Tuesday 16th November

These good days just keep coming now. Makes me a bit nervous.

Went to work all day today - well, until about 4pm anyway. I opted for the train to Poole this time; because my thinking is, surely there are less germs to catch on the train than on the M2 bus from Boscombe. Plus, it was a mere 8 minutes late - there was only a spattering of leaves on the line by Winchester. Although, who knows what will happen to the delays when the sleet starts floating down in February. Hopefully we won't still have a second home in Poole by then, though.

Anyway, when I arrived at NICU, I could hardly believe my eyes. My wife was sitting in the comfy chair with not one, but two babies engaged in full cuddle mode. This was the moment when it really sunk in - that I actually had a whole family here. It was really happening.

Soon after I got there, I held Willow for a first proper cuddle. So, we parents were sitting next to each other, with one baby each. This is what Leela and I had been thinking about since April - albeit maybe in our own lounge, rather than a hospital ward with bleeps and lights and incubators for company.

Willow was still quite angry today - probably due to coming off high doses of morphine and being given caffeine and steroids. She can't cry properly, because of the tube that was stuck down her throat for seven weeks; but her voice will come back soon.

Now that they're both doing so well, it would be easy to start getting complacent. But, now that we've got past this stage, the next worry starts seeping in - which is, what effect all this will have on them over the next few years. There is no real way of knowing, but they've been through so much, and been exposed to so many different drugs and treatments and problems. We just have to hope that they'll carry on getting through it, like they've done so bravely up to this point.

So today was quite a momentous day - the day that all four of us were really together as a family for the first time. Here's hoping for many more of those days to come.