Got a phone call from East Surrey Hospital Thursday (15 March) – one of the paediatricians had had a look at the urine test results from our latest trip there for her jaundice and said that there seemed to be traces of a wee infection. The signs weren’t overwhelmingly clear; it could be a case of cross-contamination from a slightly dirty baby bottom at the time of the test, but with little babies they always want to make sure. If there was an infection, Jessica would need antibiotics and probably an ultrasound test, as her kidneys could be at risk. The paediatrician called my GP to arrange for a urine sample kit to be left in reception for me; then I would have to get a sample from Jessica in the morning and return it to the surgery before 11 am.
Although our surgery is just down the road (it literally takes us a couple of minutes to get from our front door to the reception), with a little baby I suddenly realised things were quite different – I wouldn’t be able to just pop around to fetch the sample kit without bringing Jessica along, which would mean dressing her, as well as deciding on and putting together some type of transport… Decided to call on Ian’s parents to see if they were around and they were very happy to come and watch Jessica while I popped out. As a result, the visit to the surgery was quick (took the opportunity to officially register Jessica with the GP at the same time), and then the four of us spent a few relaxed hours in the flat, Jessica being generally admired and the rest of us catching up on conversation.
The following morning, I spent a couple of hours, in between feeds and nappy changes, gradually getting myself and Jessica ready to go over to the surgery to hand the urine sample in, putting the Baby Björn carrier on and ‘strapping’ Jessica into it on my own for the first time. Now it’s just a case of waiting to hear what the hospital says about the results from the new tests…
Regarding the trapped wind, Jessica hasn’t really complained about that in the last couple of days, which is a bit puzzling. (Maybe that’s only temporaily and she will again today…) Instead she’s been throwing up a lot since Thursday morning. Not a case of ‘projectile vomiting’ and no temperature involved, but it’s meant that regularly during and after each feed quite a bit of what she’s had has come up again, which in turn meant not having a clue of how much she’s actually been able to keep, plus running out of breastmilk and then our back-up supply of formula quite quickly… At 10.30 pm last night (Friday) we were seriously worried that we’d run out of food for our daughter during the night, and after a quick phone call Ian’s sister hopped in her car to give Ian a lift to a 24-hour supermarket at Gatwick for an emergency re-stock…!
From early this morning, though, Jessica has seemed to be able to keep most of her food down, so fingers crossed whatever it was preventing her from holding food down properly has now passed…! A wonderful thing that I want to share with you – although I know this is perfectly normal and to be expected as part of a baby’s development and nothing unique at all – is that Jessica is now spending more time awake not just wanting a feed or nappy change but showing an interest in what’s going on around her. Her big, blue eyes will be wide open and she will, seemingly contentedly, be watching us, our eyes and mouths, and even seem to try to mimic the movements of our mouths when we speak to her. This morning she was following a wafting strand of my hair with her eyes as I was bending over her and when I held her Moomin rattle up and shook it a couple of decimeters (7-8 inches) from her face she watched it with interest. I have already read her the odd story and sing to her regularly (she’s not a very severe critic but seems happy to put up with any kind of singing voice…), and can’t wait until we’ll be able to interact more, play and sing songs together – it’s all very exciting…!
Finally, just wanted to say thank you to everyone who have posted comments on our blog so far – we really appreciate it and please keep them coming! We know of course that our situation as new parents is in no way unique and it’s brilliant to get tips and hear of other people’s experiences. Many thanks for your comment to my last post, Andrea – it’s reassuring to know that you’ve had a similar situation to deal with and obviously come out of it fine: Lilah is lovely. I can see how at every stage of a Jessica’s development everything would still feel new and sometimes a tiny bit daunting to me; that’ll carry on for years and years, I’m sure. But then that’s part of what’s so exciting…
Gabriella