I can't remember when I started writing this. Probably when I had a few spare seconds last week.
Overall, this month has been much more pleasant than the previous November. Last year, it was the time that we hit rock-bottom. Willow had just had her operation and it was touch and go for a few days at least. On Sunday, it was 12 months since she had finally freed herself from the ventilator, which was the first major step on the road out of NICU. This year, she's very nearly walking on her own. She stood with no support for three seconds yesterday, so it won't be long at all. She's going to be dangerous when she's worked out how to move on two feet, that's for sure.
Stanley's had a really positive few weeks too. His sitting up is coming along slowly but surely. He still can't do it completely without the support of his own arms, but every day his back is getting straighter and stronger. We're just hoping right now that he'll be able to sit up nicely on Christmas Day to immerse himself in wrapping paper. He's now doing physiotherapy and hydrotherapy every week, both of which he's responding well to. It definitely helps that there are young lady physios for him to look and smile at while being floated about in a pool. We were also told by doctors that they're pretty sure he'll be able to to walk without aids. It's the first time someone's actually told us a rough outcome we can expect. Obviously it could still be much worse or much better than that - but this is the 'average' result for a child doing what Stanley is doing right now.
At that same meeting, Willow was effectively signed off - they told us they don't want to see her again (in the nicest possible way). Also, she's now been off oxygen for nearly two months - so hopefully we can now put that episode behind us. We still need to keep it around the house in case she gets ill. However, in the last two weeks both Willow and Stanley have had a bad cold. We were quite worried when we woke up one morning to them wheezing badly. But they managed to get through it without even needing any additional oxygen; in fact, they coped a lot better than Daddy coped with his man-flu.
Overall, this month has been much more pleasant than the previous November. Last year, it was the time that we hit rock-bottom. Willow had just had her operation and it was touch and go for a few days at least. On Sunday, it was 12 months since she had finally freed herself from the ventilator, which was the first major step on the road out of NICU. This year, she's very nearly walking on her own. She stood with no support for three seconds yesterday, so it won't be long at all. She's going to be dangerous when she's worked out how to move on two feet, that's for sure.
Stanley's had a really positive few weeks too. His sitting up is coming along slowly but surely. He still can't do it completely without the support of his own arms, but every day his back is getting straighter and stronger. We're just hoping right now that he'll be able to sit up nicely on Christmas Day to immerse himself in wrapping paper. He's now doing physiotherapy and hydrotherapy every week, both of which he's responding well to. It definitely helps that there are young lady physios for him to look and smile at while being floated about in a pool. We were also told by doctors that they're pretty sure he'll be able to to walk without aids. It's the first time someone's actually told us a rough outcome we can expect. Obviously it could still be much worse or much better than that - but this is the 'average' result for a child doing what Stanley is doing right now.
At that same meeting, Willow was effectively signed off - they told us they don't want to see her again (in the nicest possible way). Also, she's now been off oxygen for nearly two months - so hopefully we can now put that episode behind us. We still need to keep it around the house in case she gets ill. However, in the last two weeks both Willow and Stanley have had a bad cold. We were quite worried when we woke up one morning to them wheezing badly. But they managed to get through it without even needing any additional oxygen; in fact, they coped a lot better than Daddy coped with his man-flu.
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