Together at last

We've been praying, hoping, waiting, longing, dreaming, talking, blogging about this day and it has finally come. This morning Phoebe came home to us from Abbotsford hospital weighing 6lbs 2oz (2 days earlier than we had expected) . She is our living miracle, evidence of God's rich blessing on us, a testimony to his faithfulness, and we are so thankful that we finally start this chapter of our journey together as a family.

God has been remarkable throughout this hard season, and we've been so blessed by the people that have surrounded us to support and encourage us, pray for us, love us, feed us, house us, move us and just be all round great friends and family. We also owe a huge debt of thanks to all of the medical staff who have supported Phoebe over the past 11 weeks - you have all been incredible.

Just to show that God is interested in the details as well as the big stuff, Phoebe was released us on the same day our 1 month parking permit expired, saving us the extortionate parking fees for Sunday and Monday (Exactly the same thing happened when she left Vancouver)!!!

We're loving having Phoebe at home with us, and it feels like we can finally start life here in Canada together. We've got a long way to go with our little Phoebe, but at this stage we're just happy to be together.

Phoebe in her carseat

Home at last

Gracie and Phoebe watching TV together!

One last time...

Yesterday we did one last family visit to see Phoebe in Hospital; When we arrived, they had taken all monitors off, the tube out of her nose, and she was our 'normal' baby for the first time. We had a great time feeding & bathing, and Gracie simply adores her which is so nice to see. Here are a few photos...

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 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!

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.