Hey there!

Since Ed had to go up to Saltlake city for work anyway last Friday, he thought he'd stay and squeeze in a day on the slopes before heading home...

He had a lovely day snow-boarding – apparently it was perfect conditions – bright sunshine and powdery snow… but on his last run of the day he caught an edge and slammed down hard on his right shoulder (he later admitted that he had been admiring his style by watching his shadow rather than concentrating on the snow in front of him! duh!).

Being the trooper that he is, he managed to complete the run, return his hired equipment and fly back to me before seeing a doctor.

We went straight to A & E where his shoulder was x-rayed (we were there until 1am!).

He has separated the shoulder joint (ouch!) – it’s very painful and he has an impressive looking bump right now, but it may not need to be treated. At the moment he is just taking strong painkillers and wearing his arm in a sling. We are seeing a specialist later this week and they will assess and decide whether surgery is needed.

Open season on the Gilchrist's continues! It seems that the Lord is allowing just about everything that could go wrong to go wrong at the moment... to top it all off, we woke up to find we had a flat tire this morning! Grrrrrrr! Having said that, we're in good spirits and grateful that Daniel seems to be doing well...

Our little boy is doing well! He had his first eye examination today and, although his eyes are still (unsurprisingly) immature, there is no evidence of any abnormality caused by the oxygen he has received. Praise the Lord! He will have weekly check-ups until he is discharged from hospital, but today's result was encouraging!

One of the nurse practitioners told me today that the whole team is really pleased with how Daniel is progressing. He is steadily gaining weight (now 1300g!) and is gradually being weaned off the CPAP oxygen delivery system. It is hoped that by next week he will be able to progress onto nasal cannula for his oxygen - and at that point, he will be able to move downstairs to the step down NICU - one step closer to being able to come home!

Oh, ok then! I'll let you see some MORE super-cute photos of my precious son! (I am afraid Ed and I have succumbed to the universal parental affliction of thinking that everyone else is as taken with our offspring as we are!)
These come with a great big shout out to my great friend Zoe K who managed to find and send me an outfit for babies weighing 1.4lbs - it's still a bit too big for him, but it is SUCH fun to be able to put him in clothes!

And, for those of you who like having all the gory details, here is a photo of Daniel's manly scar. The orange shiny patch all around it is the glue, yes, GLUE they used to stick the wound together! It looks as though it's healing well and we're pretty sure Daniel is proud of it already!

(also, for those of you who are particularly observant, this shot gives you a sneaky glimpse of my enormous breast-feeding Pami knockers... sorry if that's unhelpful, it's just such a transformation, I may as well brag about them while they last!)

I got to hold my boy today for 2 hours AND I heard his voice for the first time!!!

He has been silent until now because the ventilator tube has blocked his vocal cords. But now that the tube is out, he can produce sound! He has the cutest little voice (even when he's crying)... I'm told that his voice will get louder as he gets bigger, but right now, it's delicious!

Although he obviously finds the CPAP (the oxygen delivery system) uncomfortable, as soon as he got into my arms this morning, he settled into a deep sleep and was completely at peace for the entire time. It felt good to see that being close to his Mummy is obviously comforting for him... makes me feel less redundant during this time when I am not able to be as 'hands on' in my mothering as I would like to be!

We have just had THE most wonderful time with Granny Russell here with us! Thank you SO much to all you generous friends from our church back home who paid for her flights! I REALLY needed my Mummy around this week as Daniel was operated on. Apologies that we have not been keeping the blog up-to-date, let me fill you in on our news!

Daniel recovered well from the ductus surgery and, after a few days of being fairly groggy, he rallied and became even more alert than he was before the surgery. He now opens his eyes for periods of 1/2 hour or more and is obviously looking around and responding to noises around him... he is also becoming a LOT more feisty! He definitely knows what he likes and dislikes and is not afraid to throw his weight around even though he is still SO small!

Daniel got to have a lovely cuddly time with Granny on Tuesday, which seemed to do him good. All the nurses commented that they enjoyed the lullabies sung in harmony by Mum and I... I think Daniel liked it too, although there was one occasion when we started singing and he crumpled his face into a very unimpressed frown! So hilarious!

Daniel was doing so well yesterday that the consultant decided to EXTUBATE!! After our 3 hour trial off the ventilator a few weeks ago, I am thrilled to report that he is STILL breathing on his own, and it has been 29 hours! Things are looking good, although he obviously does not like the oxygen face mask he is having to wear... hopefully they can wean him from that before too long.

One huge disappointment this week has come as we have started discussing the possibility of taking Daniel home to meet all our friends and family back in the UK. Because Daniel will have lung damage from the ventilator for the first 1 -2 years of his life, he will be very vulnerable to infection and so we have been strongly advised not to do an 11 hour flight with him until he is at least 1 year of age. Obviously we are GUTTED at this news, but of course, we are going to do what is best for our boy (if he avoids infection for the first 1-2 years, he is likely to have perfectly normal lung function long term). So, it looks like you guys will have to come out for a trip to SFO if you want to meet our little man!

The surgery went well! The surgeon just called and said that the procedure had been a success and had been conducted without any complications. Daniel is still asleep and will slowly come round in the next few hours. He'll be on pretty strong pain medication for the next 12 hours or so and so he will be out of it for a while. But it seems that all is as good as could be expected.

We could have a hard few days ahead of us as Daniel recovers, but hopefully, with this ductus closed, Daniel can now start to really thrive...

I think it's pretty cool that Daniel will be able to boast about his scar that he got before any of his peers were even BORN! How rock hard is that!

He's having surgery tomorrow

Overnight the PDA started causing Daniel more difficulties, and so the team has taken the decision to proceed with surgery. We don't have a time yet but, at some point tomorrow, our little man will go under general anaesthetic to have the 'Ductus' pinned shut. The surgery only takes 15 minutes or so, and will be done at his bedside, but he's likely to have a rough 2-3 days following the surgery as he recovers.

We're feeling pretty peaceful that this is the right thing for Daniel and confident that God is in control, but obviously it is heart-wrenching to think about someone so tiny going under the knife. As always your continued prayers would be hugely valued! It's great for Nicci that her mum is here for what is likely to be a tough week. Daniel has loved meeting his grannie!