Hi all, I know I know i've been a bit slack on the blog recently.

Got loads to tell you.

Most importantly according to mum and dad my last MRI scan was really good. The bleed on my brain or 'Brian' as i just spelt it, has gone! On top of that the brain damage on the otherside has gone and disappeared, it's amazing..apparently!

Anyway got mum and dad smiling which was good. My neuro guy said he'd like to rescan me when i'm 2.5yrs old which seems like eternity to me. He says that sometimes the damage can show back up when the myelin sheath grows around the nerves in the brian (all sounds like goobledeegook to me)..

Anyhow I'm feeling great, can't shake off my first cold and coughing like a small horse but otherwise nothing to complain about...well ish...

Mum keeps jamming weird coloured damp sticks of things in my hands and i plain don't like it, yes yes i grant you I do like to put most things in my mouth but what's with the damp wet slightly sgidgey things. One was like a miniature tree, nope didn't like that and their was a orange sticky thing and also a weird looking whitey yellow curved stick..nope..I'm not having it. However, mum has given me some tasty polstyrene type things..love em..not damp and tastless, just how things should be!!

As you can see from the picture above, i've taken up moutaineering, i love pouring over maps and deciding which route to pick off next...keep up parents!!!

ps isn't sitting tricky, i keep slumping off to one side, hey ho off for a wel deserved nap

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Macy moo x

I had some of the results back from my MRI scan...apparently the blood on my brain is gradually being reabsorbed into my brain, which is good & where i had brain damage it has disappeared..more detailed info coming on October 27th from my neuro consultant. I'm pleased with that anyway and mum and dad seem delighted.

I went swimming today its fun..I was wondering what happens to all my dribble that floats off into the pool?

MRI scan - 13 weeks old

Today I had my second MRI scan. Apparently I can’t lie still so they put this funny smelling mask on me and I got very sleepy. An hour later I woke up feeling really weird so I cried a bit and had a very deep husky voice for a while. Wish I could have sung a few tunes, like Macy Gray, it would’ve sounded really good but I haven’t learnt to talk yet…drat!

After an hour I forgot anything had happened so I just decided to start beaming at mummy and daddy again.

Apparently the Prof will let me know in a few weeks how my bleed and brain damage are doing…I don’t know what all the fuss is about I’m happy as larry, whoever that is.

Holidays and festivals

I’ve now been to the beach in North Devon, Cornwall and Pembrokeshire .. I’m a well travelled sandy baby. I’ve braved the English summer under canvas and from inside a youth hostel looking out at the sheets of rain. I wonder if mum and dad’ll take me somewhere where I can get out of my sleeping bag next summer!

My first festival was really amazing. I couldn’t stop looking around at all the crazy looking people and the music was lovely. I fell asleep to Roeksop and woke up for Athlete, especially when they sang ‘wires’ which makes mum and dad cry and hug me lots. I camped and aren’t some babies noisy, woke me up in the night and I’d only just got to sleep after Uncle Nath came back at 2am! My best moment was hanging out in the Tiny Tea tent which had lots of bright coloured cloth and sparkley mirrors, not too mention Chai tea which smelt great.

Week 9 - Important appointments

In short, because I’m not a tall person..yet, I had two appointments in early August with a consultant from NICU and a brain surgeon. Yes I’m very important. They were very nice and said I was doing splendidly but they’d like a look in my head to see how things are. so I'll have a brain scan in Sept.

Holidays

Macy Week 8:

I’m on holiday, it’s fantastic!

We start the holiday spending the whole day packing stuff, moving it to the car, then sitting for ages in uncomfortable seats. Finally we arrive and then we unpack everything into a new house. It’s amazing.

Best of all mum and dad are very excited so I think I’ll be excited too.

So today I went to the beach for the first time. It was really cool…literally! I got covered in sand which seems to get into every imaginable place. We set up a little tent, then surrounded it with a brightly coloured screen and then went to sleep, I love the beach it’s sort of bed but with sand.

Dad went off dressed like a penguin with a huge door looking thing..he came back later very wet and smiling. I love dad he’s really silly. Who’d think on a chilly day like this, when you could have stayed in the sand bed tent, you’d go off and jump about in the sea.

So the holiday was great it finished the same way it started lots of packing and unpacking. Just to see what’d happen I decided to try crying as loud as I could every 5 miles all the way home. It was so much fun, dad kept stopping and looking worried and mum kept looking at dad and I kept beaming at them every time they took me out of that horrible hard car seat. We had so much fun doing it all the way home. It took us so long I thought the car was home and then to my surprise we turned up back at home home. What fun.

