6lb Sister!

It's official; Phoebe has now tripled her birthweight weighing in at 2724g (6lbs). She is just doing remarkably! On Friday she will 37 weeks gestation which is considered 'term' for a baby being born - she's is SO close to coming home. We just need prayer that she will continue to get her strength and energy up so that she can take all her feeds orally and that she has no desats.

Gracie had a great time with her this morning, and absolutely just absolutely adored her - this is so nice to see as they've had so little time together. This morning was the first time Gracie has had an unaided cuddle with her and they both loved it.

This evening we've had a great fun time playing settlers, eating chocolate and watching the Canucks (hockey team) win again with good friends Matt and Katie. Gracie made pizzas with daddy for us all...Adorable!

Gracie and Phoebe

The Chef working up her special 'saucy'

A family morning in Abbotsford

We like to go and see Phoebe as a family on a Friday morning; We are able to have some time together as a family which is just great. We try to round off our trip with a visit to 'Triple O's' which is a burger place! This morning we visited Phoebe and had a great time with her - Gracie really enjoyed her time with her and enjoyed having cuddles with her. Phoebe is now 5lbs 8oz so is well on her way to being 6lbs.

Cute Phoebe video

Phoebe's Update...

Phoebe is continuing to do well; She now weighs 2466g (5lbs 7oz) which is huge in comparison to her 894g birth weight - It is almost like we have a different child. She is continuing to progress with her feeding and her breathing, and the doctors indicated on Monday that she could be home as early as 2 weeks time (from Monday gone) which isn't far away at all.

She is off for her 3rd eye test tomorrow; They found some moderate retina damage last week, so they will be keeping a close eye on her (pardon the pun) to see what sort of long term damage she will have. We're praying that they would completely heal - everything else has gone so well, so we should be able to see (another cheap pun) another miracle! Laura is going with Phoebe in the ambulance back to Vancouver for the day so she'll give a full update with the results.

Phoebe having a cuddle with Alyson

We're moving in!

Today Paul went into Vancouver to clear our shipping through customs...it went through without a hitch and our stuff is getting delivered on Friday afternoon! We are feeling very excited that we will finally be in our own home (although living with John and Allyson since we've arrived here has been amazing). It's been almost a year since we have lived in our own home as a family and we feel ready to do so again! Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Both of our gorgeous girls are doing well. Gracie is just adorable at the moment and makes us laugh so much. She has recently started roll-playing with her toys and it is hysterical to listen in to see how she views the world; my favorite is when one of her animals falls on the floor and she says 'oh sweetheart' and gives them a big hug!

Gracie and I went into the hospital this morning and Gracie got to cuddle Phoebe for the first time which was lovely-it lasted for about 45 seconds-but it was still very sweet! The hospital have a free babysitting service for siblings of children in hospital, this is run by volunteers each weekday morning which we have been using. This has been amazing as one of my biggest problems is finding time to see Phoebe but not wanting to be away from Gracie for a long time, I can now go into see Phoebe and take Gracie with me which makes life a little bit easier!

Phoebe is still growing! She now weighs 4lb 10oz. Her weight gain has been so good that the dietitian came to see her and they have cut back on the HMF additive they give tiny babies...this is good news as it just brings us a small step closer to bringer her home! Her second eye exam is going to happen in the next few days. Phoebe will go on a little day trip back to Vancouver by ambulance for this as they don't have all the equipment at Abbortsord hospital.

We'll keep you posted with the results of the eye test in the next couple of days, and we'll get some photos of the new house once we've unpacked over the weekend. God is so faithful to us!

Gracie and I having a picnic at the hospital

Gracie has her first cuddle with Phoebe

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!

Pheobe's moved!!!

Once again prayers have been answered! Phoebe was transfered this evening to Abbotsford Regional Hospital which is about 25 minutes away from us here in Langley (even closer once we move into our new house). Although we asked you to pray that she would be moved to Surrey, we had originally requested that she be moved to Abbotsford but were told that she wouldn't be well enough to transfer there.

So this is really fantastic that A. she got into our original choice, and B. that she is well enough to be accepted there. She is thriving, and seeing her this evening off her CPAP was so encouraging. She is really chuffing up and will be weighing 4lbs very soon hopefully.

The hospital is brand new (opened in August 08) so everything is state of the art and the facilities are phenomenal; We're so happy that Phoebe will spend the next 6-8 weeks here as it's such a lovely place to visit. The NICU is far more intimate with a maximum of 10 babies (as apposed to the 40+ so at BC Women's). We'll miss our friendly nurse Alyshia though from BC Women's - she was so great with Phoebe.

This afternoon there was the most stunning rainbow over Langley that reminded us once again of the Hope we have in God; When we first found out that Laura was pregnant with Phoebe I felt God speaking to me about Hope, and that our unborn child would be a sign of God's hope for us (at the time we were really in a tough place - homeless & unemployed). We always knew that if we had a baby girl her middle name would be hope.

Today has been significant for us; God reminding us of his promise, and the covenant I felt he made with me back in the summer in the UK that he would bring us hope.

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind...Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." Genesis 9: 12-16

The rainbow behind our house this evening...

Fun Weekend With Friends

This weekend we enjoyed visits from far away friends. The weekend started with Laura meeting up with Hannah Douglas (Her best friend Esther's sister) and ended with spending a night and day with our good friend Rachel Harrison (from New Zealand). We took her up Mount Seymour for some beautiful sunshine, snow, fantastic views, and some hilarious sledding antics! If that wasn't fun enough,  on Thursday I  (Paul) went curling for the first time ever - I'll be a Canadian yet! 

Rachel, Gracie & Laura

Laura, Rachel & Phoebe

Curling superstar!

Hannah meeting 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

The weekend...

