bit giddy!

Mummy and Daddy arrived a little bit later carrying a MASSIVE orange seat which was full of layers of padding each a bit smaller than the previous one... like Russian dolls!  The plan appeared to be to squeeze me into the middle like the last doll (the one that doesn't snap in half!) 

One last feed before I go...

Before they we're allowed to take me anywhere though, they were taken away to the parents room to watch a DVD.  Before you get excited don't worry, this one was called 'Resuscitation Techniques on Infants' and was more scary than informative.  As usual Dad wound everyone up by saying that he needed to practice on the dummy baby, which resulted in a small panic as everyone tried to find it.  This would later lead to a final delay before I was released.

The first delay was due to something called the 'TTO's.  This was the all the medicine that needed to go with me and for most of the morning we honestly thought this stood for 'to take 'ome'... it later turned out that it stood for 'to take out' which I suppose makes more sense.  Anyway, the nurses were having a right telephone tussle with the pharmacy downstairs - at one point I thought one of them was going to need my monitors when I'd finished with them.

OK... you can disconnect that last monitor now!!

Finally, everything was done.  All the paperwork was signed, all the medicines were ready, the video had been watched, my inoculations were all complete and the big orange seat was waiting... all that remained was to disconnect me from the monitors!  Yes, the last thing that happens when you leave Special Care is that they disconnect the oxygen saturation monitor from your foot and hand you over!  I think Mummy and Daddy found this a bit scary.  To be fair, I suppose if you've spent the last three months staring at a monitor full of numbers, it's something of a challenge to just look at me to get the same information.  Actually, it's not that difficult... if I'm pink I'm not desaturating... if I'm blue I am!

Before we finally stepped out into the sunlight (sunlight!!) Mummy and Daddy had a really nice chat with Dr Iodine who was brilliant.  He wanted loads of feedback about the unit so Mummy and Daddy gave him loads - they're very good at feedback - and Dr Iodine seemed very happy.  I might see him again when I come back for his I2S2 study.  I do hope so.

Look carefully... there's a baby in there!!

Then it was time to strap me in, or rather to wedge me in to my car seat.  I more or less disappeared into it.  Safely pinned down, we all did something of a Royal Visit back to the Intensive Care Unit to say goodbye to the nurses on duty.  They were all very excited to see me go ( I took this as a compliment!) and even though they must see tiny babies in big seats all the time, they still made a big fuss of me... I felt very special!

And that was it.  After 56 days in intensive care, 14 days in the high dependency unit and 20 days in special care, I was free to go.  Ninety days after arriving into the world feet first and fourteen weeks early, I can breathe, I can feed, I can see, I can hear and I can smile... which is so cool because I have so much to smile about!

I've had seven blood transfusions, eleven brain scans, fourteen x-rays and countless baggings!  I spent 23 days under the Billyrubin light (and three on top of it!).  I've had two sets of inoculations, I've had my eyes tested twice and my ears once and my heel pricked for blood samples over 100 times.  I've spent three weeks on a ventilator, a month on C-PAP and five weeks in high flow.

Fifteen thousand visits!!!

My Mummy has visited me 87 times (clocking up 7,500 miles along the way... and spending nearly £500 in the car park!), and this little diary, which I started in that scary first week to reassure some friends and family... this little Diary of Poppy Lola has now been read nearly 15,000 times!  You are all fantastic!  Really, really amazing!  I cannot believe how many people have sent me messages of support over the last three months.  I can't thank you enough. 

Not a good start!!

Daddy told me that when I was first born back in Warwick hospital and they took me away to the other side of the room, he really didn't think I had any chance of surviving at all.  It is incredible really that the tiny little baby in that plastic bag (me) made it all the way through... and even managed to get home ten days before her due date.  Dad says that the hardest thing about having a premature baby is not knowing what to expect and not knowing who to turn to, which is where the charity Bliss fills a gap.  Bliss is a national charity for babies born too small, too soon or too sick and they do a fantastic job.  I know from your messages how much you have appreciated me sharing my story with you in this Diary and I thought it would be a fabulous idea if I could use my Diary to help to raise some much needed money for Bliss.  So that's what I'm planning to do.

Daddy says that some of you reading this are skint... but that others are loaded!  Whichever group you're in, it would mean so much to me if you could give whatever you can.  I've set up a 'Sunshine Fund' in my name and by donating to it you will be helping babies like me and families like mine as they find themselves on a similar journey to this one.

You can donate online at http://www.justgiving.com/poppylola or you can just text PLHJ90 (Poppy Lola Hufton Jones - 90 days!) to 70070 and this will automatically donate £5 to my Sunshine Fund.  Dad says he's going to be pestering everyone he meets (online and offline!) to donate something to my fund!  He wants to raise £10,000!!!

Meanwhile, back to my Diary and my release from Coventry!  We all said goodbye to the nurses and then we headed towards the big double doors - the ones with the security buttons and video cameras.  Mummy did one final check to make sure my security tag had been taken off (it really is like leaving prison!) and then she pushed the button... and I was out!

... And then someone shouted us and we were back in again!  Apparently someone had been looking for the resuscitation doll for the last two hours and thought that we couldn't leave until Dad had a practice.  It took quite a lot of persuasion from Dad for them to let us go.  In the end he told them confidently that he had a Boys Brigade badge for first aid and knew exactly what to do.  The fact that this was over thirty years ago didn't appear to matter so we turned heel and fled.

And then I was really out!  The reception of Coventry hospital is a melting pot.  My introduction to the public was very politically correct.  If I'd had a checklist with me I could have ticked all of the boxes.  It was so crowded and we had to go through one of those great big revolving doors and when we emerged on the other side the sun was shining and a recorded voice was booming out of a speaker saying that Coventry Hospital is a no smoking zone...!  There were lots of people in pyjamas and nighties, and they were all smoking and ignoring the voice coming from the speaker.  This was my first lesson in life.

Mummy and Daddy had parked the car on the top floor of the car park by the big yellow helicopter landing pad.  I thought for a minute I was flying home but then I was packed into the back of the car and we were off.  I was really looking forward to seeing some of the places Mum and Dad had talked about while I was in the incubator; Warwick, Kenilworth, Stratford, Zurich, London and IKEA, but as soon as the car started I fell fast asleep... and I woke up at home!!

I had a few days to settle in with Mummy and Daddy and Charlie and Grandma, and then all of my brothers and sisters arrived for the weekend!  I've finally met Jordan and Harrison (and they're cool!) and we've been one great big dysfunctional Edwardian family... and I love it!!  I have three brothers and one sister!

I'm feeling great!  I still have a few medicines to take with my milk but apart from that (and being a bit petite) I'm just like every other baby... just like every other baby.

It's been an interesting start and it's been a pleasure to share it with you all.  I'm planning to keep writing my diary so you can see how I'm doing... maybe just not quite as often!

For now, I'm just so happy to be home!

Lots of love and hugs!

Poppy Lola xxx