Sleeping ...

For the first two nights that Little S was in hospital, we stayed, free-of-charge, in accomodation provided by Great Ormond Street, in the 'Italian Wing'.

GOSH ensures both parents always get a room whenever their child is in intesive care - another way that GOSH feels like it is not just a hospital - they don't just fix medical problems, they think about the whole hospital experience from the child's point of view - not just by putting lovely pictures and toys in every ward, waiting room and corridor but by making sure that parents are closely involved with the healing process.

Getting the parents so involved probably helps on a number of levels - it frees up some nursing time for a start which is no small benefit in these 'times of austerity', but I think more importantly it allows parents to get used to caring for their child post-operation, it gives the child vital time with the people they are most attached to which has to be incredibly reassuring and help their healing process immeasurably and it allows the nurses to see how the child is doing whilst being with parents - a helpful indication of whether the child is ready to go home.

Anyway, having a room next to GOSH helped a lot from our point of view - it gave us a space to crash out in and eat in that was away from the hospital - we needed a breather now and again! In fact, one of the first things we were told when we got to CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) was that we should make the most of the next couple of nights as once Little S got to the ward we'd being staying with her and sleep would be harder to come by - how right they were!

Two nights on CICU and then two nights on Ladybird ward - J took the first night and I stayed there on the second night. Notice the verb 'stayed' rather than 'slept'. One way of looking at it was that I got to spend hours of quality time with Little S during the wee small hours of my 38th birthday - I must admit that by 4am I was finding it difficult to see it in quite such a positive light. Little S and I got to know the corridors of Ladybird ward pretty well by the end of those long dark hours. However, I was pleased to find that I wasn't getting woken up by any of the three other babies on Little S's ward! And if this was the most annoying thing that I had to go through to get Little S back home then I'd take it.

It was with great relief that I greeted J when she arrived on the Tuesday morning, with the possibility that this might be the day that Little S came home!