We have had a lovely weekend together, playing football and basketball on the drive, going for walks and playing in the park. We also picked up the keys to our new home which is very exciting! We're hoping our shipping will arrive soon!

I (Laura) went to the hospital last night and had one of the best visits yet. I haven't held Phoebe in over a week because the doctors believed she had an infection and my visits were always timed badly (they don't like her to be handled that much). So when I arrived last night to be asked by the nurse if I would like a cuddle a jumped at the chance. 

Phoebe has now wearing clothes as they are starting to adjust her incubator to room temperature which is another brilliant milestone. She has grown so much but is still too small to wear premature clothing and is in micro-premmie clothes, but I don't think she'll be in them for long as she now weighs 1395 grams and appears to be gaining a good amount every day. Because she is now wearing clothes I didn't hold her kangaroo style (skin to skin) as I have so far, but held like a 'normal' baby which felt wonderful and far more natural. This was also the first time I've held her without CPAP, so i was able to gaze lovingly at her for over an hour! She even opened her eyes and had a good look at me for a while as well.  Here are a few photos from the weekend...

Gracie looking cute in her new top!

Phoebe with her eyes open

Holding Phoebe like a 'normal' baby

Friday...

This morning we visited Phoebe together as a family; Friday is our only real opportunity to go together as a family as it's both time consuming traveling to and from the hospital, and Gracie doesn't last long looking into a plastic box! 

We were fortunate to make it into the hospital in time for rounds (where the doctors, nurses and respiratory nurses talk about Phoebes progress). Phoebe seems to be doing really well (although she was being a little pickle for our visit (lots of alarms going off). 

Anyhow, the doctors are now seriously considering a transfer to a more local hospital for us (well, within 30 minutes or so). She won't be able to transfer to Langley Memorial Hospital until 34 weeks at the earliest (Please pray that she is ready to transfer to Langley at 34 weeks - that would be amazing). 

So she is currently at 31 weeks (had her 1 month birthday on Thursday) and is now weighing at 1325g which is very close to 3lbs. We're hoping that she'll be transfered within the coming week to either Royal Columbian Hospital (where Laura spent her week on bedrest), Surrey Memorial Hospital, or Abbotsford Regional Hospital; It will be dependent on who has a bed available for her. 

In other news... We get the keys to our rented house tomorrow, although we can't move in until our furniture arrives :-( Our container is due to arrive in Montreal on the 26th Feb; From there it will come on a train to Vancouver (Which takes a week!) and will be transfered to our shipping company warehouse - then I have to clear customs with it. So please pray that this doesn't go on too long as we're paying rent on a house that we wont be living in. We're excited about moving in also, so want our stuff to arrive soon. 

Gracie remains to be gorgeous... She is full of life and currently is very into playing football, watching Ice Hockey, and riding on her scooter! Thanks for all your prayers - keep them coming. 

CPAP is finally off!

Well, it's taken a few more days than expected but I (Laura) went into the hospital yesterday morning to find Phoebe is finally off the CPAP! This is such a huge milestone for her and we can finally see our beautiful girl. On the downside her gorgeous strawberry blonde hair has been shaved in two different places as they needed to give her an IV as she has an infection and is back on antibiotics. They tried to get the IV into her scalp but failed twice and ended up putting it into her hand. They are not sure what the infection is but she has had loose stalls for a few days now so they wondering if the two problems are related.

I managed to be in for the doctors rounds this morning and they are happy with her progress and are restarting her feeds and finishing her antibiotics tonight which is great news. Phoebe has also moved rooms and is now in the intermediate nursery which is good progress; The room is far quieter which is great and there is far less of the bingbonging!

Paul is fully into work now and is sinking his teeth into his job there. We're hopeful that we've found a house (we're waiting on references) which is about 500 yards away from the church so Paul will be able to walk with no excuse or need for the car! It's also right by the city park, so location is ideal! Please pray that we'd get this house and that our shipping would come by the 28th as planned! As usual here are some photos...

Phoebe's strawberry blonde hair (and very dry back!)

Phoebe without the CPAP 

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!

Gracie meets Phoebe for the first time!

Phoebe... Day 18!

This week has been a big week for the Kingsley-Smith Family... Julia (Paul's sister) got engaged to James last weekend, which we are HUGELY excited about. I (Paul) started work at LEFC on Tuesday, Phoebe had her first MRI scan (brain) on Wednesday, I played squash on Thursday (and my buttocks are killing as a result!) and today, Gracie met Phoebe for the first time. 

Phoebe isn't doing as well as we'd expected this week; While she's putting on weight like an American at McDonalds (she now weighs 1135g (2lbs 8oz)) she is still really struggling with her breathing. She is still being supported by her C-PAP, and she is having Apnia episodes quite regularly which isn't good. 

They don't feel she is in a position to come off C-PAP which is a real shame. They have her on a maximum caffeine dose which usually sorts this problem out, but in Phoebe's case it isn't, so they are all a bit confused about it although they think she may have some minor lung disease. 

We really need prayer that she can get the strength in her lungs to fully breathe on her own... at present she wouldn't survive without the C-PAP even though she showed such promising signs over the last couple of weeks. 

We are waiting to speak with the doctor in charge of the brain injury study, but his initial write up of Phoebe's scan indicates that there are no brain injuries although there are a couple of minor hemorrhages; Apparently there is nothing to be concerned about which is good news though. 

We're exhausted by driving to and from Vancouver but slowly feel like we are developing a routine that might work for us. We're really praying that she will become more stable (and be able to breathe without C-PAP) so that she could be transfered to a more local hospital (30 Minutes away) so please pray with us. As ever, here are some photos. 

Gracie and Laura washing up ready for Gracie to see Phoebe for the first time

'Rounds'; This is where the doctors and nurses discuss Phoebe's progress each morning

Our first family photo