Abby tries milk feeds

The latest news on baby Abigail (born Tuesday) seems to be very encouraging. Nix spoke with the consultant in charge this morning after the ward round and overall the doctors are pleased with Abby's progress. The fitting, which is now being called "abnormal movements", occurred less often yesterday (Friday) and was less severe. Abby had already had her sedation and anti-convulsive medication reduced and today it's been lowered even more. A second ultrasound has showed that some of the swelling on the brain has reduced, too.

Today Nix was able to hold Abigail again and even tried to feed her, although Abby didn't seem too interested. This good progress was prompted because a doctor examining her said that Abby had tried to suckle on his finger. As a result, Abigail has this evening began feeding on milk. She's even opened her eyes on several occasions and appears to be waking up a bit more. Doctors noted that she was quite wriggly and objected to having her nappy changed - another good sign.

Consultants say that they will continue to gradually reduce Abigail's medication over the next few days in an attempt to wean her off it, although they are still at a loss to explain the real reason behind all this. More tests will be done and Abby will have to return to hospital in a few weeks for a full MRI brain scan to check for structural abnormalities. There's no prediction yet as to how long she'll remain in hospital - we are still told to take it one day at a time - but she will almost certainly be on some form of medication for several months yet. In the short term, the next 48 hours are important to see how well she picks up on her milk feeding.

One consultant on duty this weekend remarked that she had briefly seen Abigail on Tuesday evening shortly after she was born and commented that prospects then "were not good". Since seeing Abby again yesterday and today she said that there had been good improvement in her yesterday and even more again today, and that she was almost "a different baby". Another registrar who had only seen Abby for the first time today sat down with Nix and asked her to explain Abby's full history, with everything that had happened from before the birth to now. After Nix had told him and he'd examined Abby he said "Given her history, I would not have expected her to be like this today." This is all very encouraging news!

It looks as though Nix will now come home from hospital some time tomorrow (Sunday) after which we’ll spend a few days recuperating at my parents’ house in Charlton before finishing getting our house ready for Abby! It looks like being a long road ahead of us, but thanks to so many of you, we are not alone in that journey. Thank you so much again.