Monday 17th January

We entered NICU with a feeling of excitement today, as we were having our discharge meeting. This involved a consultant doctor, health visitor, community nurse, dietician and a NICU nurse, and we all discussed the babies and the plan for their release. Originally this was only going to be Stanley's escape we were talking about; but as his sister has pretty much caught up with him, it was for Willow too. It was good to meet the people who would be around to help us should we need any assistance when our children are released into the community.

We've also booked in for another 'rooming in' session this weekend, for three nights with both Willow and Stanley. Hopefully, this will be swiftly followed by the departure of all four of us. We just can't believe we've finally (nearly) made it this far; but perhaps we should not count our chickens just yet - as the last 115 days have taught us, you never know what is around the corner.

Stanley's feeding has been much improved today - hopefully he can just build on that and be the perfect feeder his sister is already. He was weighed again this afternoon, and is now a rather colossal 8lbs 4oz. He'll be too big for his car seat at this rate.

Willow is still coming along nicely, feeding beautifully and letting out wind in a much more lady-like fashion than her little brother. Her oxygen requirements, which have been pretty steady the last few weeks, have even started to come down. She'll still most likely be dependent on oxygen for a few months after coming home though, so we'll put the family visit to Everest base camp on the back burner for a while.

We're not sure what we're going to do with ourselves when we leave; with no nurses to talk to all day, no smashing the car up trying to find a parking space, no capp-americano-latte-ccinos from BP, no tutting and glaring at the locals as they hang out smoking by the hospital entrance, no running after (and generally missing) buses and trains. It's going to be a whole new experience; and the best part of it is that we'll be sharing it all with Willow and Stanley.