Happy Christmas to all our readers!

On behalf of the Bodger clan, can I take this opportunity to thank you for tracking our progress during 2006 and wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. Until then, here are a couple of cracking photo's...

Ants in ya Pants!

Sam had his Birthday party today at Ants in ya Pants! His actual Birthday is not until Thursday 7th Dec, but it was a good opportunity to get together with all his school friends. He invited all the boys and just 2 girls! They had a great time letting off steam as most boys of 6 do!

It was just like feeding time at the zoo, and there was planty of great food to be devoured!







And here are the 2 special brothers with rather red cheeks!

Mug shots

Just experimenting with black & white photos on my camera and joining photos together. What a handsome bunch they are....

New weights!

Hi, I'm Phoebe and I'm now 6 months and 6 days old and today I weighed exactly 16lb.

...and I'm Lydia and I'm now 6 months and 6 days old too and today I weighed 11lb 10Oz.

All Fast Asleep!

The girls have crashed-out after a hard morning at home...

My Gorgeous Girls!

Just look at how much Phoebe has grown. She's quite a bruiser now!




"Are you looking at me?"








And just look at the size of Lydia too! She is finally starting to put on a bit of weight.







Lydia enjoying her mum's kisses!

All the "Young" Dudes!

Well it was certainly time to "let our hair down" for Martyn Bull's 50th Birthday bash in true 70's style! I love Helen's wig!

The Boys go Conkers!

Here is a photo of Sam & Daniel after collecting conkers in a park in Caerphilly. Don't they look proud/gorgeous/cheeky (delete as appropriate)!

The Visit of the Third Cousins Once Removed!

The girls had their first visit today from two of my second cousins. I'm not 100% certain of the relationship to Phoebe & Lydia, but Paul and Freda are my mum's cousins, which in my book makes them my "second cousins". Answers on a postcard if you can solve the relationship with the girls! Anyway, It was great to see Paul & Heather and Freda & Dennis today, and this photo shows Freda with Phoebe and Heather with Lydia.

Dedication Photos

A huge thank you to everyone who attended the dedication service for Phoebe & Lydia today. It was certainly an emotional time for us as we took time out to formally thank God for the girls and thank those who have been supporting us in so many ways during the past difficult few months. Here is the evidence (apologies if they are a bit out of focus, my hands were shaking!!)....

Dedication Service Reminder - All Welcome

The boys start back at school

This is the big boy of the household on the way to his first day back at school. He is now starting in the dizzy heights of year 1 ("middles" as they call it in their school)! His new teacher is called Mrs Davies and Sam seems to like her. He had a good first day, and enjoyed being back with all his friends.


And this is Daniel, who started his very first day in the reception class today. His teacher is Sam's old teacher, Mrs Sharpe and he seems to get on OK with her already. He came home plastered in stickers (including one from the headteacher) and his T-shirt was plastered in mud - must have been a good first day!

Lydia's new weight!

We have just arrived back home after Lydia's check-up with the neonatal consultant. She now weighs 7 Lb 5 Oz - WOW! He was pleased with progress and doesn't need to see her again until Jan 07. She is naturally still very tiny, but is nicely in proportion! She also had a hearing test with an audiologist this morning and her left ear was a borderline pass, but unfortunately her right ear failed. We think this may be down to her being very blocked-up at the moment. She will be re-tested in September to see if things have improved. She has also just started making small noises, which is great news, as there was concern that her vocal chords may have been damaged by all the tubes. That's nearly the end of the appointments for a few weeks, they both just need to be seen by our GP for a quick once-over, but that should be fairly straight forward and is more about getting them formally "registered" on the NHS. As the neonatal consultant put it "now try and forget all the medical stuff for a while and just enjoy THEM" - we will certainly be taking his advice!! Will upload some photos when I get a minute....!

Dedication service confirmation

We have confirmed that we will be holding a Dedication/Celebration service for the girls at 4pm on Sunday 17th September in Thornhill Church. This will be a good opportunity for us to thank God for Phoebe & Lydia and to celebrate how far we have come by the grace of God. If you have been following progress, or you just want an opportunity to meet the girls face to face, then please feel free to come along to this very simple time of celebration with our friends and family.

Lydia's arm update!

We took Lydia to see the plastic surgeon from Moriston hospital in Swansea today. He was pleased with the way things have healed-up and confirmed that he doesn't need to see Lydia again. This is another bit of really good news for us and another answer to our prayers. Lydia has been left with a scar on her right arm, which will get bigger as she does, but it will be another good story for her to tell when she's older! They couldn't feel pulses in her right wrist, but when they tried in her (good) left arm they couldn't feel them there either! This is most probably due to her still being so tiny! Friday is the next hospital appointment, with her neonatal consultant wanting to check her over!

New weight for Lydia!

