Hello there, yes we are still here, are you? Well meet Joshua, who is now 8 months actual, 5 months corrected. He finally left NICU on the 5th of August, a little more than 5 momths after being born, and came straight home. He has since been readmitted twice with bronchiolitis, each time for a week, and we have just gone through another cold, luckily he escaped hospital this time round.
The fact that he is home doesn't mean that all complications from his prematurity have been resolved, far from. He has Chronic Lung Disorder and is still oxygen-dependent, but hopefully his lungs will grow stronger and he will eventually not need the extra help anymore. He never developed a proper sucking/swallowing reflex and is therefore still fed by NG-tube which is very very uncomfortable and causes many problems for him and us. Getting him off the tube will be our objective over the next months, but it will be a hard task. Worst case scenario he will have a g-tube where he is fed directly into his stomach. The fact that he has spent so much time in hospital also means that his development is quite delayed, but hopefully he will eventually catch up. Usually for babies with lung problems the first year really is the hardest, especially the first winter when the flu season starts. All we can do is try and keep him away from possible infections, but when you have an older toddler who goes to pre-school that is quite hard.
But despite all the the problems and worries we are so glad to have him home and take each day as it comes.
The fact that he is home doesn't mean that all complications from his prematurity have been resolved, far from. He has Chronic Lung Disorder and is still oxygen-dependent, but hopefully his lungs will grow stronger and he will eventually not need the extra help anymore. He never developed a proper sucking/swallowing reflex and is therefore still fed by NG-tube which is very very uncomfortable and causes many problems for him and us. Getting him off the tube will be our objective over the next months, but it will be a hard task. Worst case scenario he will have a g-tube where he is fed directly into his stomach. The fact that he has spent so much time in hospital also means that his development is quite delayed, but hopefully he will eventually catch up. Usually for babies with lung problems the first year really is the hardest, especially the first winter when the flu season starts. All we can do is try and keep him away from possible infections, but when you have an older toddler who goes to pre-school that is quite hard.
But despite all the the problems and worries we are so glad to have him home and take each day as it comes.
Hello world!
4 comments:
He is absolutely gorgeous! What a stressful year you have had though. Was only thinking about you the other day and wondering how you were all getting on. Will keep my fingers crossed for a hospital free winter! On a positive note I went to a birthday party today and my friends nephew was there. He was born at 26 weeks and spent almost a year on oxygen. He is now a healthy 7 year old and you would never even know he was premature.
I was only just thinking how you and your family were about 2 days ago. Glad to here that your little man is finally home and i hope that you manage to avoid anymore nasty colds from here on.
He is a little beauty!
I hope you feel very proud at how well you have all done this past year.
x K
Thank you, I'm very touched by your thoughts. Yes it's been a tough year but it has also brought us closer together as a family which is great.
I'm so glad to see he is doing well. I thought of your blog the other day... I had only discovered it just before he was born.
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