Hi guys- just a thread as a way of explaining my radio silence following the arrival of Eran

///Record scratch\\\\\\: a nasal adornment?!

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Eran had his initial check and his sats were good (98%) and all seemed fine. Because of COVID and the fact that the labour was over I was told to go home and wait for Eran and mum to have their last checks before coming to collect them/2

It was during his audiology assessment that they noticed that his breathing was loud and measured his sats which were low. I had enjoyed a victorius shower at home and was in bed having a nap when I got the call from Jo and the nightmare started/3

Pretty rapidly Eran was transferred to NICU and was put onto Optiflow. His oxygen requirements were high though and he was fairly quickly escalated to CPAP. Which is odd from my adult experience seeing CPAP and Optiflow used differently/4

Its stressful trying to placate a crying baby. Your own child's cries seem to tug in ways that hit home hard. But knowing that your baby crying means that their ventilation is less effective adds a whole other layer of stress when trying to soothe them/5

The paediatricians were awesome. They were steadfast, reassuring and brisk in their decision making.

I like to think Im usually a pretty calm person in a crisis. But I cried an awful lot. I prayed A LOT even though Im a pretty staunch atheist.
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I renounced meat! Guess what Lily then asked for for dinner? "Hawaiian Pizza". She also picks off the pineapple.

I couldnt keep it up folks though - I think I will be phasing meat out in the longer term

Below is Lily's plate with my ham bits/7

I called my parents up in a mess. Because of COVID - I told them not to come. They spoke to relatives in Sri Lanka to release birds for me. Apparently this is for "good merit, good karma", but it does beg the question where exactly these birds are the rest of the time../8

The days passed - he was getting better. For ward rounds on NICU we are told to wear headphones to not hear the discussions of other children. We are given headphones. Guess who the week before thought they'd treat themselves to an Iphone but skrimped on earbuds/9

Also, is there a spotify playlist on what to listen to when your kid's in the NICU?/10

We had tried really hard to prepare Lily for the adjustment of a new sibling to avoid her feeling displaced. Now her mum wasnt coming home (to ensure he had his regular feeds) and hadnt done for a number of days. It was tough for her. I spoilt her as often as I could/11

Throughout all this - my parents could obviously tell I was beside myself. They didnt message much but when they did it was usually my dad oddly fixated on whether Eran had had a bowel movement or not/12

There were issues weaning him off oxygen. A residual lung injury - so for a number of weeks at least he is on oxygen 24hrs/day at home. It puts us in a strange frame of mind of wanting to skip ahead of this but then wishing away the precious few weeks of having a newborn/13

Anyway - Lily has really taken to her brother since he came home 14/thread

So many lovely responses. Thankyou! We are doing okay. He also smells awesome- love that new baby smell! Bonus proud sister pic