Last updated, 18 July, 18:30
The doctor at first said that John would need to stay on the antibiotics, which they had been giving him just to make sure there was no infection, until they were sure he was clear. When Mandy asked how long this would be, however, he checked and realised that in fact they had received all of the tests (including that of the blood which they got last night) and that all was clear. This was great news, becuase it meant that they were able to remove the drip which he had in his head. When it had been in his hands he had managed to pull it out, so they had put it into a vein in his scalp, which didn't look nice at all. He looks much more natural now that it has gone.
The final piece of good news from the doctor is that they are going to reduce the dose of the sedative - phenobarbitone - which they had been giving him. They wanted to keep him quiet so that he did not encourage the swelling in his brain and to guard against the danger of convulsions. He has not shown any sign of fits, however, and the doctor decided to only give him the phenobarbitone once a day instead of twice. It will take a day or so before we notice the difference as the drug hangs around for a while in the bloodstream, but when the level drops he should wake up a bit which should help him to feed better, as well as being nice for us.
The nappy changing is going well. John always seems to be clean when it is my turn and he saves the really smelly ones for when his mum is on her own or one of the nurses is doing it! I am afraid we are still using the disposable nappies which the hospital supplies, I haven't yet started using re-usable nappies, despite the fact that I have said that I am going to do an essay on their environmental benefits for my MSc course!
I missed the morning nappy change this morning, because George (one of the cats) decided to go walkabout. I knew I had to be here early today for the doctor's visit, but the cats have been shut inside every day so I wanted to let them out for a little while this morning. I had wanted to leave before eight, but George was nowhere to be seen. I knew that the only solution was to put my stuff in the car and act as though I was about to leave, in order to invoke Sod's Law and get him to appear just as I had decided to risk Mandy's wrath and leave him to the mercy of the neighbourhood cats for the day. Sure enough, he turned up at the front door. My shenanigans with cat treats and so on failed to coax him back in, but when I went to make sure that the other one did not escape he wandered back in himself.
My mum popped in at lunch-time with the washed clothes (!) and the photographs which I had left for her to get developed. I think that this is about the fourth film so far. The nurses tease me about being a David Bailey wannabee, but it is worth it.
John now seems to be getting the hang of breast-feeding. When he falls off now, he is more often opening his mouth and searching himself, without having to be shown what to do every time. I think that when he wakes up a bit he will have it sussed.
Up until now, John's head has still had dried blood on it, because people haven't wanted to mess with his head while it has been sore and because he had the drip in his scalp. Today Mandy and one of the nurses washed his head and hair and he looks loads better.
We lost and found John's bunny rattle today.