a visit from home

hi guys
its mum again...yep, the little fella is still tucked up in hospital working on getting better...almost 2 and a half weeks now. The good thing is that we are not experiencing the difficulty of eli not sleeping at night which is a huge relief...he has been doing really well overnight and getting plenty of rest. Wamma and pete however are still plagued by nappy changes, obs and alarms, so apparently if they can get 3-4 hours a night, they are doing well. I wont fib, we are all very weary, but we are keeping positive and hoping we will be out soon. I guess as each day passes, its a good thing as we are one closer in getting home...
Eli is doing reasonably well. His BP is still quite high so they have upped his bp medicine to being more regular. The Dr's are also continuing to taper his roids which is really good, so he is feeling a bit better every day. It continues to be a fine line however, with Dr's trying to control the graft vs host disease enough so he doesnt get sick, but also trying to taper his roids and other meds to help him get his little body back into the swing of fighting infections - enter the CMV.
We are waiting for monday which is when they will take some blood to work out whether the antibiotic is working or not. He has been on it over a week and we are hoping like crazy we can get at least one negative...as long as we keep getting positive results, we are resigned to being in hospital. Its a real catch 22, but i guess in the circumstances, we are all holding up pretty well. wamma leaves this week, and it is with an extremely heavy heart. She has been absolutely fantastic and slotted into our family extremely well. We are hoping we can be home (in nth melb) sooner rather than later to get our lives back on track.
Eli's 8th tooth has popped through...no rest for the wicked! he is still eating a huge amount of food (puts me to shame!)...on average he will have about 4 packets of le snak biccies, 3 yogos, 5 cans of veg/meat, 2 tuna and biccies, a dixie cup and 3 feeds of breastmilk a day...
his poor little belly is HUGE and it has to be uncomfortable for him. What goes in must come out...and i think one of the quotes of the week came from me when i said "geez, his poo actually smells HUMAN'....hmmmm...a weak blonde moment, and it cracked everyone up...me thinks its going to be one of those things they wont let me forget!
anyways...i hope you enjoy the photos...i havent taken heaps, particularly when he was so ill...they will be our memories to keep i think...
we also got a visit from home and got some boxes of goodies from all the gang at the bairnsdale office. Again we are so humbled, and i cant wait to share it all with hubby and eli...so from us to you...thanks so much.
I was saying to one of the nurses earlier this week that it really is the 1%'ers that help us so much. I know it must be boring or frustrating, but for all of you who have helped with food, getting stuff from the supermarket, doing toy runs and the list goes on, it is those things that have helped us look after eli the best we can. Its an amazing feeling to be able to pick up the phone and ask a mate to do a nappy run for us and have them there without any pressure. Looking after pete and i allows us to give eli 110% and i think it shows. Its so hard to bring a baby up in a hospital room and keep him challenged and stimulated. Unfortunately we cant walk the ward anymore, and we are pretty much confined to a room - much like transplant. But we also know that its short term pain for long term gain, although we would like to have it hurry up a bit cause we are all impatient...
anyhoo, i guess we are just so grateful to you all for everything you have done for us - all of you...and are just so happy to have you in our lives.
Also, before i forget, we would like to again thank the gippsland grammar school for their continued support and kind words that filter through..i will try and get in touch this week sometime to fill you in.
best fly now...hospital duty calls.
with love to you all
mum, dad and eli
xox