We took Lydia into hospital for her first check-up with the cardiac team and dietician earlier today. She now weighs 6Lb 15Oz - wow! The dietician was very pleased with her weight gain. The nurse was also pleased with her observations and confirmed her operation scars are healing nicely. The registrar scanned her heart and confirmed that things are still looking good. She still has the tiny hole in her heart (VSD) but this will either close on its own, or she could just live with it as is. There is a very small possibility she might need it closing when she's a teenager, as it's very close to the tricuspid valve, but that's just speculation at this stage and is a very long way off! Her aorta repair seems to be holding up well, and again they will keep their eye on this, as her aorta was so small at the time of the operation she may need the scar tissue "balooning" at some point in the future, but again "time will tell" and all is well at this stage! We mentioned that we were concerned Lydia's cry was very weak sounding (it sounds like she's got a very sore throat) and they confirmed that this may be due to some damage to the nerve that supports the left hand vocal cord. Aparently, this nerve is looped right around the aorta at about the point where her coarctation repair was done. Again, time will tell how this heals up, but she might well sound a bit like a new Bonnie Tyler as she grows up - at least we'll be able to tell the girls apart a bit easier!! We have an appointment to see the plastic surgeon from Moriston hospital in Swansea on Tuesday about the skin on Lydia's arm, but when the cardiac doctors took a look at it today, they were keen for us to point out that it was the Bristol team that referred her, not the Cardiff team, as they felt it was healing nicely on it's own and the pastics team would wonder why on earth she had been referred in the first place - which is an encouraging situation! We are waiting to hear about the hearing test appointment, but Lydia is currently very blocked-up and can't seem to hear a thing, so we're hoping this will happen when her tubes are a bit clearer! Phoebe was very blocked-up when she first came home and this is probably them becoming used to life in the dusty, pollinated world outside of the sterile hospital wards! So, it's all moving in the right direction at last. Thanks again for your ongoing thoughts and prayers. Report more as it happens....!

Some new photos!

I thought it was about time you saw just how big the girls have grown!! They are modelling their new outfits from Neil & Alison in Gainsborough - thanks guys! Phoebe has just started smiling and we've even heard a few giggles. Mum and dad try for ages to get some smiles, but they come much quicker when the boys are telling the girls their latest jokes!

Lydia continues to do well and she's gradually starting to develop her voice. Until now, she's cried in wispers, but I think she's starting to pick up some tips from her sister in the noise stakes, although she's still got a long way to go to catch up with the noisy Phoebe!!

Advance notice: We'll be arranging a short dedication service for the girls in Thornhill Church for a Sunday afternoon in September (possibly the 17th), so if you would like to meet the girls face to face, this would be a good opportunity. Will post more details on this once we get things nailed-down, but it would be fantastic to see you there!

Some new weights!

Well, the girls had their jabs today and didn't particularly enjoy them, which is totally understandable!! They were also weighed and the really encouraging news is that Phoebe is now weighing 9 Lb 10 Oz and Lydia 6 Lb 11.5 Oz. We were really pleased with that news, and for me it makes all the patient hours in the night with Lydia's bottles so worthwhile! Helen is still obviously supplying a good "gold top" milk for Phoebe too, and it's great to see them both getting stronger by the day! The next appointment is this Friday, when we take Lydia in to see the cardiac team, who will monitor her progress after nearly two weeks at home! Will report more as it happens, or should I say, when my huge clan of children (and a very patient wife) allow me to!

One week on!

So, we've had both of our daughters home for a week now and it's been such a special time together. Apologies I haven't been updating the blog, but I was back in work last week and things were fairly manic as you can imagine! Lydia seems to be adapting well to life outside hospital and Phoebe is gradually getting used to having her sister around! They both seem to be putting on weight, but we will know for sure tomorrow when they get weighed by the health visitor. They both need their "jabs" tomorrow, Lydia her first set, and Phoebe her second, bless them! The boys are loving having both of their sisters around and are continuing to cope well with the fairly major changes within the household! We've got quite a number of outpatient appointments over the coming weeks for Lydia, but she's not giving us any cause for concern at the moment! Thanks again to those of you who have updated the guestbook, it seems to be working well! Thanks too for all your kind words of ongoing support and encouragement, they are much appreciated.

Lydia is HOME !!

We have just arrived home from the hospital after collecting Lydia, so we are all together as a family for the very first time. We are absolutely delighted to have reached this point and are so grateful for all your interest, concern and prayers - THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!


Please don't forget to check out the Bodger guestbook! It seems to be working OK!

Have you been reading this Blog?

If you have been reading this Blog I thought it would be a neat idea to try and create a list of your names in a "guestbook", so I get a view of who has been following Phoebe & Lydia's progress. Now this is breaking new ground for me, as I'm not really into all this "new fangled" technology as you have probably gathered by the state of this Blog! Anyway, let's give it a go and see how we get on. If you fancy participating in this very crude trial, then please leave your name in this guestbook. If it all goes horribly wrong, I will delete this Blog entry ASAP! Everything you enter in the guestbook will be viewable by others, so don't worry if you don't want to complete all the fields it asks for, just your name and a comment is fine. Unfortunately I can't tailor the questions myself, they are system-generated.

