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!

How is Lydia doing?

Many of you have been asking what the latest is on Lydia, so I thought I'd put a few words on the blog. No photo's today, giving the girls a rest from the camera!
Helen & I met with the cardiologist registrar earlier today and he put our minds at rest about her condition and the operation she needs. Basically, the latest heart scans show that her heart appears to be "structurally" OK, with all the valves and chambers in the right place and the right size. Her problem is in the aorta, where she has some spare muscle tissue partially blocking this critical artery, meaning that her heart has to pump harder to get the oxygenated blood out to her body. They initially gave her some drugs in an attempt to open up her baby vessel to relieve some of the pressure in her heart. This hasn't worked, but the drug (which is basically a muscle relaxant) has had the effect of reducing the blockage itself. She will now need to stay on this drug to keep the blockage in her aorta as reduced as possible until she can put on enough weight to undergo surgery to remove the blockage. She is currently just over her birth weight, at 1.13Kg and she needs to get to be above 2Kg for surgery in Bristol, or more likely, up to 2.5Kg.
She still has a hole in her heart as well, but the cardiologists don't seem to be so worried about this, as it will either heal itself, or can be treated by further surgery at a later stage.
She seems happy in herself and is quite chilled-out when we change her nappy or give her a wash. The nurses took her off her oxygen for an hour yesterday and her saturation levels stayed at 100%, which is also encouraging progress.
Phoebe continues to impress us with her progress and the cardiologists confirm her heart looks OK, which is great news. She is off her oxygen for 6 hours at a time and seems to be taking this in her stride. She is also on 2-hourly feeds and is up to something like 28mL of milk each time!
The boys are enjoying their week off on half-term and mum & dad have no idea what day of the week it is, or even what month we're in!!
I'll try and get some more photos uploaded in the next couple of days.
Thanks so much for all your concern, prayers and support at this tricky time, they are VERY much appreciated.

Phoebe's First Bath!

Phoebe reached a real milestone today, when Helen was able to give her a bath for the first time! She really enjoyed the experience and was quite chilled-out about the whole thing (Phoebe, that is)!






She looks much bigger on that photo and it's not until you see things in perspective that you realise just how tiny she still is - check out the size of the bath in this one. I will need to buy a new washing up bowl for when the girls come home!



As you can see, Phoebe is making steady progress. She is now on 22mL feeds of Helen's milk every 2 hours. Her feeds are likely to be extended to be 3-hourly over the next day or so to mimic "normal feeding patterns" as much as possible. She is off her "flow driver" for 6 hour intervals and is tolerating breathing on her own really well.
Lydia is still on her flow driver constantly and gets very tired quickly when she is taken off it for short spells. She is on hourly feeds and is now getting about 8mL each time, which they have today just started adding some calories to - this is to try and bulk her up as quickly as possible so she can have the surgery she so desperately needs. Apparently it's a real balance between bulking her up and not putting unnecessary strain on her heart. The medical staff looking after her are fantastic, especially the nurses, who have to put up with me, and my shambolic attempts at changing very nasty nappies and putting on baby-grows without disconnecting any wires, pipes or drips!! I'm so used to handling Sam and Daniel that I forget just how fragile Phoebe and Lydia are!

The Bank Holiday Visit

Today the boys enjoyed visiting their sisters and made sure they are looking after the teddy's they bought them! This is a photo of Sam & Daniel with Lydia.

The Boys go Animal-mad!

This is a photo of Sam & Daniel visiting Lydia with mum earlier today.

The boys are making sure their sisters know which coulour to wear when it comes to rugby teams!!

The nurses report that Lydia had a good night and is doing OK today. She still looks very frail though. Mum particularly enjoyed her cuddles today without any oxygen pipes in the way!

A Double-Cuddle!!

It was great earlier today to have both of the girls out of their incubators at the same time. We were able to show them off to each other and formally introduce them as sisters!

Lydia is still struggling, but the doctors were pleased with the effect of the drugs they are giving her. The scan this morning confirmed that the baby artery hasn't yet re-opened, but the blockage in her own aorta seems to have reduced slightly. Coupled with this, her blood pressure has also reduced, which is taking some of the load off her heart. All the fussing over her made her quite tired this morning, so they are keeping her on her "flow-driver" to assist her breathing, that's the big pipe up her nose in this latest photo.


They finally managed to get a "long-line" drip into her leg yesterday afternoon, through which they can administer the drugs more effectively. She seems to be taking it all in her stride as usual. She evidently has her mum's pain threshold!





This is Phoebe showing off all her hair without her hat on! I thought I could see some auburn tints, so maybe she'll be a strawberry blonde?

We can't let the girls steal all the limelight, so here's a gorgeous photo of the VERY proud brothers! They've been to see their sisters quite a few times and love them loads. Sam can't wait to have someone to show off his reading and maths skills to and Daniel just wants someone to kick the football about with him!

The girls are now 10 days old!

So, the girls have been with us for 10 days now. After the shock of yesterday it was good to see the girls today and have a long cuddle with Phoebe. Lydia had a "long line" (big drip pipe) inserted today to make it easier for the doctors to administer the medicine she needs, so we haven't wanted to disturb her today, despite the strong urge to give her big kisses and cuddles. She seems comfortable and is taking things in her stride. It will be a case of monitoring her minute by minute to see how things develop over these critical days. They are both now having the maximum amount of milk hourly, which is a big step - well done to Helen for all the expressing! She will be supplying Sainsbury's at this rate! This means they are both off one of their drips and are now being fed the milk through a tube into their stomach (the green pipe in the photos) and some "lipid" which is presumably a fatty substance that is administered through a peripheral drip. Phoebe was off her oxygen for 6 hours today, which is a great step forward and it looked like she enjoyed having the pipe taken out of her nose, which I can totally understand!
Here are the latest photos, taken at 19:00 this evening...





This is Phoebe in her "I'm chilling out for the night" pose.






And this is Lydia in her "I'm glad today is over with and they've stopped prodding and poking me for a while" pose, bless her! I'm not sure her cousins Sara and Rachel will approve of all the pink sheets, but Lydia quite likes them!!




Apologies for all the medical details in these updates, it's a record for me more than anything, so I remember what the doctors are telling us! Thank you so much to all those of you who have contacted us or passed-on your thoughts and regards, we are much appreciative of your concern and prayers at this time. Thank you SO much.

Please pray for Lydia

We are just starting to digest some news re Lydia. The nurses were struggling to get some of their measurements from the sensors attached to Lydia yesterday and suspected the equipment. They tried new sensors, but got the same readings. This lead them to look in more detail. They arranged a heart scan early this morning and they have diagnosed a condition called "coarctation of the aorta", this appears to be basically a tight narrowing of the main artery coming from the heart (the aorta). This has only just come to light as apparently babies have other plumbing in their heart from being in the womb which closes down some time after birth. This appears to have happened with Lydia yesterday and when the systems switched over the readings went awry. This condition needs surgery urgently, but she is still about her birth weight (1.09Kg - small!). They generally need babies to be at least 2.5Kg prior to surgery, which they do in Bristol. She has since had another scan and the paediatric cardiologist confirms the condition. She also has a hole in the heart, but this is not the immediate priority, as either that will fix itself, or is something that can be looked at when Lydia is a bit older.
What they are trying to do now is give her some drugs in an attempt to re-open the closed-down "baby artery" to give her a back-up supply in case she gets poorly while they try and bulk her up. On her current schedule, this would be expected to take at least 6-weeks before they would consider surgery, unless they need to act in an emergency. One side affect of these drugs can mean that she could stop breathing, so they will be monitoring her closely and ventilating her if required. If the drugs don’t re-open the baby valve, then they may need to give her beater blockers, to presumably control her blood pressure.
Phoebe doesn’t appear to be exhibiting the same symptoms, but we are hoping they will proactively scan her to rule out the same problem over the next few days.
They've both got a bit of jaundice for good measure, but that's the least of our concerns at the moment!
We are again totally at the mercy of God, and acknowledge that of ourselves we can do nothing. Our prayer is that God would continue with her and give her even more of the fighting spirit that she has exhibited this far, after all, she's a Bodger!!!

Big Step - The Girls are in Baby-Grows!

Here are a couple of new photos of the girls. They look quite different now they are in baby-grows! They are both continuing to do well, and the doctors seem pleased with progress this far. They have both now been moved from ITU into High Dependency, which is a step in the right direction - getting closer to the exit door by the day!!





This is mum having a cuddle with Phoebe.








And this is Lydia enjoying a bit of well-earned rest!

The Girls Escape!

The girls have now been with us for 5 whole days and whilst Helen has been lucky enough to have a quick cuddle with Lydia, Phoebe hasn't been allowed out to play! Today was quite momentus for us, as I was able to have my first cuddle with Lydia and Helen was able to hold Phoebe for the very first time. Here's a few photo's to prove it....!

It was truly FANTASTIC to have my first cuddle with one of my daughters!

You will notice that Lydia was allowed off her oxygen and could give her nose a nice rest from the nasty pipes!

The nurses particularly liked my "Who's the Daddy" T-shirt!





This is one of Helen, holding Phoebe for the very first time.
She had to keep her oxygen pipes in place. These are not ventillating her, just providing a slight pressure in her lungs, so she doesn't wear herself out too much just from the action of breathing.



The doctors did their round while we were with the girls this morning, and "so far so good"!

