I arrived at hospital today to find Toby Asher in an open cot. This is really good news as it means he is regulating his temperature very well on his own. It also makes for much easier cuddling, as we can lift him in and out more easily.
He is now feeding 35ml every three hours, which is also good news as it means his stomach is tolerating larger quantities of milk at once. Expressing is going well – we now have a dual electric breast pump set up at home, which amazingly a friend had dropped round to me in preparation for baby boy before we even knew he was arriving early and would be so very useful! God knew and took care of the details. What a wonderful provider.
They change his feeding tube every three days and I managed to get here as they were about to remove the current one, so I have some of our first pics of him with his face clear and no tube in the way – though we don’t mind :-)
Ed and Isobel are at church and coming back for another visit, Isobel’s second visit, with Toby at 3pm. I’m just having lunch then will go up for at least an hour of what they call ‘Kangaroo Care’, which is skin-on-skin time with mummy, where they hear the familiar sound of mummy’s heartbeat, as in the womb, get used to her smell and feel. Essential for bonding in these early days and weeks.
We don’t know when he’ll be home. The earliest we’ve been told will be at 35 weeks but another nurse told us not to expect him home before 37 weeks , which is a wait of 4 weeks! I can’t bear the thought of that but we continue to take it one day at a time and keep on trusting God for his perfect timing and good plan for Toby’s life and ours.
We love you family xx
florencejoy 