Keren gets Home for an Afternoon
We were able to bring wee Keren home to see Jed and Kezia in a more normal environment, and we had a lovely afternoon.
Thankfully our community nurse, Peter, was on hand to record this moment.
It was great to get home, and feel a bit more normal for a while.
Previous…Wee Keren, Wide Awake
Keren…Wide Awake!
This is a wee video I took one day Keren was quite alert. Often when she was alert like this, we would just enjoy talking to her, but I am glad I had the idea this time to record a few moments with her, when she was awake.
It doesn’t seem like three years since wee Keren was born. Three years ago today.
I can still say that I am truly thankful to God for having known her. All our children have such wonderful wee personalities, and Keren’s fragile beauty will stay with me as long as I live.
Previous…Wee Keren, Fast Asleep
Next…Keren gets Home for an Afternoon
Wee Keren…Fast Asleep
It was so quiet in the room this day, and Keren was sleeping soundly, so I took the chance of taking a wee video.
Look at how many toys…all the size of her!
Previous…As light as a Feather
As Light as a Feather!
As the days passed, in the Causeway Hospital, wee Keren seemed to stabilize a bit, and we were able to take her out of the incubator for short spells. We had to keep the oxygen mask nearby, with a gentle flow of oxygen to help her breathe.
She really seemed to take it all in, with wide eyes, looking all around. Holding Keren was like holding the softest, lightest wee feather you could imagine.
She was fast asleep for this photo, but she looks so cute!
Previous…Dublin Airport
Next…Wee Keren, fast asleep (video)
Dublin Airport…overnight
Hello all, as you have probably gathered, we are now at Dublin Airport, having arrived here at eleven-ish, Friday night, waiting for our flight at six, tomorrow morning. Having tried, unsuccessfully, for the last hour and a half, to get a snooze, I thought I’d pop on here, and say hello!
This is a dreary place, at this time of night, although it seems quite busy. We all feel it is a bit surreal, being on the threshold of this adventure…it is hard to imagine we are going to Africa tomorrow! The aches, and pains that accompany a four hour journey, are a very slight warning for me, of what is ahead.
The Motivation
It was a good time to remind myself, and Geraldine via text-message, just why I am doing this. The Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice, where wee Keren spent her last week with us, is such a worthy organisation to support, that this…separation from family, not to mention the (most likely) pain, and toil, that lies ahead for me, will all be worth it. It is another reason to talk about and emphasise how much the Hospice means to us, as a family, we will never forget the way they made us feel part of a family, larger than we could imagine.
I would like to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point, supporting the Hospice so fantastically! Especially the business sponsors and all the individuals, who combined, have made this a very worthwhile venture, for the Hospice.
(thanks also to Stephen, for running over, just now, with another 50c, to keep this connection going!)
I will sign out now…try to get some shut-eye, and if I get internet access again, I will drop-in again!
Previous…So Content
Keren was so content
Although Keren had all the complications associated with Trisomy 18, she was a very content wee baby. She would lie in her wee cot, and when she wasn’t sleeping, she would be looking all around, listening to her wee musical, soft toys, or to us talking to her.
She enjoyed stretching her wee arms up, and she always seemed comfortable, and not in pain.
This was very reassuring to Glenn and I, and indeed to all those that loved her, because many did.
Previous…Learning to feed
Next…Dublin Airport
Learning to feed wee Keren
Wee Keren was not strong enough to suck properly, and had to be fed through a wee fine tube, so I was really pleased, when I was able to express my own milk, for Keren’s feeds.
Her feeds were every two hours, and one of the nurses suggested that we could learn to give her the tube feeds. Now, in Antrim Area Hospital, the NG tube (Nasogastric tube) was fed through her mouth, to her stomach, but later, here in the Causeway hospital, when it was due to be changed, it was fed in through her nose, where it remained.
At first, I must admit, I was quite apprehensive about feeding her, but I said I would give it a try, after I had closely watched the nurse doing it several times! I remember Glenn managed a tube feed first, without any problems, and then I too managed to pluck up the courage.
Here is a photo, that Glenn took, of one of Keren’s early feeds…
As we got more confident, we were able to do most of the daytime feeds, and then the night staff kindly took over, so we could get some sleep. The staff really looked after us so well, doing all they could to help. It was nice to be able to lie down, with Keren (and her beeping monitors), within earshot, knowing that she was in good hands.
Previous…Tiny Clothes
Next…Keren was so content
Tiny Clothes, for our Tiny Baby
As Glenn mentioned in a previous post, the staff at the Causeway Trust children’s ward really did help us to settle in well, and we were reassured again that Keren was in good hands. Even though we had the family room almost adjacent, with its’ sofa bed, we stayed in the ward room with Keren, with me in the hospital bed and Glenn in a reclining chair. We could hear every beep and noise that night as the nurses periodically came in to the room to check and feed Keren, and it was comforting to be close to her, and we felt as if we got a reasonable nights sleep.