If you decide to keep your eye on the guestbook entries and this update is tricky to find, I have also created a direct link to the guestbook in the "Links" section on the right hand side of this page, just to make it simple for you!

Report more as it happens, although if Lydia comes home tomorrow as planned I may not have too much spare time on my hands, so you'll have to forgive me if the updates aren't quite so regular from this point onwards!!

Want to hear some good news?

We've just got in from the hospital following Phoebe's 6 week (since leaving SCBU) check-up. All went well and the consultant was pleased with her growth and progress. She now weighs 8 Lb 6 Oz, which is superb! We then called in to see Lydia and she was having her heart scan done. The registrar was pleased with this and also confirmed her chest x-ray and ECG scans were good as well! She is also putting on weight and is guzzling her milk from a bottle - there's just no stopping her - she is making up for lost time/feeds!! They are currently arranging an outpaitients appointment for her to see a plastic surgeon from a hospital in Swansea about her arm. She is having her remaining stitches out later this afternoon (from where her chest drain had been) and the plan is for her to COME HOME ON MONDAY!!!! We just can't wait to finally have her home. It will be exactly 12 weeks since she was born on Monday! We thank God for bringing her through the past 12 weeks and we're so appreciative for all your thoughts, prayers and practical support! Hopefully there will be more positive updates on the blog over the coming weeks as we continue to track the expoloits of the Bodger tribe!
Sam & Daniel chose some wrist bands from a bookshop earlier this week which say "God Strong" on them. This refers to a verse in the Bible from Ephesians 6v10 which says "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power", and I must say that this is something we have all been experiencing first hand over the past few months! Report more as it happens...

Lydia is back on Welsh soil !!

Lydia arrived back into the Heath Hospital at lunchtime today. She is now free of all wires and pipes, and was even lying in a hospital pram (after visiting the concourse with the nurses) when we called in to see her! The cardiac registrar we saw thought she was doing well. They now plan to monitor her feeding, heart and arm over the next couple of days, and if all goes well she could be home with us at some point next week! She still needs to see a plastic surgeon about her arm, but this may be able to be done as an outpatients appointment in the next month or so.

We even managed our very first "whole family outing" this afternoon, when we took Lydia with us (in our new double pram) for a walk through the hospital concourse and out to the "fountain area". The boys were very excited to see their sister again, although Phoebe didn't seem too fussed about the whole thing! Here's the first photo of us all out together, taken by mum earlier today.


Thanks to those of you who were praying the move would happen smoothly today. We've seen yet another answer unfold before our eyes today!

No news is good news

No new news again today. Lydia looks a bit "grey" today, as she's been taken off all pain relief now, but I'm sure she will perk up when she realises she's on for a trip back to sunny Wales on Wednesday!! They have taken the line out of her neck now and she pulled her nose tube out, so when they pull the short line out of her arm (hopefully they will stop the blood thinning drug tomorrow) she will be "pipe free"!! Just a few wires left to go! Lydia was swabbed again following her surgery and the good news is that she is still clear of the dreaded MRSA!! The plastic surgeons will be contacting the team in Cardiff to keep an eye on the nasy black patch of skin on her arm and her ring finger. Her pulses are still faint. The dietician came to see us today and confirmed that Lydia needs more calories again to make up for the weight lost since surgery. She also needs to start growing in length a bit more, so they have started her back on the fortifier added to Helen's milk. She is still having trouble remembering to breathe while sucking from the bottle, so they may need to put another nose tube down for her night feeds, we'll see how she goes over night! Report more as it happens...

No New News!

Just had a long update from the hospital in Bristol. Lydia has had a settled night and is making good progress. She has lost some more weight, so they are now to start giving her a fortifier in her milk again. She is starting to take her milk well from a bottle, and is getting the hang of continuing to breathe while sucking, which is a good trick and stops her going blue!! The doctors can still feel faint pulses in her right arm and leg, and they feel a bit warmer now, which is encouraging. They have moved the line out of her neck and have moved the heprin drug onto a new line into a vain in her left arm! He left arm went a bit pale and cool with this new line in place, so they are monitoring this as well now! She certainly doesn't like having plastic tubes inserted into her anymore - and I don't blame her either, she's had enough of them! The team in Bristol have arranged for the plastic surgeon to take another look at her "burn marks" on her right arm and ring finger next Tuesday, and they have also booked an ambulance to transfer her back to Cardiff next Wednesday! It looks like things are starting to improve and head in the right direction...again!

Just to give you a sense of scale!

Here's a photo of Phoebe in Lydia's cot, just to give you a sense of scale. Phoebe is now weighing 7Lb 4Oz, and Lydia has lost quite a bit since surgery and is now 2.3Kg (not sure what that is in "real money")! Lydia was keen to "check out" her sister, although she didn't really appreciate her lying on her very sore right arm!!!

The plan for Lydia!