Week 7 - Macy smiler

Jul 19 2009 - Week 7 smile
Originally uploaded by Dave Cheeseman

Hi all,

I'm really sorry I haven't kept up to date with my life as Macy the Cheesgirl. Life's just crazy busy in this world...not like inside the mummy when it was a bit more chilled.

Mum & dad have introduced me to the world of going out..I've been to St Paul's carnival, two barbeques, a church night out, a dinner party & out to the pub.

The carnival was great, basically lots and lots of people (mostly looking at me), lovely smells (Daddy said it was goat and jerk chicken) & this booming noise which mummy said was not really music, more noise! Whilst mum and dad tried to eat balanced on a wall a lovely lady asked if we'd like to come into her garden and then she brought us drinks..I liked her. Apparently I'm quite a ticket, as everyone loves a baby Macy!

Barbeques seem strange to me, Daddy gets really excited, the men stand around looking at the hot thing talking about whether its too hot or not hot enough and the women sit around chatting. Then they put lots of meat on the barbeque and burn it all. Why don't they just cook it inside like they normally do. Adult world is very confusing.

At church I think they were playing a game called pass the parcel..I was the parcel and every few minutes after I just got nice and relaxed and started to smile at the nice face, they passed me on. It's funny but adults seem obsessed with two things, my weight and how much i sleep. It's not cool to keep telling people how heavy a girl is!

At the dinner party i got passed around a bit more and one lady bounced me up and down..I loved it and would like everyone to do that from now on, but not just when i've eaten otherwise i might have an accident on them! Don't people chat alot..on and on.. and after they've had a few glasses of yellow or brown liquid they talk even more and louder than ever. Sometimes they all talk and i can't understand how they can hear each other.

At the pub it was really fun. There were so many people to look at and everywhere i went they all looked at me. We were on a boat and Daddy said they had crushed loads of apples and made the drink out of it. Funny, i wondered why they didn't just eat the apples save all the crushing and then have a glass of milk to wash it down. But hey know ones listening to me.

I'm still pretending a don't like the moses basket..if mum puts me in it, I stay very still and pretend i'm asleep for an hour and then I wake up and cry lots. Next minute i'm snug in bed with mum and sleep like a baby...well i guess i would! I don't think its going to work for much longer as mum and dad keep chatting about it, but i'll keep it up as long as poss.

Well guess i better get back to sleeping..or should i eat...oh I feel a bit wet...WAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa

Byeeee Macy Cheesegirl xx

My week 4: Macy Cheesegirl

So I can’t understand why they’ve turned up the heat…sure it was hot inside the mummy and NICU had the radiators up far too high, but what’s going on now, how’s a girl supposed to sleep in this weather?

Mummy and daddy say its good training for when they take me to Africa but I can’t get used to it.

Anyway. This week I went back to the hospital I got lots of ou’s and ah’s as daddy carried me through the hospital in a sling, I’m not sure why they think he’s so special, he’s just a daddy. My checks were all fine, although they kept us waiting, but I don’t mind I just slept. I’ll go back for one more set of checks next Tuesday then I won’t go back until the 22nd of July when I see my consultant from NICU.

My Granny and Grandad arrived this week to hang out with me, whilst daddy went back to work. Granny’s been singing me lots of songs & Grandad has been busy gardening and helping dad paint the garage floor.

Daddy thought it would be ok to try to work whilst he held me (see the pic above) but I soon put pay to that, I’m looking for total attention, thanks you very much!

See you soon, drop me a line if you feel like it.

Macy x

PS i've learnt to suck my thumb, it's tasty!

Week 3

Hi all, I've had my first week at home with mum and dad. It's been quite confusing being out in the wide world, where's all the strip lights and women in blue uniforms...all of a sudden i've got lots of space and different amounts of light in each room, lots of people turn up and every time they arrive there's a new smell coming from the kitchen. I decided straight away i've had enough of being left alone in boxes so a big NO to the moses basket, i put my little foot down and decided if mum and dad get the big snug bed and each other that i want a bit of that too. So now i've got my way and will only sleep with them. its great, apart from dad snores and mum falls asleep when i'm in the middle of my midnight snacks, its very rude!

i've been out to big green places and a very weird place which was like a huge home that went on forever i think mum said it was called I-key-yah.