THE BABIES HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

OK, so I haven't been updating the Blog recently, this is because things have been a bit manic over recent weeks with weekly visits to Bristol or Cardiff Fetal Medicine Units. Things reached a head last Friday (12/05/2006) when we visited the unit in Cardiff. They recommended the babies were born now Helen is 32 weeks and booked her in for an elective C-section on Monday 15/05 as things were still pretty unstable with the TTTS. The result, as you will see below, is two beautiful baby daughters. Their names are Phoebe Grace and Lydia Amy Bodger and they were born in Cardiff on 15/05 at 11:31 and 11:32!! Phoebe was 3lb 12oz and Lydia was 2lb 6oz, which is tiny I can tell you!! They seem OK and are being well cared for by the neonatal unit in Cardiff. We thank God for their safe arrival after months of uncertainty. Mum is doing well and the girls are progressing slowly. Interestingly, Lydia is doing much better than her sister, as she is used to fighting for her share of things!, but Phoebe is coming along slowly too. Anyway, that's enough of the words, have a look at some photos....

This is a photo of Phoebe taken by the Neonatal nurses in the ITU ward when she was about an hour old. The tube in her nose isn't ventillating her, it is just assisting her own breathing to ensure she doesn't get too tired.






This is another photo of Phoebe taken by me when she was about 3 hours old. The wires, drips, monitors and pipes were a bit alarming at first, but we're slowing getting used to them!





And here are similar photos of Lydia. I still can't believe that we have two girls as well as two boys. I keep calling them "he". I'll soon get the hang of it I'm sure. Wow - me, a father of four - that can't be right can it???!!



These photo's don't give you a good idea of scale,







so have a look below for a few others...




This is a better shot for giving you a feel for the size of the girls. This was the first cuddle Helen was able to give Lydia and was taken on 17/05, when Lydia was "allowed out" of her incubator for the first time. It's all a bit tricky with the wires and pipes!






And this is a cracker of Sam and Daniel, the BIG brothers - they don' seem at all phased, and love talking to their sisters through the funny looking "goldfish bowls" as they call them!





This was taken today (on 18/05) and shows another step forward for Lydia - you will notice she hasn' got her hat on, so at least we can see what she really looks like now! I call this the "ET-pose", but don' tell anyone!
Phoebe still isn't well enough to come out of her incubator, but Helen changed her nappy for the first time today, which was very exciting!!





Anyway, hopefully that's given you a little glimpse into our little world over the past few days. I'll try and load up more photos as I get time. Please keep remembering these little ones, as they are so tiny and fragile. Thanks, with all our love, Dave & Helen xxx

Center Parcs With The Bulls & Davies'

We've just come back from a great week away with The Bulls and Davies' at Center Parcs in Longleat. Here's a quick glimpse into the holiday...





This one is a very rare photo of Daniel actually eating!! He was well distracted by Bex, Mike, Katie, Emma, Lucy & Sam - well done guys!








This is a photo of us all at Graham's 40th Birthday party bash in one of our villa's.







We had a great time playing pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey and eating a whole load of fantastic party food. Graham's favourite present was this pair of speedo's (which he wore in the pool on Friday - what a sight going down the rapids)!!!







We were fortunate enough to have two days of really good snow, as you can see on this photo from our villa. Anyone up for snowbathing (again)?!!





This is a photo in the restaurant on Graham's actual 40th Birthday.









And a gorgeous close-up of Daniel, showing us one of his best grins...








This is a good one of Sam and me. I only left this one in so you can see my new jumper!!

The Garden Transformation

One project we've been putting on the back burner since having our house extended last year was the planting up of the front garden. It took me ages to dig out all the rubble and take it to the dump and dig in a load of manure and wood chip, but it has looked dreadful for the past 6 months or so. I finally got around to getting some new topsoil and this is what it looked like just after this was delivered (not a pretty sight)!...

I then had some fantastic garden design assistance from Nigel Joinson, a good friend of mine, who came up with the following superb set of suggestions for a planting scheme (thanks again Nigel)!..

Next came the expensive job of buying all the trees, shrubs and plants, but it was well worth it when you see the finished results below...

The latest on the twins

Ok, so we've just had the 20-week scan for the twins and here are the photo's to prove it. Handsome aren't they?!!

They look fairly relaxed don't they? The consultant was a bit concerned about the difference in size of the twins, so we're going to have to see a different specialist consultant in Bristol next week. If you know us, please remember us in your prayers - thanks!

Daniel's Star Chart

We reached another family milestone on 14th Feb. Daniel was dry for 10 consecutive nights, as can be seen clearly from the Thomas star chart. This means that we are now officially "nappy free", at least for a few months until the twins arrive! Dad promised a special present to both Daniel and Sam and here you can see them both proudly showing off their new engines, Donald and Douglas (identical twins)!!!

Did you know my photos were famous?

Did I mention that I submitted a couple of photos to the BBC web site? Check out the following links to see them...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4482062.stm (Photo no 10)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4643754.stm (Photo no 6)