Summer meets her new cousin Isabella....

This weekend we finally met Summers new (and first) cousin Isabella Lily Bradley. She was born on Wednesday 19th November - right in the middle of all out hospital drama with Summer!!

Matt looking after both the girls!!!

The girls sitting together



Her mummy and daddy (Lia and Stuart) are thrilled to bits with their gorgeous daughter even if she is keeping them up every night - we've all been there so can definitely sympathise!!

Look how well she is doing......

Summer seems to be recovering well. She is now eating nearly full feeds and managing to keep it down (touch wood!). She is not having any pain relief but seems to be absolutely fine - its hard to believe she had major surgery a week and a half ago. I am still having to inject her twice a day with the blood thinning drug needed to disperse her blood clot but hopefully that won't be for too much longer.

In herself Summer seems much happier - lots of smiles and giggles for mum and dad!!!

Summers Home

Finally Summer is home !!! We got back last night at 8.30pm ish and its a wonderful feeling to all be together as a family again.

The surgeons are really impressed with how quickly Summer has recovered - she is now drinking some milk , although not her normal amount - but we are getting there. Her bowel seems to be working fine and she has a large crescent shape scar to show for this adventure!

Whilst in hospital Summer developed a blood clot in her right leg where her central line was put in. She is now being given blood thinning drugs to try and disperse the clot. We were allowed home on the condition that Nurse "mummy" gives Summer the injections twice a day - not an easy task if any of you know how squeamish I am! Her leg will then be scanned again in two weeks to see if the clot has reduced or hopefully gone completely.

Now we are home we are all looking forward to seeing Summers new cousin - Isabella Lily who was born on the 19th Nov weighing 6lb 3oz and also getting some normality back into our lives.

Hospital Update...

I am happy to report that Summer has been taken off her ventilator and is breathing well on her own. She has also been moved out of Intensive care and onto a Surgical recovery ward.

She is still currently on morphine for the pain relief and so is a bit drowsy but she definitely looks more like herself again. No smiles yet but here's hoping!

I tried to feed her this morning but at the moment she is not taking any milk . The doctors said that her bowel was quite bruised during the operation so may take a few days to start working again.

Hopefully she is on the road to recovery now.

Matt and I would like to thank everyone so much for all the kind words of support which really helped us during this difficult and upsetting time.

Diaphramatic Hernia

This is a very quick update to let everyone know that Summer has been taken into Paediatric Intensive care Unit at Southampton General Hospital due to a problem with her breathing.

She became unwell yesterday and the short version is that she had a small hole in her diaphragm and two thirds of her bowel had worked its way through into her lung cavity and collapsed her left lung causing her to have problems breathing. She has had an operation this morning to move the bowel down and close the hole. Her lung was then re-inflated.

She is currently stable - on a ventilator and heavily sedated.

We will have our mobile phones with us but they will be turned off whilst in the unit.

Wonderful day....

Today was Summers latest hospital appointment at Southampton. After checking Summers exomphalos they said that she no longer needs to wear her dressings as there is only a tiny amount of skin left to cover it - about the size of an old half pence coin. So for the first time ever Summer has no dressings over her tummy - what a wonderful day for her and for us!! It was quite emotional.

The doctors were very impressed with her weight gain - she is now 11lb 13oz and commented that she looked really well. We spoke to her surgeon who has now said that he may now operate on Summer between 1 and 2 years old. This is dependant on how her muscles grow as they will need to be joined across her stomach. As she starts to sit up and walk the muscles will grow stronger which will make it easier for the surgeons. Also after prodding her exomphalos the surgeon said he thinks the liver has definitely gone back into her abdominal cavity and that it now just contains bowel.

A really positive visit!!

Big eyes!!

Piccies

Summer in her "thinking" pose!

Starting to teethe so will chew anything she can get her little hands on!


Summer and Daddy