Week 1

Briony Elizabeth Chaffin was born on the 21st July 2010 at Oxford John Radcliffe hospital at 12.00 midday after a difficult pregnancy. She was clearly very eager to get into this world and meet everyone, as she made her entrance at just 26 weeks gestation weighing just 910g. Soon after her birth she was whisked off to the special care baby unit (SCBU).

Week 1 was a week of ups and downs for both Briony and her proud new Mum and Dad. Initially on a respirator, Briony surprised everyone and managed to cope with breathing on her own the first time they tried weaning her off. She moved onto Vapotherm, which is where 2 prongs feeding her air are put up her nose. This was stopped on day 3, but started again on day 6 as she seemed to be struggling a little.

Weight gain has been a real issue this week........although not exactly a heavy weight to start with Briony has lost weight throughout the week and ends the week weighing 774g. She's being fed intravenously and is also having increasing amounts of milk fed directly into her tummy through a tube in her mouth. By the end of the week she was up to an impressive 2.5mls/hour!

Mum and Dad have spent their days travelling to and from the hospital and Dad has also had to return to work. Sleep is at a complete premium as Mum is having to express every 3 hours including during the night. The events which bought Briony into the world early have also caught up with Mum and Dad. We are allowed to change her nappy and also to give her milk hourly if we are there.

Already Briony has had loads of visitors and is busy meeting the family; this week she met both sets of proud grandparents, Uncle Paul, Aunty Becky and Aunty Carlie. Not bad for just 1 week old and already so popular!

We can already she her character coming through - she is a real wriggle bum and the nurses struggle to keep her where she is put! She has also pulled a couple of her tubes out so the nurses have had to use supper strength plasters to stick them in place.

The week ended on a real high. On about day 3 she managed to open one eye, and then on day 6 she suddenly open both eyes and started peering to she who was outside her incubator. At the end of the first week, as she was relatively stable, Mum was allowed a cuddle outside of the incubator for the first time. It was a really special moment and Aunty Carlie was the official photographer. Lots of tears all round. She's limited to one cuddle a day at the moment (depending on her condition), so Dad is due the next one!