Christmas fun...

Granny and Grandad with two little reindeer (Summer and Isabella)

A group photo - Granny, Grandad, Auntie Lia, Uncle Stu, Isabella,
Mummy, Daddy and Summer

Summer under the tree surrounded by all her pressies!!

Summers present from mum and dad - as you can see - she loves it!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone from Emma, Matt and Summer xxxx

Day out with Grandad

Summer (and her mummy and daddy) had a day out today with her Grandad Bob. We met in Chichester and had a lovely lunch followed by a walk around the quay.

Oma has come to visit

Summers Grandma (Oma) from Germany has arrived and as you can see they are already having lots of fun together!!

Summer had her latest checkup on Tuesday at Southampton Hospital. This appointment involved a full scan to check that the blood thinning drugs are working and to try and determine whether the blood clot has started to disperse .

The great news is that the clot has gone completely. "Nurse mummy" and "Doctor daddy" must have done a good job with the injections!

So the last line that Summer had going into her leg has been removed and apart from a few bruises she seems absolutely fine. As you can see from the picture above she can now lie on her tummy and look around at the world from a different perspective!

Update...

Summer is continuing to do really well. She has put on weight and is now eating a good amount of milk each day. She is trying to sit up by herself as you can see from the picture above and has also learnt how to blow raspberries which she finds hilarious - mummy and daddy find it very funny as well!! We are back at Southampton Hospital on Tuesday for a scan of Summers leg to see if the blood clot is still there or has dispersed. Fingers crossed.

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.