Cute Phoebe video

We're home!

Well there is so much news really, and very little time to write! The real big news is that we moved into our house yesterday; 53 packages were unloaded into our house following a 10 month journey from New Zealand (via Bridgwater, Somerset). Having not had any of our possessions for almost a year, it was wonderful to finally unpack, and for the first time be 'home' since May 10th 2008. Photos and video to follow in the usual style!

Phoebe is doing incredibly still! She is taking more and more feeds from the bottle, and is also starting to breast feed. She took an entire feed from Laura this afternoon which was incredible. They are now increasing the number of feeds that she takes from the bottle as she is gaining strength and the stamina to be able to cope with it. So she's now weighing 2309g (5lbs 1oz) which is awesome; We're blown away by the progress she has made - she feels (and looks) so much like a real baby now. She had her second eye test yesterday and we are awaiting the results from that, so we'll let you know how she goes; They are wanting to see her again in a week, but that is all we know.

Gracie is on wonderful form; She is loving being in her own house and has played so beautifully the last 2 days - I think she is so happy to have all her toys back with her after such a long absence! It's so great to see her really thrive. Tomorrow Laura will walk to church for the first time (as we're now 5 minutes away) and I will lead worship at the 10:45 congregation for the first time - it's going to be a great day. As ever, here are some photos.

Gracie watching some TV while waiting for the furniture to arrive!

Prayer point #1 answered!

We want to thank everyone for their prayers over the past 24 hours. God is awesome and we weren't expecting Him to answer so quickly, but we called the hospital this afternoon and the nurse told us that Phoebe is out of the incubator and has graduated into a cot. We are so excited about this as it's another step towards being ready to coming home. She's still putting on weight which is fantastic. She put on another 53g today so is now weighing 1948g (4lbs 4oz).

Phoebe in her new Cot

Day 51 : Great Progress

Well it's day 51 and Phoebe continues to make progress; Laura has just come back from visiting with Alyson and the reports are good. She is now weighing 1891g (4lbs 3oz) and is continuing to gain weight steadily.

It really does feel like we're on the home stretch, although we've got a number of hurdles to cross first. There are a number of things that Phoebe needs to achieve before she will be allowed to go home.

1) She has to graduate to a cot (she's still in an incubator); At the moment the incubator is set to a temperature to keep her warm so they are gradually reducing it until it is actually the room temperature; When she is comfortable at that level and still gaining weight etc they will put her into a cot and bundle her nicely in blankets like you would any old baby!

2) She has to go five days without any desats, braddies, or apnia; which means that she needs to be able to breathe completely and do it consistently without any dips; Obviously this is as much for our benefit as Phoebe's as we don't want to spend our life reminding her to breathe! She's still desaturating quite a bit at the moment, so pray that she'll get stronger (which she will with size).

3) She needs to be able to take all of her feeds by bottle or breast for a period of 48 hours. She is currently receiving almost all of her milk (precision pumped by Laura!) via the feeding tube in her nose. Laura is starting to breastfeed her now although it's really just getting phoebe used to the taste and sensation of latching on - it doesn't offer any nutritional benefit at this stage, but is really important for Phoebe to start to develop the swallowing/sucking/breathing reflexes, and is fantastic bonding.

So that's where we're at; Please pray that Phoebe continues to develop in the coming weeks. We also need prayer for our shipping as it's taking an eternity to arrive! I received an email to say that it won't arrive into Vancouver until the 9th, and we can't process any paperwork until after it arrives, so we could be looking at a week after that at least which is frustrating as by then we will have paid for a months rent and not even spent one night there (although I did take a wee there last week!). As ever here are a couple of photos for you.

Phoebe in a deep sleep

Me getting a cuddle with my baby girl

So much good news!

This week we've been blown away by God's goodness! The new hospital is simply amazing and the staff are wonderful; The last 2 nights Phoebe has been looked after by a member of our congregation who is a nurse at the NICU there, and we met another lovely Christian nurse; Her husband had actually read about Phoebe on a prayer chain email that has obviously done the rounds at some point which was really encouraging, and very humbling.

