Home at last!

So finally we were all together at home – a happy family.  We were thrilled and looking forward to the days ahead.  Whilst in SCBU Skye had been a model baby – waking 4-hourly for her feeds and then sleeping between.  On night 1 at home we were in for a rude awakening!  Skye woke every 45 minutes wanting to feed, and would only settle between feeds if one of us was cuddling her.  We tried lights on, lights off, white noise, my t-shirt in the Moses basket, the lot!  Nothing worked.  The Health Visitor told me it was common for a premature baby to feel very unsettled once home because it was such a different environment to the one she was used to.

As the days went on a pattern began to emerge.  Skye preferred to be cuddled and wasn’t terribly happy in the Moses basket, she would also scream from about 4:30pm until about 11 or 12.  It was a terrible time.  We tried colic remedies, reflux medications, massage, cuddles...  It was horrible watching her in pain and being unable to help.  As she grew, the screaming reduced – I can’t tell you when it stopped.  I can’t honestly remember.  However, in September it was awful and by Christmas it had settled.

In October we began weaning her.  She loved it, was keen for most things – and flavours she didn't like, we simply mixed in a bit of apple puree and she’d wolf it down!  Soon she was eating all sorts of foods and we had a freezer full of cubes of mush!

By February, aged 10 months (7 months corrected), Skye had been discharged by her physio and her paediatrician.  She was beginning to sit unaided, had settled down into a rather more placid child (as long as I stayed by her side) and life was good.  Then she got a cold – no big problem, she’d had colds before and was fine – but this time things were different.  She was having trouble with her breathing and was working very hard.  We went to the doctor who sent us to the children’s ward at the hospital.  They monitored her and decided she needed to be admitted overnight to be monitored.  Unfortunately the local children’s ward is a day unit only, so we had to be transferred by ambulance.

We ended up staying for 3 nights in the hospital – Skye had bronchiolitis and required oxygen to help her keep her blood oxygen levels up.  She was very cheerful throughout, despite people poking her and prodding her at all hours of the day and night!  On day they discharged her, she had a bit of a temperature and was a bit grumpy, but they weren’t worried and so home we went.  2 days later it became apparent Skye had chicken pox!  She wasn’t too miserable with it, so we put cream on her spots, took it easy and soon she was better. 

A few days later she got another cold.  We didn’t worry too much until we came home from a walk and noticed she was blue around the lips!  She was struggling to breathe again so off we went to the Out of Hours doctor and again we were admitted (another ambulance transfer!).  We were put in the room we had vacated only 2 weeks before and she was given oxygen and monitored again.  Halfway through the first night things got exciting...  Her blood oxygen levels were about 80-85 (95 or over is preferred) and that was when she was already being given oxygen!  They turned the oxygen up and up... and up but her levels were being very stubborn.  We were moved to the High Dependency Unit so they could monitor her more closely and we were warned that she might be put on CPAP (a type of breathing support she had for a few weeks when newborn).  Luckily her levels rose and they were able to turn her oxygen down gradually.  We were moved back to a normal room the following day and two days later we were home again.

By now I was getting paranoid about letting her near people who had colds!  I didn’t want to wrap her in cotton wool, but 2 readmissions in 2 weeks were a bit scary!  I avoided toddler groups for a while to let her get properly better and asked my friends to let me know if their little ones were ill so I could cancel arrangements to play.

In April 2000 we began to plan for her birthday – we had a little party for her friends from baby group and she had fun playing with them.  One of her friends had started walking and we were all chuckling at the wobbly walk and looking forward to ours doing the same.  We also had a barbecue for our adult friends who had supported us through our first year of parenthood.

It was amazing to look back and see how far we’d come in the last year!