I went back to hospital last Tuesday and lots of people clucked I thought ducks clucked but apparently humans do it too. The doctor was a bit mean and jiggled me around and just when i thought she'd leave me alone she spiked my foot and made me bleed, how rude is that, but dad is really chilled in fact so is mum so i decided to chill out too and not make a fuss about it.

If she does it again i'm going to poo on her hand, that'll teach her!

Apparently alls fine, my head is the same size which means my bleed isn't changing, also my eyes move together when a bright light is flashed infront of me which means one of my optic nerves is working well, it's a really sensitive nerve so it wouldn't work if my brain was under pressure. All my other checks got ticks in the box...I'm a very clever girl if i say so myself.

So i'll continue to try and be as cute as possible as this gets me lots of hugs and kisses..please feel free to book a time to come round and hug me, i love it!

See you soon

Macy cheesegirl xx

Days 12-14

Monday went in a blur we decided to have a really chilled day and catch up on rest, so weird trying to get your head around being home with Macy, whilst feeling sort of post-festival surreally exhausted. We’ve felt like we’ve been wondering around in a trance, a good trance.

Tuesday we went back to hospital to have Macy’s weekly checks. We bumped into the midwives that helped Jen in labour they were so sweet, loving seeing Macy. Then we went to the ward and bumped into a few of the ward staff, sort of weirdly felt like coming home. Macy had her head measured to check the haematoma wasn’t increasing in size, all well there. She had various other tests and all fine. We’re so excited that she seems to be totally healthy even though she has had such traumas to her brain.

Later in the afternoon a very proud father pushed his babe to a funky café in the sun on Gloucester Road. We had a half in the sun and felt great.

Last night we were a bit naughty and we slept in shifts with Macy in bed with us..it is so sweet, she just curls up in your arm and kips for 2 hours a time, it feels lovely….guess we got 6 hours each which feels great… can’t believe I’m saying it but it does… not sure sleeping with us is going to be a winner in the short medium term…trouble is if we put her down in the Moses basket she wakes up in 10 mins max..we’ve been given lots of advice, put the Moses basket on a tilt with books under the legs at one end, wrap a towel in a sausage and lay it round her so snug, warm the mattress, put a t shirt of yours in so she smells you and the best yet … put a ticking clock in which imitates a heart beat..still got to try the last few.

It’s so funny, you just have to work it out steadily…it’s great.

Wednesday - Bathed her today, still trying to get the glue out of her hair from when they stuck the brain probes on her head in NICU. She wasn’t overly impressed with the bath but think she was more thinking about food at the time, just like her dad!

We headed down to IKEA to get a few bits, bad idea, Jen started to burn out half way round whilst Macy snoozed on oblivious, think we’ll stick to some slightly more chilled low key trips over the next few days!

Our church group have started the food rota now. It’s amazing we get two weeks where a different person brings us food every night. We’ve had some delish stuff including homemade pizza’s tonight. Thanks guys you’re awesome!

Si & Lizy singing Macy moo moo

Si & Lizy have been singing this prayer for Macy for the last couple weeks..watch out its catchy.

Day 11

Cheese & daborn grandparents with Jen & Macy

Fred Jen's dad

Macy wasn't impressed, see above, when we had to drag her out of bed at 7am...'I just want a lie in' she says!!

We went off to church with Macy which was so amazing, people greeted us in tears at the door, we went up on stage and got a round of aplause from 500 people. couldn't believe it was a week ago i stood in the same place showing pics of macy in the incubator covered in wires.

we came home and I cooked Sunday roast for both sets of grandparents, eating in the garden with Macy relaxing, was so wonderful having family together.

Day 10

She's home she's home she's home!!!!

What a day. We heard that it had been cleared by the neurosurgeon that macy could go home, we were a bit stunned and understandably worried that we'd be away from all the immediate help in a normal way being new parents but also as she still has serious problems that could complicate.

They came and taught us baby CPR which was reassuring and frightening, they then went through all the different things we should look out for and what we should do if they arise. we felt quite shaken up and concerned but also content that we still trusted God with her life and that He would protect her and help us.

Si & Lizy (Woodies church, Bristol) came round with tea and we had great night toasting Macy with sparkling vino and generally celebrating...I'm going to try to upload the song they've been singing for Macy all the way through her difficulties.

The first night at home was great although fairly sleepless she fed at 1am and 845am and decided to hang out and suck our fingers for the 8hrs inbetween!!! I think i got a few more winks sleep than Jen!

