Coming Home Plans

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster ride to say the least. We seem to have been 'about two weeks' away from Natalie being possibly able to come home for some time now. So on Tuesday when the cleft palate team came to see Natalie, Mum discussed with them when we might be able to bring her home. They proposed an action plan as follows:

On Friday, Natalie moves onto the mother and baby ward, with Mum. They stay for two nights, and if feeding has gone well during that period then we should be able to take Natalie home on Sunday!

Then on the Thursday the consultant reviewed Natalie's progress and told Mum there was no way we would be going home on Sunday. Mum was very upset having had an end to the hospital stay in sight all week. Then she spoke to the cleft team again and it turns out that the consultant and the cleft team had not spoken to one another. So the consultant was advising based on criteria for a baby without a cleft palate, rather than on the recommendations of the cleft team! So now we were back on track to bring Natalie home on Sunday!

On Friday evening, Natalie was transferred into a mobile cot ready to be moved onto the ward, and Mum was re-admitted for the weekend to see how she got on feeding Natalie round the clock without the help of the special care unit staff.

Natalie now weighs 1.953Kg (4lbs 4oz).

Natalie in a cot ready to be transferred out of the special care unit onto the ward