Clara's first operation was on 2nd January 2017. We sat down with her surgeon, Mr Alex Lee, to talk about what surgery meant. Mr Lee assumed, based on all the medical evidence he had, that part of Clara's bowel had died off and as a result she wasn't able to digest well. This was causingContinue reading "Operation #1"
Neonatal Intensive Care
The words "Intensive Care" when said aloud are pretty terrifying. I've never been in any form of intense medical environment, heck I can't even watch medical TV programmes. The morning Clara was wheeled over to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) from High Dependency (HDU) my nerves were a wreck. What would it be like inContinue reading "Neonatal Intensive Care"
Something was wrong
A few days of 'nil by mouth' passed (being fed via drip) and Clara was allowed to start having small volumes of milk again. On New Years Eve 2017, Dean and I sat in HDU looking at our baby girl in her incubator - we'd been told she was due to be discharged the nextContinue reading "Something was wrong"
Starting with sickness
It's nerve wracking for any new parent to look after a newborn baby alone through the night. With Dean sleeping at home, I was left to look after Clara on my own. With feeds every three hours, expressing in between, blood tests, and observations, I was averaging 90 minutes sleep a night. One night, ClaraContinue reading "Starting with sickness"
Our Christmas Miracle
Clara truly is our Christmas miracle. On Christmas Eve, Clara's jaundice levels were still up. We suddenly had to face the fact that our baby wasn't going to be at home the one day of the year where we all want to be together as a family. The fact it was 'Christmas' rather than justContinue reading "Our Christmas Miracle"
Clara and the Gutcracker 