Macy Day 9

Macy Day 9: ‘Thunderbirds are go’

Well what a night…the incredibly lovely staff on Jen’s ward let me stay in Jen’s room for the night to support her. We slept as a family for the first time…well when I say slept I mean we got to hang out as Macy decided to turn into a milk guzzling nocturnal fluffy owl, with huge eyes peeping up at me for most of the night. At one point she sucked my little finger from 3-4am. I was sat in the parents room away from Jen, after a while I realised that I had been alternating reading to her from the Psalms and the sun newspaper..I think she’s more of a Guardian girl like her daddy!

At 9am she was whisked off for her CT scan in a blue pod (see pic) it looked like a thunderbirds capsule and the Dr, nurse & portor were bemused as I held up the proceedings to try and get the right angle and light!

Granpa & Grammy Cheese arrived to say hello and Granpa taught her some really useful skills. How to change gear, she seemed particularly good at getting into reverse gripping his finger as her gear stick.

The Dr came in to update us and said the CT scan, which builds a 3D image of her skull had shown up a probable fracture near her brain bleed, as expected. Also they were fairly satisfied that the bleed hadn’t changed size.

We then got the news that Macy is going home Saturday (today) which was incredibly exciting and very daunting. They then spent time with us teaching us CPR and going over what we had to look out for and if she did deteriorate where we should go to. This really shook me up. I guess you keep seeing all the positives and then when they point out the possible setbacks it brings it home to you that she’s doing so well but is still in a very vulnerable and potentially serious place. It feels scarey going home but at the same time we keep falling back on all the God has spoken to us about her, even her future & we hold onto that as our hope & strength.

Brad & Haze popped in to give her some cuddles and Brad, Barney, Isaac & I played ball outside.

So we settled down for another night feeling that we had to cope entirely without help to give us the confidence that we could do it at home. This really isn’t any different to what everyone goes through with first time babies, but I guess we’re just a degree more paranoid. Anyway the night was really good. Macy fed well and fairly regularly, I did the nappies and a little consoling and when that didn’t work she went to Jen. We actually got a reasonable amount of sleep 30 or 40 mins…only kidding, at least 42 mins.. actually 4 or 5 hours inbetween feeds. Can’t believe I of all people and saying this, but that actually felt good!!!

Huge thanks for your ongoing love and prayers. The next blog post will be written at home!

Prayer points:

The brain bleed can attract fluid and cause an oedema which would put pressure on the brain, lets pray this doesn’t happen and the bleed is steadily even miraculously absorbed back into the brain
We make the transition back to home without specialist care with confidence and are able to relax and enjoy the first semblances of normal family life
That Macy will find her routine and allow Jen & I to regain a little sleep

Lots of love

Dave, Jen & Macy moo (Si & Lizy’s nickname)

Macy Day 8: MRI results

Macy Day 8:

So today Macy headed off for her MRI scan … she was sedated in NICU which meant Macy decided to go against convention and wake up … who does that remind you of?

She was put in a pod, which is a mobile incubator it looked a bit like something out of a sci fi film .. ‘we have the power to regenerate you!’Then they transported her in an ambulance about 100m to MRI ward. The amount of care is extraordinary…I could have literally carried her across in 30 seconds but they’re so careful, I will be forever in their debt. I’m going to be the champion of the NHS after all the support they’ve given Macy.

When they got to the MRI place they had to ask Macy a questionnaire, no kidding, it actually has to be asked to her, some of those questions were:
‘Have you ever had a gunshot wound or a shrapnel injury?’ …seriously I’m not joking
‘Have you taken your earrings out?’
‘Have you ever eaten crocodile?’ … ok I did make that one up

It was v funny. I’m trying to get a copy of the sheet to put in her keepsake box of all the paraphernalia she’s collected whilst here.

Jen’s been incredible, pretty much zero sleep again last night, Macy turning nocturnal, which is very useful for a mum who’s had so little sleep for 7 days. But she keeps getting thru. Women are amazing. I’d have fallen to pieces a long time ago.

