4 months old!

I cannot believe that Corgan is 4 months old today!!  He is here...He is alive...He is healthy...I am just in awe of how amazing he is...he is such a good baby too...

Best Foot Forward

Corgan was in the paper again today :)

1st Check Up

Corgan has been home for one week today!!  We took him for a check up with Dr Egner...he now weighs 2,12kg...Dr Egner is happy with everything...

Home Alone

Today was my first day home alone with Corgan...I was very nervous at first but started to feel more relaxed as the day went on...

Corgan's Blog

Check out Corgan's Blog - http://corganlayden.blogspot.com/

It's Time To Go...

Dr Egner said Corgan could go home today… We had to wait for Corgan's caffeine to take home with us to be prepared...Shanita showed us some CPR..we left the hospital at about 13h00… Corgan was fine the whole way home, I held him in my arms  because is is way too small for the car seat...he was good for the rest of the day and night...my mom came to see Corgan and hold him for the first time...so did Shane's dad...we were all happy...

At Home 

Great Day!

Dr Egner decided to keep here Corgan today...he said if he has a good day and a good night, maybe tomorrow he can go home! He had a very good day!

Muck!

Corgan is still snotty today...but much better...Dr Egner said he might be able to go home tomorrow...Corgan had physio again...a lot of muck came out again...

Front Page!

Corgan was no longer on oxygen when we arrived this morning. Corgan's story was on the front page of The Mercury! When I went down to the toilet all the security and other staff pointed at the news stand...when I looked up at it there were just rows and rows of my baby's photo :) He weighed 1.920kg this morning. Dr Egner said he could have one breast and one bottle during today and he could go back into a crib. He also had physiotherapy again and his chest was very congested and had a lot of thick stuff in it... Corgan's story was mentioned on SABC 3 this morning during the newspaper highlights part. Neville Pillay mentioned Corgan's story a number of times during his show on East Coast Radio and he mentioned Corgan on his blog... In the evening Corgan was doing much better although he was battling to breathe through his blocked nose - Nokuthula suctioned him which helped. I had picked up a cold as well and was not feeling well...Shane bottle fed Corgan - I didn't want to get too close to him...We found out that Billy Corgan had tweeted "Sending Love to the Layden's" on twitter...awesome...

No Go...

We were very excited this morning...we've seen a lot of other, bigger babies getting discharged and the mothers all seemed nervous...they seemed to look for reason to delay the discharge...Not me! I could not wait to get home with my baby!!  I was so super stoked and confident...Corgan had his ears tested by an audiologist at about 11am...She was unable to pass him because the test proved inconclusive so the test will need to be repeated when he goes for his check-up with Dr Egner...Corgan acted a bit strangely during his 12 o'clock feed. He never wanted to suck when I tried to breast feed him - for the first time ever - and then he seemed to struggle through the bottle...he seemed disinterested in his feed...He seemed to be a little weak and kept turning pale (more pale than usual). He seemed to almost stop breathing a few times and then even battled to keep his eyelids open...His arms even went limp a few times...We were a little concerned, but then he recovered...we thought it was maybe just a wind...or maybe we were imagining it... When we put him back in his crib the apnoea monitor didn't alarm at all so we put our concern to rest. We were asked to wait for Bronwyn, a newspaper reporter, to come interview us and take some pictures for the Mercury Newspaper...Corgan still seemed to have a bit of a problem with a wind or something, but he was okay. The reporter arrived and interviewed us and the cameraman took photos. Afterwards we filled in the discharge documentation and then we said our goodbyes and then Bukeka helped me take Corgan downstairs saying goodbye to all the staff we met along the way. We left the hospital feeling very excited and happy. A few minutes later Corgan seemed to be struggling a bit again...I burped him and he seemed okay.... We continued along our way and then a few minutes later he began battling to breathe and began losing strength and turned pale...his body went completely limp a few times...he didn't improved despite attempts to wind him...now convinced it was not just a wind I tried blowing in his face and flicking under his foot...all the things you are told to do...he would pick up, then fade again..he became so weak that he couldn't keep his eyes open and his arms went completely limp, his body pale as a piece of white paper... We pulled over just after turning down into Clark Road and we checked him...he was getting worse with no sign of improvement...nothing seemed to help him...We decided that we needed to take him to the hospital right away...We logically took him to St Augustine's which was literally a few seconds drive further and where Dr Egner has his rooms...I had no idea where his rooms were though...I debated taking Corgan to Dr Mannikam's rooms as it was right near where we were and I had been there a few days ago...I remembered that the other day Welile had mentioned Dr Egner's rooms are through the door, up the stairs to the left, I didn't even have Dr Egner's number - all I had was the emergency after hours number which was answered by someone sounding very annoyed that I had called during business hours...I just got out of the car and started running, Shane got out too - the security at St Augustine's is the same company as at Parklands but a completely different breed of person!!!  At Parklands the security are human, they have emotion - not at St Augustine's, they are like freaking programmed robots...they said we could not park where we did (surely they could see the panic in our faces?  the deadish looking baby in my arms?) Shane told them we have an emergency, they said we could not park there, Shane said our baby is not breathing, they said we could not park there...Shane never swears, he ended up swearing at the woman...I mean seriously, what a moron...Shane had to park the car elsewhere while I rushed in... I had know idea whether or not Dr Egner would be in his rooms now or not...Thank goodness as I walked through the door he had just come out with a patient and greeting his next patient...He seemed to also get a fright and rushed him into his room and checked him...Corgan regained some colour and began breathing, but Dr Egner was not happy with what he saw and told me we must return him to Parklands immediately because he is cancelling the discharge...He told me to make Corgan cry  by flicking his foot all the way back to Parklands... Shane in the meanwhile had parked about half a km along the road and had tried to find me and Corgan at the NICU and the Pediatric wards on the other side of the building...he had no idea where Dr Egner's rooms were...I had left my bag and phone etc in the car...I couldn't find him...I asked the same security cow if she saw where Shane had gone, she basically ignored me and made some grunting sound...I went back to Dr Egner's rooms and asked to use the phone...we drove back to Parklands in the frustrating after-school traffic...I tried to keep Corgan crying. His cries so weak and heart breaking...he could hardly continue half the time because he was so tired...I cried with him...At Parklands, security could see something was wrong and showed Shane a nearby parking while I rushed Corgan back up to the NICU at parklands...his SpO2 was checked and was about 60%...bad...he was put back on oxygen... Dr Shaik happened to be in the NICU at the time and tended to Corgan...he gave him a dose of caffeine too...Corgan had many episodes of apnea in the first ten minutes that he was back, one after the other...The caffeine dose first quietened him down almost into a deep sleep before giving him a boost of energy that helped keep him very wide awake for quite some time. He sneezed quite a lot and had a wheezy chest.  Dr Shaik suggested maybe Corgan had picked up a cold...The apneas subsided and he gradually picked up and then was gradually weaned from the initial oxygen blend of about 50% and a flow rate of about 2...What a long and disappointing day...Later in the evening I was upset because a staff member said that we just got scared...she said maybe we panicked...Well FYI I'd rather have a living baby back in NICU than one that's dead by the time he gets home...so angry...

