My new Baby Girl! SHE\'S HOME!!!
 

Thinks are a little 'up in the air' a bit in our household at the moment as my girlfriend gave birth to our second child last Monday (18th April) a lovely little girl we have called Keira! We already have a gorgeous 14 month old daughter called Alice. Its been very a very traumatic week as Keira was born by emergency caesarian section 11 weeks early! She only weighed 2 pound at birth and is in the special care baby unit at Airedale hospital in Yorkshire. She is now doing very well and has been breathing by herself from birth. All the tests so far have been positive and has just had the drip removed.

She has been moved into the next room after a week in the 'intensive care' part of the baby unit (it seems the babies get progressivly bigger as they move further away from that section and get nearer to the main door. So thats a psychological boost for us anyway! Her feeds are being regurlarly increased and the phototherapy has been stopped. Basically she is making very good progress.

I wondered if I should have posted such a message on here but as I have looked on this site just about everyday for the last couple of years or so (at least twice a day) and been a member for a year I feel as if I almost know some of you!

I know my girlfriend myself and Keira are all in for a long slog as she will be in the baby unit at very best for 8 weeks maybe longer. As you can imagine we are all constantly back and forth to the hospital to spend as much time as we can with her. I know some of you are probably thinking what the hell is he doing on this site when there are far more pressing things? To be honest I find myself wondering the same thing, but I know I have to keep some elements of normality in my everyday life or I don't think we could handle things too well. If and when I get the chance I will have a ride on the Multistrada for an hour or two to try and relax a little.

Thanks

Martin

ps Any doctors and nurses reading this, Its only now I realise what an incredible & hard job you do. The hours you put in you should be paid much much more than you are! I will never again complain how hard my work is. Thanks to you all.

[Edited on 22-6-2005 by MARTIN H]

congratulations mate all the best :D

Best Wishes and thoughts.

cracking post ... and you probably have many more friends here than you realise ..... good luck to you and yours ....

Congratulations on becoming a dad again Martin:D

Its sounding like all is going as well as things could at the moment - such an early arrival!:o
I hope your girlfriend is doing ok too?

Do enjoy your daughters, they are dependant on you for such a short time - then they grow into naughty teenagers:devil: then onwards & upwards into young women & leave the nest:) (I've got one of 21:o )

Hope the coming days & weeks see Keira thrive well:)

Charlotte

My wife and I are expecting our second baby in three weeks time, stressfull enough time at best. All the best mate.

nice one mate

Congratulations, and best wishes to all four of you. In a few months time all the worries you're going through now will be behind and forgotten

Of course, in a few years you'll be wondering why Alice and Kiera are 5 minutes late home :)

I became a parent just over 12 months ago and I can't believe how much it's changed my life.

All the best.

Jason

well done to all of you
hope she comes home as soon as possible

our first born went into intensive care when he was first born
we were so worried, but they really do do a fantastic job in those places

keep us posted

Congrats to both of you Martin-I loved CK's post
"Do enjoy your daughters, they are dependant on you for such a short time"-really?-mine are 23 and 26 and they still seem to be dependant-financially at least.........:o

John

Congratulations Martin and best of luck for Keira.

Very best wishes to you all.:saint:

congratulations matey, hope it all works out in the end.

my nephew was born with bells palsy but is gettign better day by day and im sure kiera will too



adam, you'd better stop spending all yuor money if you've got one due soon

Congratulations, great stuff - best wishes to all four of you !!!

Tim

Martin...Best wishes mate, Keep your chin up ;)

Martin, don't worry about whether your post is appropriate! One of the best things about the DSC, and the message board, is that people post all their joys and sorrows here and get huge support. There are other things that come way above bikes and the welfare of our families probably tops that list.

I have two children myself and know the joy they bring, fortunately I have not had the stress you are suffering from.

If it helps, my wife was a premature twin and weighed 2 pounds, exactly the same as Keira when she was born. Sadie was given the last rites there and then, but she is now the strongest woman I know. If medical science pulled my wife through 47 years ago (I know, I know...how did we get so old so fast) they can do it now, so chin up.

My wife is now a palliative care nurse working with terminally ill patients, so I agree with you that they're not paid nearly enough, 'cos we're broke.

Your daughter will pull through and since my children have a similar age difference between them, I just know you're going to have a great time when she gets home, they'll grow up with a very close bond.

Best wishes to you all

Congratulations and all the best for all of you.
You'll see this stressing moment will pass very soon ;)

my very best wishes, my son was born 6 weeks early, by section, on 18th April, called Kieran - spooky?? (9 years ago tho - boy it flies!!)

Know what its like mate, looking at him now, you would never think he had been so small! Keep smiling and beliving positive things - best advise that was given to me when he was born and kept me sane!

Life gods blessing to us all our children the ultimate gift
I am wishing you and your family well

;)

Congrats matey

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.

I also missed this the first time around but congrats for both of you


Ps dont let anyone tell the woman gets the worse deal , when i was at the birth for both my kids , i cant tell you how stressfull it was for me , and for the Nurse to say do you want to cut the cord !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well that nearly broke me , and all the wife did was lay on her back

Joking aside i dont know how women do it ,if we men had it the other way there would be a lot less kids around my wife done a great job and all mothers should get a great pat on the back cause dammed if i could it


WELL DONE :D:D

Congratulations. What a beautiful name. Celtic/Gaelic for black haired.