So we now have the results from the MRI scan. It was incredibly tense and upsetting. The consultant led us through telling us all the good and I could tell we had something coming…so I’m going to do the same!! Her brain is showing great development, something about the dura developing well (perhaps one of you docs could explain that to me). We saw the optic nerve and lots of other stuff which was really cool. Then they went up towards the top of the brain and you could see a huge white spot on the right side which is a haematoma (sorry about spelling). This showed where she had a bleed on her brain. The great thing is, there was no sign of brain damage under the bleed and because the centre line of her brain was straight and not pushed over they could tell it was an old bleed which has not continued. Eventually it will be absorbed by the brain. In the mean time they will do a CT scan to see if she has a fracture in the skull near this. If so, it will heal itself in time. On the left side of the brain, near the surface, there is evidence that she has had some brain damage possible caused by an oxygen loss. It does not look too bad and may not cause any problems, however, it does increase the risk she might suffer from epilepsy in the future. The consultant said that there was a high chance she would not have physical or mental disabilities, but time will tell.

We are just hugely thankful that they are satisfied she is not in any immediate danger, they know the cause of her fits & feel confident that she will be ok.

Thanks again for your prayers and thoughts

Dave, Jen & Macy Cheesegirl xx

Day 7 - we're in heaven!

Macy Day 7:

Macy 1 week today…hooray!

Jen survived her first night in the ward with Macy…few normal-ish experiences of being up half the night with a crying baby but other than that they did well. Jen eventually fell asleep with her cuddled up in bed for 3 hours.

Today we’ve been getting used to being in charge, which is quite bizarre after being told what to do the whole time.

Macy had two hearing tests the normal one to check the physical part of her ear was working, which it was. Then a NICU baby ear test, which checks to see if the auditory nerve is picking up sounds passing it to the brain and the brain then responding. It involved her wearing a funky pair of headphones…cool kid (see pic).

She had a hug with Grammy (USA gran name) & Granpa Cheese today which she loved.

Tomorrows a big day for her as she’ll go for an MRI scan at 9am. She need to go back to intensive for this and be sedated as she has to be still. They’ll then monitor her through to when she wakes to make sure her breathing is ok.

We might hear preliminary result tomorrow but won’t get the full report back from the neurologist until the Thursday after.

If you’d like to pray:

She has no problems whilst sedated
That the scan gives her an all clear for brain damage

Thanks for all your ongoing love..you’re super stars. Amazing some people in England found out about Macy from friends in Uganda..so she’s travelling round the world…v young backpacker!!

Day 6 - the latest

Got some breaking news...Macy has made it out of intensive care and into what they call the 'transition ward' it's huge answer to prayer as this ward is a halfway house. It's not in intensive care but it's a proper mother and baby ward, where they can be together, but with intensive care stylee support around them.

This ward has strict criteria to get into, macy fitted all bar she wasn't a prem babe so they said no even when the consultant pleaded with them..however after sending out texts asking to people to pray about this..we walked back into NICU and they said 'they've changed their minds and given you a bed'.

When i left Jen tonight she was in a single room with Macy...not even a shared room. It's amazing. Jen was obviously very apprehensive. We've had the luxury of having 24hr monitoring by the best, with super gizmo machines, and within 24 hrs Jen's in a room with her with no moniotrs at all.

Things happen so fast with babies its incredible.

We're just praising God for His kindness and for all of you who are supporting us with kindness and prayers.

I'm loving every second with her. can't wait to throw the biggest party at our place to introduce you all to her.

Night

Dave exhausted but jubilent daddy

Macy day 6

Macy day 6:

It’s hard to believe the little girl is coming up to a week old time flies when you’ve got a mini cheddar to look after.The nurses thought we should get her a yellow baby grow then she’d look like a slice of cheddar!

You may notice in one of the photo’s that I popped her namesake into the cot…I had to gel and wash it first!!

So Macy is still in intensive care but on the verge of coming out to either the special unit or transition ward, these are slightly lower versions of intensive care.

She is up to feeding her full quota of milk for her age and weight but not without some tube feeding as she’s still very sleepy, maybe in part from brain drugs which are still working there way out of her system.She’s taking some milk from a cup which is hilarious, babies have ability to lap for first few weeks so she laps out of cup like a kitten, we can’t help laughing and she does seem to pull a grumpy face at us. The main criteria for getting out of intensive care is she feeds without nose tube and then she could go onto a ward with Jen if they can find a space.

So she’s really doing well.

We have the MRI scan coming up on Thursday which may give the consultants an idea of why she had seizures. If there was a big problem we’d probably know the gist of it Thursday, if know apparent problem then we’ll get full report from neurologist a week Thursday.

If she starts to feed fully with Jen and she puts on body weight then she’d be allowed to come home.

So we just keep taking one day at a time and thank God for her recovery and keep praying she’ll be completely well.