Going Home Party

Corgan's weight is 1,87kg!!! We took snacks for the nurses on duty today...they're having a going home party for Corgan :) They all had a good day, so did Corgan...he got his first Synagis injection today as well as the usual one babies get when they are born...We had a good evening with Corgan...

Almost Time!

We bumped into Dr Egner as we arrived at the hospital in the morning. He told us that Corgan can come home on Monday. Corgan's weight is 1,84kg today. Welile bathed Corgan while I was there, it was the first time I've seen him be bathed...Its almost time to take our baby home!!!

First Car Ride

Corgan's weight dropped a bit to 1.8kg...Dr Egner said he can go home next week!!! We took Corgan, with Welile, to St Augustine's for a heart scan by Dr Mannikim... Corgan's heart is healthy...He seemed to enjoy his first car trip...he slept the whole way back to Parklands Hospital...In the evening, Corgan was sleeping peacefully when we got back to the hospital...He had a good day...

Full Feeds

Corgan is 100 days old today...he weighs 1,82kg! He had a really good issue free night....Dr Egner said he can have full45ml feeds from breast or bottle...he drank so well with no desats...he is back in his open crib...the rules were bent again for us and my sister, Olivia, got to finally meet Corgan... 

Post Op

Corgan's eyes were still closed when we arrived this morning, he was still unsettled and Gervais said he had a tough night with him desatting a lot... He opened his eyes while Gervais was winding him during a feed, he looked at me with such sorrowful eyes...it broke my heart...I had to go out of the NICU...I had a good cry in the bathroom...Dr Egner took blood to check whether Corgan needed another blood transfusion or not... He was borderline so Dr Egner decided he didn't need one... Corgan's feed was changed to 20ml and his oxygen vlow decreased to just 1... He began desatting less and less... By the time I left at quiet time, Corgan's SpO2 was mainly between 98 and 100... Silindile looked after him today...she smsed me at about 14h20 to say that he was doing fine and the SATs were still between 98 and 100 and he only desatted once to about 82% - which is not a big deal...She smsed again at about 17h35 to say that at 15h50 the oxygen was removed and his SATs were on 99%!! When we got to the hospital this evening, Corgan was sleeping very peacefully...Gervais took over and Corgan was still asleep when we came back in after supper during changeover...

Hernia Repair

Corgan's weight is 1,690kg this morning. Dr Shaik came to see Corgan this morning and said if I wanted he could try do the operation sometime today otherwise only maybe next week because of his schedule..Corgan had his hernia repair operation at about 15h30. I went with him into theatre and held him while they gave him oxygen to make him sleepy...Janet was with him during the operation...it took about an hour...when he was back in the NICU he was not breathing...he was put on a ventilator....he pulled the tube out after a few minutes...he was then put on nasal prongs at 40% and the flow was at 2lt per hour....he desatted quite badly...a lot...It was hectic...chaotic...I felt like we had made a mistake...maybe we should have waited until next week when he would have been a bit bigger...I felt so worried about him...he didn't really even open his eyes the whole night...we only left the hospital at about 22h30...