Shopping for Keren!
Because Keren was always in the incubator at this stage, she had only needed to wear wee vests (also known as singlets across the pond!) and one of the nurses suggested the next morning, that we could take some time, and go and get her some babygrows/sleepsuits as she reckoned Keren might soon get out of the incubator! This was an amazing thought, as we didn’t think we would ever get to do this, and we didn’t expect her to be with us so long.
We, understandably, had reservations about both of us leaving her for so long, but we knew we had to trust God, and leave Keren in His hands, knowing that if anything happened when we were away, it was God’s will.
Ballymena, then was the destination for the clothes shopping for wee Keren, because, although it was farther away (meaning more time away), we knew there would be a better selection of clothes for tiny babies, as Keren was just over 4lb at this stage.
Thankfully, the first shop we tried (Mothercare) had everything we needed for her, so there was no time wasted looking around. We grabbed something to eat, and headed back down.
When we arrived back at the hospital, we were told that Keren had an apnoea while we were away, this is a “temporary absence or cessation of breathing”, but they said that she had responded well when they gave her some oxygen. Although we were shocked, we could breath a sigh of relief, that she had come through it, and we knew that it was in Gods’ plan that we were elsewhere at the time.
Previous…Knocklayd
Next…Learning to feed wee Keren
Knocklayde…with a slight difference!
As I write this post, it is two years since Keren was here with us. At this time, she was five weeks old, and it hasn’t been particularly easy to think about compiling a post, around this time of year, but we are working on it.
On a lighter note, my training for Kilimanjaro is still ticking away nicely! On May 3rd I had a new walking partner…Jed!
The weather was beautiful, the walkers were willing, and Knocklayde was beckoning! Now, I have taken grown men up this hill, and some have said “never again”, it can be a bit of a slog, if you are not used to it, but I thought I would give Jed a go up it! He was not long past his fifth birthday, so I thought we’ll go at his pace, stop for a break when he wants, and I was prepared to carry him, if need be. I had told him about it often enough, so he was excited about going.
As you can see…we made it!
What is not immediately apparent from the photograph, is that Jed walked the whole way! That is up and down again! He did really well! It got quite windy on the way down, and we had a lot of fun, with Jed barely able to stay on his feet!
We had great views of Rathlin Island, and Scotland, from the top, and as we were going through Ballycastle Forest, returning to the car, we saw some wild deer, which was a great treat for Jed (and me!)
I’ll have some more hill-walking posts soon! (some here)
Previous…Week in SCBU
Next…Tiny Clothes for our Tiny Baby
Keren’s week in SCBU
As we mentioned in the last post about Keren, she really seemed to be stabilizing quite well, early on in this week. Her feeds were increasing slowly, and she was able to breath better, with the oxygen being reduced to just a trickle. She was still in the incubator, but we were still able to take her out, and hold her for short times.
Jed and Kezia were still being looked after brilliantly, and we were still being supported, prayerfully, and practically, by our friends and family. It was wee Jed’s third birthday that Monday (he is nearly five now), and it was very difficult not being with him to celebrate it, but thankfully he was young enough not to miss us, at a wee party his Aunts had for him.
This memory is just coming to me now, but I remember having a routine, when I got into the car to drive to Antrim…I had to wire up my hands free headset, to my phone. I used this time to call family and friends, to keep them informed, and just to talk to someone who cared, I couldn’t have driven that thirty miles, with just my thoughts…it was so good to talk just then. I also knew it was good use of valuable time.
Mr Park, our minister, called again with Norman, one of the elders in our church, and we went to the hospital canteen for lunch, with them. This was a good time, and encouraging. We bowed our heads, and Norman prayed with us, and it was good to be reminded that we were very much in the prayers of God’s people around the country. God was still lovingly giving us a deep conviction that He was in control, and that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8 v 28
Six Days Old
On the Thursday of that week, with Keren being six days old, she was transferred to the Causeway Trust Hospital, as she was sufficiently stabilized to be out of the intensive care of the SCBU. This was brilliant news for us, as it meant we were so much closer to Jed and Kezia. Geraldine travelled down with me in the car, as Keren went down, by ambulance, accompanied by a doctor and nurse.
We were allocated two rooms, in the Children’s Ward. A side room for Keren, which had a bed in it, which we could use; and also a family room, where family and friends could visit, and we could have some privacy. We had use of kitchen facilities, which were great when we didn’t want to be too far away from Keren.
Keren seemed to have taken the journey in her stride, and all the staff thought she was so beautiful. They really made us feel at home, from the minute we arrived.
Previous…Our Wee Fighter
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