Andrew's John Kenneth McCann diary, Monday 22 July, 1996Andrew's John Kenneth McCann diary, Monday 22 July, 1996
Yet another doctor came round this morning. He said that they needed John to be breast-feeding and putting on weight before he could go home and he is doing both of those things. They are not doing any special monitoring of John now, so they are not really doing anything we could not do for him at home. The phenobarbitone should be out of his system by tomorrow morning, so as long as he doesn't show any signs of fits or the like then he is doing fine on his own. The doctor advised Mandy to stay in the neo-natal unit overnight, so that she could feed him during the night and get used to having her sleep broken, and that then we should be able to take him home tomorrow.
We are so pleased, it is hard to express. There are still no guarantees that everything will be fine - we will still take each day as it comes - but it will all feel so much more natural when we are at home. He will have to come back for check-ups, but not as frequently as we had expected. His first one will not be for at least two weeks.
We are trying not to get too excited, the chance of him coming home is still conditional on his having a good night, but it is hard.
Bought a few things in Preston then picked up some stuff at home for Mandy. We watched a bit of Coronation Street before I left her and John in the neo-natal unit. When I got home I worked out how to fit the baby seat into the car.Discovered the hard way that a neighbour also has the same model of baby monitor that I just bought, as when I turned it on a baby's cry came out of it! Fortunately it has another channel, but I guess we should be careful what we say in front of it!
Mandy and I watched "A Room with a View" last night, her in hospital and me at home. Maybe we will need to take John to Italy when he is a bit bigger!