Congratulations to the four of you!!

My little boy Eoin (now 6 !) was in one of those units for two weeks..........a worrying time, but as you say the nurses and doctors respect respect

All the best;)

Many thanks to you all for your kind messages, apologies for being so late replying as I really wanted my girlfriend Lisa to read them before I replied.

We are both very touched by what you have written, Lisa often used to take the mickey out of me for the amount of time I spend on this site reading every post and replying to some of them. She got quite emotional that there was so many people concerned about little Keira and said you sounded like a great bunch! I agree totally.

Its very heartening to hear other peoples experiences in similar situations both on here and people we have spoken to in general. Its amazing how many have had the same thing or had a relative or close friend with very premature babies. To be honest neither of us had really given it much thought before Keira came along.

Keira is doing great! She is gradually gaining weight (50 grammes yesterday!) so she is now at 1050 grammes, her feeds are being increased regurlarly and she really is looking 100% better. Its great that all the tubes and wires are gone (except for the feeding tube up her nose) She is still in an incubator but all the other machinery has now gone and all she has is a small monitor to check her breathing. She caused great entertainment yesterday when whilst having her nappy changed she managed to project the remaining contents of her bowels a good 10 inches all over the perspex at the foot end of the incubator and all over the 3 small cuddly bears and rabbits that reside in there with her.

Lisa is doing fine and coping incredibly well, shes a tough un! She has had 2 emergency ceaserians now in 14 months! It was heartwrenching to see her as scared as she was (we almost lost Alice at birth in Feb 04) I will never forget the sight of her shaking uncontrollably with her teeth chattering before and after the operation she was in total shock. But just a couple of hours later she was up and about and wanting to see Keira. We both spend as much time as possible at Hospital in the Special baby care unit, Lisa goes for the morning and we go together in the afternoon, I then tend to go back for a couple of hours in the late evening.

We are both 100% more positive than we were in the first week or so and have now got into a routine. We know we have another 8 weeks or so to go but we will all get there, never has time gone more slowly for either of us!

The nurses are gaining weight even faster than Keira as Lisas mother manages a cake shop and delivers at least 2 carrier bags full of boxes of unsold cakes to the nurses 6 days a week!

Dseered... Yes it was me at the bridge that day, I was with a lad I had met up with on another multistrada and would have come over and chatted had I known for sure it was you. Alice is doing great she has been a help to us really as she cheers us up with her antics! She is spending the odd extra afternoon at nursery which she loves as she has a boyfriend there (Dennis 14 months) As for meeting Keira I shall post a picture soon.

Charlotte.... Lisa is doing great thanks, I am looking forward to Alice and Keira becoming teenagers just to torment any boyfriends they may bring home!

Adam.... Any day now? Good luck mate, all the best.

Jason... I know what you mean by life changing, its great though I have laughed more in the last year because of Alice than I have done all the years previously.

Glyn... I agree with you about the job they do, they are incredible.

Deej.... glad you nephews getting better. I don't know much about Bells Palsy I do remember a mate of mine having it for about a year or so when we were younger. Best wishes to him and all your family.

Jools.... Thanks, it was great to hear about Sadie everything we hear like that gives us all a boost. Chins well and truly up!

Bradders.... youre right that is spooky! Again hearing this helps us be more positive. Funnily enough one of my best friends had a daughter (Mia) within a couple of hours of Keira (1 week overdue) and I have just received a cheque of one of my customers with apologies for it being late because he became a father to a daughter the same day!

Neilkeogh.... Love to little Eoin, thanks for the support.

Thanks again to all of you! Your messages really are a great help to both of us. Lisa wanted me to say that you were all obviously very nice people and we both look forward to meeting some of you soon.

Love and Best wishes

Martin, Lisa, Alice and Keira

Those are great news.
I'm happy for you all. :)
God bless and i'm sure Keira will be home in no time.

Must of missed this the first time around, so congrats firstly and great to hear that she's getting stronger and everything is looking peachy.

all the best .with new baby. keep you busy eh.save up for keiras duke.:saint:

Thanks again for the support and kind words from you all. Keira came home the other week after spending the first couple of months of her life in the special care baby unit. They allowed her to leave when her weight got to nearly 4 1/2 pounds which is still pretty small. She's put a load of weight on since getting home and is doing absolutley great! Between herself and her sister Alice they are pretty much keeping us awake all night and its superb!

I will post a good picture later when lisa comes back with them all.

Thanks again and I look forward to meeting a few of you in the Lakes this weekend.

Best wishes to all

Martin

Best wishes for you all.

Our first was born at 34 weeks (5lb 2oz) and spent the first week in intensive case in neo natal, and I can only echo your comments on what a fantastic job the Doctors and Nurses do.

Chloe will be 4 in september and you honestly wouldn't know that she had a rough start in life.



:D

Fantastic news :D

Shall we leave you sleeping in Cafe Zest and wake you up when we get back ;)

Congratulations Martin.

I'm sure its been a crazy couple of months, lets hope you can make the Lakes run just for the sleep in Cafe Zest as Steve mentioned.

Best wishes to all the family.

Congrats all round Martin.