I know a few of you didn't like seeing the photo of Lydia in intensive care with all the pipes and wires (especially Lewis in Clevedon!!), so here's a slightly better one of her in the cardiac ward. From her heart operation perspective she is recovering well. They have increased her feeds to almost 40mL every 3 hours, which is a big step. Most of the feeds are being given through her nose tube, but it was very exciting for me to be able to give her the first bottle earlier today.
She took 30mL straight from the bottle, but then got very confused about sucking and breathing, so I gave her the rest through her nose tube as you can see here!
Her right arm and leg are still a cause for concern, so they are keeping her on the Heprin (blood thinning drug) until next Tuesday, and are monitoring her very faint pulses every 2 hours. Following this, and if she is continuing to improve (and there is an ambulance available), the plan is to move her back to the Heath Hospital in Cardiff next Wednesday, which would be fantastic. They will be concentrating on establishing feeding, and then maybe soon she'll finally be allowed home - hooray!!!

Just a quick update - no new news!

Lydia was moved out of intensive care back to the cardiac ward at lunch time today. She is a bit more alert now and the ward staff will be monitoring progress on her heart and her arm for the next few days. I suspect they will be keen to transfer her back to Cardiff in the next few days, which will be excellent for us!

Better news on Helen's Birthday today!

It's Helen's Birthday today and the boys and Phoebe have just been helping mum unwrap some of her presents in bed! We don't quite feel complete without Lydia, but we've just phoned the hospital in Bristol for an update. She had a good night last night. She was taken off her ventilator yesterday lunch time and was put on the c-pap machine (which she would have been very familiar with)! She then came off this at midnight last night, so she's now breathing fully on her own, which is great news. They are now slowly taking out the remaining tubes and drips, with a view to taking her back to the cardiac ward later this morning. The plastic surgeon came and reviewed her arm last night and thought he could hear some faint pulses in her arm. He thinks the radial artery is compensating for the ulna (excuse spelling) being broken! They will be monitoring this to see what the effect has been/will be longer term. The tip of her ring finger is still quite purple, which they think was caused by a clot when her artery was broken, and they are hoping this will disperse with the blood thinning drug she is still on. The nasty black patch of skin left on her wrist they are hoping will form into a scab and come off, but they will monitor closely in case it needs some form of surgery. In terms of her heart surgery, they will be scanning her again over the next day or so to see how things are going, both with the repair to her aorta, and also the affect surgery had had on her "hole in the heart" (VSD). Anyway, I'd better go and make the Birthday breakfast, report more as it happens. Thanks again for your ongoing thoughts and prayers, they are still very much appreciated.

Mixed progress

Let's start with the positives - Lydia is recovering well following the heart surgery. She is still being ventilated, but they hope to start weaning her off that during the day today. She had a fairly stable night, with only a few de-saturations. We haven't heard anymore from the cardic team yet as to their thoughts on how successful the surgery has been.
Her arm is still a cause for concern. Basically, following her surgery, and on admission to the intensive care ward, they tried to get some lines in an artery in her right arm. This failed on two attempts, and resulted in her lower right arm and hand turning very white. This then turned dark purple. It seems that her main artery in her right arm is damaged irreparably, so she has been put on a drug to thin her blood and try and remove any clots. The doctor on the ward warned of potential longer term growth problems with this arm as a result. This morning they also are considering getting a plastic surgeon to take a look, as some of her skin has turned a much darker colour. It is a real shame this has happened, and it just seems to be one thing after another. Sorry there's not more positive news to report. I was so hoping there would be too!! Please keep praying...

Unsettled night!

We had another unsettled night last night. The hospital staff phoned in the night to check if Lydia could have a blood transfusion, as her haemoglobin levels had dropped quite considerably. She also has a problem with circulation in one of her arms. Her right hand looked quite white when we saw her yesterday, so they called the surgeon out in the night. He doesn't think this is anything to do with the surgery, so they are linking it to two abortive attempts at getting arterial lines into her arm after the surgery. They eventually got the line in one of her legs, and are monitoring the arm situation closely. They have given her a blood-thinning drug to see if that helps. She was also given more of the drug to paralyse her, as she attempted to pull out her ventilation tube again! We thought that the operation would bring an end to the concerns with Lydia, but it looks like there are a few new ones still to come! Arghhhh, we need some sleep (and some more positive news for a change)! Although, we do understand it is still very early days after the operation!

Lydia has her operation

Don't click on this photo unless you've got a stong stomach!
Lydia finally had her surgery today. I took her down to the anisthetic room at 13:30 and then we had a long anxious wait until we eventually saw her in intensive care at 19:30 - that was the longest wait of our lives! Apparently, the surgery didn't take that long, but it was all the preparation and then sorting her out in intensive care after the operation that took the bulk of the time. We saw the surgeon, who was pleased with the operation. He told us her aorta was just 6mm in diameter at the point where he removed the blockage. It is fantastic how they can operate on something (and someone) so small! Aparently, Lydia didn't enjoy being ventillated in intensive care, so they have temporarily paralysed her, which should wear off over night. We'll report more on her progress over the next couple of days, so watch this space! Thanks yet again to all who are thinking and praying for us!

What......not AGAIN, surely not!!

So, we get a call from Bristol in the night to warn us that Lydia's operation might be moved earlier in the day on Fridy (today) and then at 08:00 this morning they confirm we're back on track for a 13:30 operation. We arrive in Bristol at 11:00 this morning to see that poor old Lydia has had "nil by mouth" all morning - a good sign things will go ahead, only to be told at 14:00 (by the very apologetic surgeon) that he is available to do the op, but due to another emergency, he didn't have a full team available. I offered to be a scrub nurse for the afternoon, but they didn't take up my kind offer - something about not having a spare theatre as well!! The surgeon has re-booked the operation for Monday at 12:00, and said that even if he has to work on into the evening he will "do" Lydia on Monday. Not sure I like the sound of that, but I appreciate his efforts! So, another weekend on her Prostin drug for Lydia, bless her! They did mention that if she gets worse over the weekend, they would consider an emergency op during the weekend, but I strongly suspect they will "keep her going" until Monday. As you can imagine, it's really tricky remaining positive through all this, but we are confident there is a purpose to it all ultimately. We're still holding onto some verses from the Bible - if you've got one, check out Jeremiah 29 v 11.
Despite another tiring day, I'll end on a more positive note with my latest joke (pinched from a Penguin wrapper):
Q: Why did the elephant take a load of tissues to his friends party?
A: Wait for it.....Because he was a big "party pooper"!
Now that's much better than Uncle John's jokes, trust me!
Report more on the Bodger saga as it happens!

Lydia has a few episodes...again!

Lydia was obviously upset about not having her operation on Wednesday as planned, so she decided to protest about it to the nurses today! She had a few turns at stopping breathing and stopping her heart just to keep the medical team (and her mum & dad) on their toes! This is most likely due to the drug that she's still on - once the operation is done, she won't need this any more - hooray!

"To be or not to be" - that was the question!

So, we arrived in Bristol bright and early to meet with the surgeon and sign the consent forms for the operation today. We finally met with him at 13:00 when he mentioned he had just completed one major open heart operation, had another quick emergency heart op to perform and then he would get to Lydia, at around 15:30. This came and went, 16:30 came and went and then at 17:00 we got news from the theatre that all hadn't been so straight forward with the emergency case after all and Lydia wouldn't be having her operation today! By this time Lydia was pretty hungry I can tell you! As soon as we heard the news, I wooshed a good helping of Helen's "gold top" milk down her nose tube and she soon settled down! We met with the surgeon again and he explained that he has now booked her in for her operation on Friday at 13:30. It was quite a day today, but we really appreciated knowing many of you were thinking and praying for us. If you could do the same on Friday, we would be very grateful! Thanks guys!

Lydia arrives in Bristol

Lydia finally made the trip across the Severn Bridge today. She has settled-in well to her new environment and doesn't mind sharing her cot with her sister. This is the first time they've been this close since their birth!





The team in Bristol got straight on with all their checks, bloods, scans, X-rays and here is Lydia having her ECG trace recorded - it looks worse than it is. She quite enjoyed it actually!!

Another good day

Lydia has had another good day today, no blips in her progress. We finally saw the MRSA swab results for ourselves and can confirm she has now received the three "clear" results we were praying for! No news yet on what time tomorrow she will be going to Bristol, so we'll be waiting by the phone. No news on proposed operation date for Wednesday yet either. Thanks again for your ongoing thoughts and prayers, they are VERY much appreciated.

Lydia continues to do well

Lydia has had another good day today, with no "blips" in progress! The nurses haven't had time to check the third MRSA swab results, but are assuming they are clear and have stopped barrier nursing Lydia, on advice from the "infections" team! She is now back in a 4-bed ward, so has some company again. She's tried-out most of the wards already! She was being fed Helen's milk continually via a pump, but is now back onto 2-hourly feeds via her nose-tube. She wakes 5 mins before her feed time and the settles pretty well after it. I just wish she could teach her sister Phoebe the same trick!!! She is no longer on any oxygen, and the nurses have again removed loads of the monitoring wires she had attached to her, so she's gradually getting back on track. The nurses are booking the ambulance for next Tuesday later today, and it sounds as if half of the staff will be going with her in the ambulance to Bristol. It's amazing what the offer of a morning out of the hospital will do for some of them! Report more as it happens...

Lydia's life in his hands

We're still waiting for the third set of MRSA swab results to come back, but have just had confirmation from Bristol that Lydia is booked in for admission next Tuesday (18th July), with the surgery the day after. She has an Italian surgeon, Mr M Caputo, so we fully expect her to emerge from surgery with much better football skills than she went in with!! Because I'm a bit sad, I even looked him up on the NHS web site to see how he is rated. If you follow this link you will be able to check him out, including his "survival rates" to date - it's amazing all this info is available on the Internet!! Please pray for this guy for next Wednesday - thanks!

Quick update today

Second MRSA Swab Test Results: Praise God these were also clear. Just one more "clear" to go now!
Blood Culture Results: These were also "clear", indicating that Lydia doesn't have any infections. They stopped giving her the antibiotics as soon as they saw the results.
Op Preparations: The cardiac team are now starting to ramp up their activity to arrange the move of Lydia to Bristol, planned for next Tuesday.
How is Lydia in herself?: She hasn't had any more episoldes of stopping breathing or her heart stopping, which is good! She sleeps most of the time, but when she's awake she is very active - she even manages to pull her tubes out quite often, which keeps the nursing staff on their toes, but is a sign to me that she's getting stronger!

Here is the trouble maker!

This is a photo of the trouble maker herself taken earlier this afternoon on the cardiac ward, showing off her auburn hair in the Cardiff sunshine! She is very calm and peaceful (for a few mins)! OK, here is the update:
MRSA Swab test results: Test taken on Monday came back clear, just two more "clears" and she'll be certified "clean" again and they can stop ringing the bell in front of her cot everytime they move her, shouting "unclean, unclean" - well, they won't have to wear the aprons and gloves any more, but you get the picture!
Blood cultures: Should be back tomorrow and this will confirm if she has an infection that is stopping her breathing, if clear, they will stop the antibiotics.
Prostaglandin: Sorry this is all so medical, but I know a few of you appreciate the detail (Alison and Neil in Gainsborough)! This is the drug to reduce the blockage in her aorta (pipe off the top of her heart). They have halved the dose of this today in case it was this that stopped her breathing.
Why is this happening? At the moment they are not sure, but are trying hard to identify and eliminate all the likely causes. They are also thinking it might well have been the anaesthetic they gave her prior to her eye test on Monday that started the chain reaction of events! We'll know more after the blood cultures are back.
What about the heart op? - If the next 2 MRSA swab results are clear then the plan is to move her to Bristol next Tuesday and operate next Wednesday. If all goes well, she is likely to be in Bristol for about 5 to 7 days, before coming back to Cardiff to recover and re-establish feeding. AND THEN THEY MIGHT EVENTUALLY LET HER COME HOME - We just can't wait!!!
How is Phoebe? - Doing great. She had her jabs yesterday afternoon and seems fine.
How are the boys coping? - Amazingly well.

Lydia moves again!

So, within seconds of Lydia being admitted to the Intensive Care ward she started behaving herself again - typical!! It's just like when you take your car to the garage to sort out the problem and lo and behold it starts performing nicely again, or like when you go to the dentist in agony and the minute you sit in the chair you can't even remember which tooth it was that was giving you trouble!...anyway, I digress!
The lumber puncture test came back clear, so it wasn't meningitis. We're still waiting for blood culture results to see if there is some infection that needs sorting. These should be back in the next couple of days. We're also still waiting for the latest MRSA swab test results to come back. She needs three clear results before she is certified clear of it, although the antibiotics she is still having as a precautionary measure might well see the majority of that off.
She was moved back to the cardiac ward earlier this evening and seems OK in herself, but pretty tired. They are feeding her down a nose tube again so she doesn't get too tired. If all the tests come back clear and they can't blame "an infection" they will put the "blip" down to premature babies just taking a while to work out how to breathe whilst sucking (apparently this is common with little babies, especially those with heart problems)!!! They also think all the "fussing" (eye tests, hearing tests, bloods to be taken, scans, feeding from a bottle, etc, etc) yesterday might have had something to do with it. In terms of the heart operation, we spoke to the cardiologist this evening and he will contact Bristol to arrange a date for the op later this week, so long as the MRSA swabs come back clear. It sounds like there is quite a waiting list for heart ops, so the op itself may well be later next week. We pray she has a stable night tonight and it's all upward progress from her on in!

Lydia is getting her money's worth out of the NHS!

Lydia took a turn for the worse today. She started de-saturating (stopping breathing) early this morning when taking her feed from a bottle. She went blue later when Helen was in giving her another bottle and needed resuscitating. She was very unstable when having her eyes tested later this morning and then went down hill following that. The cardiac team attended to her during the afternoon and took bloods, tested for meningitis, examined her heart situation, performed brain scans and did all the usual checks. She needed to go on some oxygen, so when I went in at 19:30 this evening they took the decision to move her to paediatric intensive care. She flat-lined a few times on the journey up to her new ward, but after 5 mins in her new environment seemed to come back to "normal". The consultant now looking after her thinks her symptoms may well just be caused by an infection, so they will be giving her a strong dose of antibiotics as a precautionary measure (which will also knock-out any MRSA in her body, but NOT on her skin). She has had her long-line drip in her leg for about 4.5 weeks, so this may well be a source of the infection, but they are reluctant to remove this as it is through this they administer the muscle relaxing drug that is relieving her aorta restriction! It's all inter-related! They will see how she goes over the next few hours, but they may well need to ventilate her if she gets worse. We need to wait for various test results, but at the moment they don't suspect meningitis. We thank God her brain and heart scans were normal and trust Him yet again for this next stage in the exciting journey He has planned for us. All this is likely to mean a delay in the heart surgery, but it's vital she is strong going into the operation. I hope to be reporting some more positive news again in the next few days. Will keep you posted, thanks again for being interested and bless you for thinking of us.....