We met Jen(the nurse) at church this morning and she gave us great news; Phoebe is now breathing completely on her own with no tubes or support at all; This is once again huge progress - they took her nasal prongs off yesterday afternoon and she has been coping pretty well. She is also now just 3 grams short of 4lbs which is incredible too - she has doubled her birth weight :-)

All in all, Phoebe is doing amazingly, and we are so thankful to God that he is in control of this situation.

This morning I spoke at church, and shared testimony and story from the past few months - I guess I'm biased, but I would recommend taking a listen here... The MP3 will be online I'm sure in the next couple of days. Below is the video that I played at the end of the service and of course some pictures!

Phoebe all cosy under her bunny

The characteristic 'Kingsley-Smith' double chin in great development!

Laura bathing Phoebe for the first time!

Phoebe back onto CPAP!

So we expected that Phoebe would end up on CPAP again at somepoint, and on Sunday morning we received a call from the hospital to let us know that they were going to put her back on it that morning. While we were a little disapointed at first, it's been such a positive step for her as she has really been piling on the weight since! For the past 4-5 days she's consistently been putting on about 50g a day (2oz) so she is now weighing 1535g (3lbs 6oz). We're hopeful that this growth progress will continue as she is really starting to look more and more like a 'normal' baby. 

Gracie went in again with Laura, and Bev (Our wonderful Children & Families Ministry Director) on Monday and they had a fun time together with Phoebe, as well as visiting a British restaurant for lunch - I was working so I missed the fun. I'm really enjoying work, and am getting stuck into meetings, vision and clusters! LEFC is a really awesome church, and I'm so happy (and privileged)  to be a part of the team here - I'm preaching next Sunday, which hopefully will go well - apparently my English accent hugely stands in my favor! 

It feels like Spring is on the way, although you can never be too sure but the clocks do change in 3 weeks so we'll be ever closer to summer! Here are some photos from Monday. 

Phoebe, 5 weeks old!

Gracie and Phoebe

Bev & Phoebe

CPAP Almost Off...

We've just spoken to the nurse at the NICU and she surprised us by saying that they're hoping Phoebe will come off CPAP tomorrow; She has been on room air (the ordinary air we breathe which contains 21% oxygen) now for a couple of days (unbeknown to us) and they think she is capable of going alone as she is hardly having any support from the CPAP. 

This is actually a really big deal... CPAP is totally invasive and it's really traumatic to see her on it even though we know it's a good thing. She has 2 prongs that go into her nostrils (stretching and pulling them as they do). The tube is held in place by the weird hat that she's wearing that is so tight that it leaves her face bruised and puffy when it comes off(We haven't blogged a picture of her looking like that as it isn't pleasant). Any movement she makes (which is quite a lot as she is very active) causes her pain as her movement is completely restricted by the CPAP cap. 

We've watched them putting on the CPAP and taking it off and Phoebe really doesn't like it. You will notice in the last video a small section of Phoebe crying when they are arranging it for her. Suffice to say we'll be pleased to see it go from this perspective as well as from a developmental perspective. 

We're really considering this to be huge breakthrough for Phoebe; When we spoke with the neonatologist on Friday, she didn't sound hopeful that Phoebe would make it off CPAP for quite a while yet, however the prayers look like they may have been answered (and why wouldn't they be). We need to continue praying that her breathing will continue to improve and that her lungs will continue to strengthen as she may be transfered to a closer hospital if she's doing well.

She is still having apnea episodes, but she just needs a little stimulation (a little rub of the back) and she starts breathing again. While this is totally common in premature babies, we still want to pray that she doesn't have these episodes, as it would be wonderful to keep defying what the doctors class as normal - she is after all our little living miracle. 

Gracie has had a sick bug today and has been throwing up everywhere, so we're managing to maintain our 'one person sick' rule! Please pray that it's just a 24 hour bug and that Laura and I don't get it too. 

As ever here is a little photo of our little Phoebe; Yesterday she wore her first pair of booties, knitted by Esther Grant... Thanks Esther, they are adorable (and TINY). 

 Phoebe's new booties!