Tuckers Downunder

Scarlett seems taken with the role of the big sister, in fact she has now adopted Polly and Zoe (her dolls) as additional little-siblings.

Where will it end I wonder? Why is she not conforming? The role of the older sister is to be jealous and territorial at this stage, isn’t it?

Sure Ivy will get a poke in the eye sometime soon.

We are chuffed with the way Ivy has been putting on weight since coming home. When she was born she weighed around 2.9kgs, which is about 6.5lbs, but then her weight dropped to about 2.65kgs by the time she came home (10% loss is pretty normal) but with almost constant feeding by Diana she was 2.9kgs again by the time she reached her tenth birthday – great going Ivy. She is feeding between 7 and 8 times per day, of which 2 are overnight, yuk.

The kidney issues continue, however we have access to a great team of health-care professionals to monitor and treat her if required. After visiting the hospital again on Thursday, day nine for Ivy, and them taking some more blood for tests, we saw a pediatrician on Friday, who confirmed that the ultrasounds taken on day two showed a small but functioning kidney, also that the blood tests looked normal, but that there was some calcification showing on the images which offered him some concern.  When we return to the hospital in a few days we will find out if the smaller “pelvic” kidney needs some treatment, or if everything will work itself out. Fingers crossed it does.

Description of a pelvic kidney here ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvic_kidney

Great to know that many of our friends and family have been to view the site and were able to access the photographs and videos. I’m encouraged to add more, so I will over the coming days and weeks!  

Love from us all.

Diana and Ivy came home on Thursday after two nights in hospital, the whole “event” of coming home is so much less significant for the second child (as Ivy is now known) which is a decent metaphor for all things relating to the poor younger sibling.

For instance, we took a trip to a shopping centre yesterday (Saturday), we did the same thing with Scarlett when she was 3 or 4 days old, that trip was planned out with military precision, emergency outfits, food and water for us, location of the parents’ room sourced and familiarised,  route planned etc, timing identified to ensure we met the feed window the moment we reached the parents’ room etc etc…

With Ivy, we were bored, we needed some stuff, we went to the shops, she came along. You get the idea.

Since coming home things have been good, we’ve had a stead procession of friends come through to see Ivy, and Scarlett’s been great with her little sister. Sleep has been somewhat as expected with Ivy demanding two feeds between midnight and 8:00am, each time she’s sleepign within 30 minutes. We like that, long may it continue. 

Pictures from the past few days below.

Scarlett was chuffed to get a card from Charlie, Louis and Finlay; addressed to a Very Special Big Sister… I’m sure she’ll live up to that expectation.

PICTURE; Big Sis Scarlett

Scarlett and I were back in the pool today, it’s still VERY cold but we have a week of 30 degree days coming so we hope it will be warmer by next week.

Picture : swim time

As many of your know, a Single Umbilical Artery (SUA) was found during the 19 week scan, and, as is often the case, when the ultrasound operator went looking for Ivy’s kidneys she could find only one, the right one; a Doctor came to confirm what she suspected and explained that SUA was often connected with a single Kidney but that the baby (Ivy) would live a normal life, although she would never be a kidney donor!

However during Wednesday’s post natal ultrasound the Doctor found a left kidney, lower in the body than normal, down around the pelvis and slight smaller, but functioning. Ivy can be a kidney donor after all!

Sisters meet, although Ivy is sleeping the entire time; much to Scarlett’s disgust!

Ivy was just born and Diana was taken to theatre for a short 30 minute procedure under a general anesthetic, leaving Ivy and I in the delivery suite for a wee while to have a chat and bond a bit… She has great little eyes, alert and always darting around checking out the room and her surroundings… Can’t wait to get to know her…