Lydia on the move!

On their ward round today, the SCBU team decided that Lydia no-longer needed to be on their High Dependancy ward and suggested she be moved to the Children's Hospital part of the Heath. I have just walked-in from physically moving her myself down to the cardiology ward (with one of the nurses)! This is another big step in her progress and a whole new set-up for mum & dad to get used to! There was some confusion in her "discharge notes" about her MRSA, in that it said her last set of swabs had been clear from her eyes, nose, throat AND umbilical! This is not what we (or the nurses) had been told, so I asked the doctor to double-check on the system and he confirmed this was the case. She will still have swabs taken next Mon, Tues & Wed to confirm her current status, which will be a good double-check! More confusion today (as usual) when the neonatal consultant mentioned in passing that "I expect as Lydia is doing well, they will leave her a couple more weeks before surgery". We will wait to see what the cardiologists say, as she is now fully under their care. The progress continues...

New News on Lydia

Helen has just come back from meeting the cardiologist at the hospital. They met with the surgical team in Bristol yesterday and have confirmed that Lydia will be moved to Bristol next Friday (14/07), with a view to performing the heart surgery early the week after. HOWEVER!!! - THIS IS ALL DEPENDANT ON THE MRSA SITUATION. The swabs came back clear for her eyes, nose and throat last week, but it was still active in her umbilical (belly button). She is having a special disinfectant bed bath this week, as she's not allowed a proper bath due to the risk of infection through the long line drip in her leg. This special cleaning will stop on Friday. They will then re-swab her next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to see how things have progressed. If she still has signs of MRSA she will not be able to go to Bristol until things are clear. She is piling on the pounds and now weighs 2Kg!

Phoebe now weighs 5Lb 9Oz and here she is chilling out in her moses basket yesterday evening (just before she woke up for the night - I'm still not complaining though!!!!)

Daniel had a great time at his 4th Birthday party on Sunday, and here are a few photos to prove it!

Here is Daniel with all his cousins enjoying tea on the lawn. Uncle John did tell a few of his jokes, but thankfully no-one can remember them!

One of Daniel's favourite presents was this water slide from mum & dad. I fully expect to see Sam and Daniel entered for the luge event in a future winter olympics judging by their natural skill & ability!

Progress News

So, what's the latest on the Bodger clan? Well...

Phoebe continues to do well at home. She now weighs 5 Lb 1 Oz and is feeding well. She's pretty sick after most feeds, but the SKBU nurse tells us this is quite normal for premature babies as the muscles in the stomach haven't yet formed properly. Someone needs to adjust her body clock, as she's pretty good during the day, but at night she's awake most of the time. She's got a bit of colic just like her brothers had, but as the sun comes up so Phoebe starts to settle down! I'm not complaining though as I'm just grateful to have her home with us - even if I do look pretty wrecked most of the time!

Lydia now weighs 3 Lb 12 Oz, which was Phoebe's birth weight, so it gives you a good idea just how far behind she is, given she's already over 6 weeks old! She was moved out of her incubator yesterday into a cot, so that's another big step. She's had two sets of swabs back clear of MRSA, which again is excellent news. She just needs one more clear set of results to be moved back into the High Dependency ward (she's currently in an isolation ward, bless her)! The cardiologist saw her again yesterday morning and was pleased with progress on the weight front. They will hopefully be contacting the surgical team in Bristol next Wed to arrange the heart operation. She still has a hole in her heart, but they will be scanning her later this week to see how that is doing. They have increased her feeds again to try and bulk her up, so she's now on 40mL of Helen's milk every 3 hours (which probably doesn't sound much to you, but for someone as small as Lydia that's a massive amount, believe me)!!

Sam loves having his sister Phoebe at home and loves telling her what he's been doing at school. He has his first school "class assembly" coming up next week, which he's really excited about. He still loves anything associated with numbers, and is starting to enjoy telling us jokes (most of which he has pinched from his Uncle John, and are pretty poor I can tell you)!

Daniel was excited to get his very own school T-shirt yesterday in preparation for him starting in Big School in Sept! His 4th Birthday is on Sunday, so he is having a party with his nursery friends on Friday at Jump (somewhere to avoid if you haven't got children)! We've also got most of the family over for tea on Sunday, so he'll enjoy spending time with his cousins and uncles, aunties, great aunt, nanny, grandad, grandma and bamps! It should go OK as long as Uncle John doesn't bring along too many more jokes!

So, that's about all the news from us at the moment. Will post more as it happens!!

As promised, some new photos

Here is a photo of Lydia taken yesterday afternoon. You will see she now has her food tube up her nose. This is good news, as it will let Helen have a go at feeding her....at last! She is off her flow-driver full time now, is putting on good weight and the last set of MRSA swabs were clear. She needs another 2 sets of clear swabs before they certify that she is free of it, but it's yet another step in the right direction!

And here is Phoebe sitting in her rather pink bouncy seat! Her brothers keep her well entertained as you can imagine!

News on Lydia's progress

The chromosome blood results came back yesterday and were clear. We thank God for answering our prayers yet again! She is putting on weight and is now at 1.5Kg. The cardiologist team will contact Bristol to arrange her heart surgery in the next couple of weeks, and the actual operation is likely to be in about 4 weeks time. The microbiologists are not planning to treat the MRSA at this stage, as Lydia is fighting this on her own at the moment. It feels like we are now beginning to get to the "start of the end" of this rather protracted stressful period! Phoebe is doing well at home and I will never complain about the sleepless nights, it gives me more opportunity to be thankful for the birth of the girls! Thank you so much to those of you who have prayed and thought about us during this time, it has been much appreciated I can assure you! I will try and get some new photos uploaded soon, when I get a speare minute.

The Latest on Lydia

Lydia continues to concern us. She was diagnosed with MRSA (the hospital "super bug") a few days ago and we have just received the results of a number of swab tests. They confirm she has it active in her eyes, nose and throat. They seem to think she is fighting this infection on her own at the moment, so they are not planning any medication at this stage. They are also concerned about her chromosome make-up, so they are taking bloods tomorrow (Fri 16/06). The results should be back by the middle of next week. We wait anxiously for the results. On the positive side, she is putting on weight and is fighting to take her oxygen prongs out of her nose most of the time, which are encouraging signs. You can imagine how Helen and I are feeling!

Phoebe is let out for good behaviour!

Phoebe had her first taste of Daddy's wonderful driving on the way home from hospital....and she loved it!

It's great having her home, and her brothers think she is fab! She's been very good and makes some lovely noises, particularly when she fills her nappy!

Maybe the last photo of Phoebe in hospital!

The nurses have now confirmed that subject to satisfactory blood results tomorrow (Monday), Phoebe may well be discharged tomorrow evening. This would be excellent news, but also very scary bringing a 4lb 6oz tiny baby home to face all the "loves" from her brothers!!



Lydia continues to make slow progress, and she is now 2lb 15oz, so she is making small steps in the right direction! She seems so frail compared to her sister and remains in her incubator in the high dependancy ward.

Quick Update!

Apologies I haven't had a chance to update the blog for a few days. Life has been a bit manic with the boys back in school after half term and I have now started back at work.
Phoebe was moved into the nursery on Monday 05/06, which is a step closer to the exit door of the neonatal ward! She is putting on weight and feeding well, both from Helen and from a bottle. I gave her her second-ever bottle yesterday night and she gulped it down!! She has pulled the feeding tube out of her nose herself, so the nurses have decided not to re-insert it again - this is a big step forward. She is now free from pipes and wires and may be home in the next couple of weeks!
Lydia is also putting on weight. She is now up to 1.28Kg, which is still tiny, but it's good progress for her with her heart condition. The cardiologists scanned her again this morning and confirm that the drugs are working well in reducing the blockage in her aorta temorarily, until she is strong enough for surgery. They also thought the hole in her heart had reduced slightly, which is also encouraging news. Lydia remains in the High Dependancy ward and still has lots of pipes, wires and monitors, bless her!
It's tricky balancing the visits to the hospital to feed Phoebe, change nappies, have cuddles, bath Phoebe, wash Lydia, etc. Helen is doing really well in keeping on top of this, as well as making sure the boys are in the right place at the right time! We're not sure how we will cope when Phoebe comes home and we still need to visit Lydia, but I'm sure it will all work out if we take it one day at a time!

Phoebe won't appreciate this photo!

More progress again today. Phoebe has moved out of her incubator and is now in a "normal cot". They are trying her off her flow driver constantly now to see how she does, and the early signs are encouraging.
She needs a couple of blankets to keep her temperature up, as well as this very fetching bonnet - she won't appreciate this photo later in life!
They are both putting on some weight, and are both now on 3-hourly feeds. Phoebe is guzzling 40mL at a time and Lydia just 28mL. They are also trying Lydia off her flow driver for a couple of hours during the day as you can see on these photos, and she is coping OK. It is great to be able to see her head and face properly without all the pipes in the way!
The nurses are talking about moving Phoebe into the nursery in the next few days, so this is a step nearer to the exit door! No doubt her sister will miss her being next to her, but it'a a good opportunity to socialise with her new neighbours!!

"What a life"!

No major updates today, so I thought you'd appreciate seeing a couple of stunning photos of the girls chilling out earlier this afternoon with the warm afternoon sun shining through their incubators!