The End

On Thursday May 15th Lily began spitting up. On discussion with GP and outreach nurse the next day, we concluded she possibly had reflux due to NG tube. Zoton was prescribed and the suction machine received. On Saturday we had the vomiting down the nose incident in my parent's house. The spitting and vomiting continued on Sunday which resulted in a lot of suctioning and crying on everyone's part. That night I rang SCBU for advice and they said to reduce feed to 10mls an hour from 20mls. During the day I had noticed that she wouldn't take her dody and that saliva was pooling her in mouth. I thought that she might be losing her suck and swallow.

The next day Lily's NG tube got blocked from the zoton and our outreach nurse was away so we had to venture back to SCBU. This, surprisingly, was not as bad as I thought. When we left with Lily 4 weeks previously I was determined she would not return but a sense of calm came over me as we walked through those doors. I was glad she was there so they could check her over and give us the thumbs up that all was ok. Her consultant examined her and was so proud of her and us as she had put on weight and grown in length. She looked big in the incubator, even though she was still only 4lbs 14oz's! He said her suck and swallow was probably gone and her rooting reflex was also gone. He said her system seemed be shutting down and she could be gone by that evening or last another month. This was a blow but I had been prepared for it as I had noticed the little changes myself. Her tubes were changed quickly and we were home again in an hour.