1st Day in Delhi -We saw Benjamin!!!

We spent about 90 minutes today with Ben and one of his doctors at the hospital.

So good to see him again and of course a first for Sam. Sam and I was a little shocked when he first saw him. Ben was so motionless and very discoloured, his skin on his stomach was still recovering for extreme stretching. He was was calm and sleeping, though he did eventually move when we stroked him. His arms are so thin and scrawny like a starved chicken, though his legs and feet are fattening up. He now weighs around 1.1kg!

Update on the surgery on his abdomen just 8 days ago (the stomach swelling has gone down by 90%) and didn't know this but he has had to have a temporary ileostomy (That is, his solid waste completely bypasses his large intestines and bowels and comes out on the side of his belly), this has been done to give his large bowel time to recover from the trauma. There will be a further operation to rejoin his bowel in Melbourne when he is 3-4 kg.

Regarding results of the blindness operation, The doctors apparently wont know the outcome of that till next thursday. When we saw him, one of his eyes was scrunched shut and the other all you could see was black which made us panic a little, but the doctor says they are still developing.

Ben is still on some oxygen (20%), but doctors are hoping tomorrow he will be taken off that, . When he is breathing by himself,  we will  be able to pick him up and hold him for some time every day.

On the positive side, there is no evidence of  brain damage. His heart seems very strong. He is now taking formula (13 ml every 2 hours) happily, and passing startling saffron yellow poo.

What’s more the doctor’s current prognosis is that Ben should pull through and while there may be a chance he will be slow in learning, and  have some early asthma. He otherwise has every chance of a very normal life.

We held his tiny hand, and wiggled his ear, stroked his head and sang him a few lines of a badly recalled  nursery rhyme which petered out after two lines due to foggy memory. Ah new parents!! We promised ourselves we will look up the words to some, so in the coming days we can do better !

Our hotel (a B&B really) is very comfortable, now we are in our proper room (stuff up on first night where we had to just about sleep on the couch, with no bathroom), though it is 40-50 minutes drive from the neonate hospital, which may end up driving Sam mad, see how we go.

Lots of love to Everyone

Sam and Phil xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx