I’ve got no strings......

To hold me down
To make me fret
Or make me frown
I had strings
But now I’m free
There are no strings on me
Hi o the merio, that's
the only way to be!
I want the world to know
notin' ever worries me

I’ve got no strings so I have fun
I’m not tied up to anyone
They've got strings but
you can see there are no strings
on me!



The last of the lines attached to Henny have been removed and she is ours to hold as and when we wish.
Still at the hospital but hope to be making plans for coming home very soon.

Eating like every meal is her last and making good use of her new plumbing.

The Maud is back in town

Been a busy week, Maud is back so little time for blogging.
Maud met her new baby sister and insists on calling her Jonny (pronounced yonny)

Henny is getting better slowly but surely and after a couple of weeks of just nappy wearing she was actually allowed some clothes and something to eat, welcome to the civilised world.
Still probably going to be in hospital for a week or so, got to make double sure that the plumbing is working as it should.

BOGOF

Things can only get better turned out to be true....but only before they got worse.
The fluid on the liver turned out to be the cause of the infection and this describes pretty much what happened to cause it.

Well on Wednesday she was showing more signs for concern so two birds, one stone. Original plan was to insert a central venous catheter or Hickman line to replace the infected and now lost umbilical catheter but as an added bonus the surgeons decided they needed to get their hands bloody again and they were going to open her up to take another rummage round inside, just to check, like you do.

Little Henny was topped up to the brim with blood and other associated fluids and wheeled of for more surgery.

Fun?

No.




We saw her go in to surgery looking not too bad considering, she was coping better than me anyway.
She came back looking like this.
Job done, inserted the Hickman thingymebob and found the intestine work carried out a few days previously to be tip top and healing well with no leaks. They tickled her liver and despite having it in their hands concluded that they would leave well alone, it will sort itself out apparently and no lasting damage done, gonna take time tho.
They managed to remove the ventilator straight after surgery which was, erm, better than good.



Seems the surgery team do a side line in haircuts too, Henny told us later that it wasn't what she'd asked for.



Morphine does this to you, apparently.



Take 2



Hickman line in place but Henny's eyes are good for at least a thousands words here.



Henny does flag semaphore, i think she is trying to say 'Ouch'





So she is onto to post op recovery again and still nil by mouth.
She is recovering well and the hunger which so tormented her a week ago is back with avengance which is a good sign but probably not much fun.

Day by day, just one at at time that's where we're at.

and the rain came down....

all around.

Things were going to plan but as i said in my last post Henny couldn't be counted as fit and well. The surgery on the intestine went well and was / is healing but life is just never that simple.

In the middle of the night early monday morning our optimism was well and truly stomped on when Henny picked up a double complication, fluid collecting in the liver and an infection.
She was truly pretty ill.
Seems that the umbilical venous catheter that was inserted to keep her, well alive basically since she couldn't eat, allowed fluid into the liver and caused the infection....double whammy.

Situation as of today is that she is stable and the doctors are waiting for the antibiotics to take care of the infection.
Tomorrow they are hoping to insert a central venous catheter which would ease a few problems, the catch, there is ALWAYS a catch, is that this is a surgical procedure so they have to give her a general anesthetic.


An all too rare conscious moment.



Surgical opening healing unbelievably well.



To replace the umbilical catheter they had to set up two new intravenous lines, one in her head an another in her hand to join the one she already has in her foot. The one in her head meant that we can no longer pick her up due to the risk of disturbing the line.

She also had a central arterial catheter put in on her other hand to ease the taking of blood tests and monitoring of blood pressure, so we can't hold either of her hands now.




As she is this evening, our little girl has been dealt tough start, the lights are on but the world is a dark place.

things can only get better.

Nil by mouth

Been a tough start for Henny and we still haven't given her a proper hug due to the tangle of tubes and wires attached to her. Even worse for her is that she hasn't been allowed ANY food for the first days of her life so far. Until the surgeons see that the intestine is healing she is on intravenous menu only, something which she hasn't been best pleased about at times.
All looking good though, she has come a very long way in a few days as more and more of her life supporting tubes disappear.

Slept for almost 24 hours after the operation, plenty of tubes keeping her afloat.



'Don't sit on the tube that feeds you' isn't that how the saying goes?



Plenty of life in her today, the worst hunger pangs seems to have gone and she is content to stare into our eyes and wonder why we are being so mean.
Surgeon and doctors are very happy with her progress and they say they might, just might, consider letting her taste mothers milk in a day or two if she continues to recover so well.





People are saying, now that the swelling has gone down, that she looks more like me. Dunno but hopefully she'll grow out of it and start to resemble her mother too. There's always hope

I&I - Chapter II - Henny

A long and winding road with a few very dark places along the way.

Enter the age of Henny.

Can't beat simple hard facts, no nonsense, easy too as i feel i have little time to spare the world of I & I atm.
Stats:
born 27.07.08
weight 3405g
length 50cm
head circumference 34.5cm

Long story short - until I&I can become a part of the routine again.

She was born with a blocked intestine, something which was picked up by an ultrasound during the pregnancy.
This required an operation to fix and this was carried out before she was even a day old.
All successful and the recovery process is now underway, she has come far already.
Not out of the woods by any means but things are looking very good and she is otherwise a strong healthy little baby.

Going to be in hospital for a couple of weeks so updates might be a bit thin on the ground at first... after the homecoming I&I will be up to new baby speed....hopefully.

Henny...

Maudster update

not seen her little sister yet as she was whisked off to mormor and morfar before she got the chance.

Have to give her a mention too so when she looks at this in years to come she'll realise that we were thinking about her too.

Maud.