Jen is doing incredibly well considering. It’s very hard being in separate places to the babe practically, it takes a lot more effort and time and it means she sometimes only gets 3 hours of disturbed sleep a night. I reckon in 5 days she’s had about 15 hours max all disturbed…incredible how she’s still happy and coping.

I’m loving the whole baby thing get great delight out of changing her clothes and nappies and reading books and stuff, I love it.

OK that’s it for now, hopefully this text is on the blog now and not email, I’ll keep updating the blog every two days with new text and photo’s, leave it to you if you want to check it…don’t want to be a daddy bore!!

We hugely appreciate your ongoing prayers, if you decide to fast any meat meals then don’t let it go to waste…I’ll be round in a jiffy to hoover it up!!!!

Day 5

Yesterday was a great day. Macy went over a 24 hour period without fits and now its more like 2 days. This is a great sign as it could mean her mind has rerouted itself to cope with whatever problems it’s had. But these are still all possibilities and not definites. As a result they are letting her brain drugs work there way out of her system and she’ll start to come around a bit more. She ripped her own IV out (good girl!) and they left it out and upped her milk levels..over yesterday she went from 18ml to 32ml every 2 hours which is up to her full quota for her age/size…which is amazing and she’s keeping it all down and blood sugars are fine so she’s digesting it too. Later yesterday they took her brain monitor off which was a bit scarey as it is best indication of whether she’s fitting but her breathing alarm would still go off if she fitted so I’m more relaxed about that.

Then at 8pm I went to see her and she had been moved out of the incubator into a cot (still in intensive care) I cried, it was so amazing to see her out. I was ready to drop from exhaustion and the nurse asked if I wanted to hold her till 845pm..couldn’t resist but could hardly stay awake.

We put her in clothes yesterday which was wonderful and although this sounds ridiculous we’ve been able to change her nappies and that been so wonderful too (won’t be saying that for long!!) my poor sense of smell helps in that department..too much information!!

It’s possible she may go into a new room today ‘special care’ which is a slightly less intensive room within intensive care.

So more observation and heading towards MRI scan Thursday which may show up any problems. We might not get the results of that for up to 6/7 days after the scan but it doesn’t seem to matter as her immediate health and contentment is all we need right now.

Jen is doing really well considering. She so so exhausted but managing. It’s very hard to keep moving between her ward and the NICU unit..yesterday it seemed like we hardly had a moment, everything seems to be rushed for her and she wants to slow down and enjoy Macy. I hope to help her to manage that today.

I’m doing really well, I’m exhausted but coping amazingly well. Just to have Macy in a good place with no more setbacks is fueling my engines..but if anyone wants to bring me a steak sandwich I’m sure the engines will run even smoother!!!! (that’s a joke)

Prayer requests: (for those of you who this counts for)

Macy continues to progress with no setbacks
Jen remain strong and doesn’t get sick (little cough coming at mo)
That Jen can keep up with Macy’s milk needs (she’s overtaken jen at mo)
We both find time to rest and enjoy time together with Macy
That we sleep deeper and longer without waking so much
For family, especially Jen’s parents who leave for home today utterly exhausted
For my parents as they step in today

Thank you guys for all your prayers, calls, texts and love its kept us going. Jen is still to low on reserves to see visitors..its a hard thing for her as she desperately wants to see people but doesn’t have the energy to. But things will change as she gets more sleep and rest and I’ll keep you posted when the time comes.

By for now, God bless

Dave, Jen & Macy the Cheesegirl xxx

Day 3

Macy's had a rough day today been upgraded to proper intensive care…funny how everyone strives for an upgrade normally but this is the last one you ever want…but saying that she couldn’t be in better human hands.

For those who haven’t heard Macy was born 3/6/09 at 22:22pm, 7lb and by emergency caesarean after long labour, due to stress.

She was fine for first 5 hours then she struggled to breath properly and as a result was taken to high dependency unit. She did really well and it was looking like she might come back to Jen, then this morning she suffered two fits which can be very serious for a babe. It showed some sort of brain problem. Over the day she did great responding well to medication but then had two more minor fits at 3 and one at 9. The latter fits were not physical, ie you couldn’t see them happening, but they were picked up on the monitor.

She’s had an ultrasound scan of her brain and nothing was apparent so now they’ll see how she responds to different levels of drugs. She has had so many tests its incredible, poor little thing is like a pin cushion but she’s heavily sedated so not in any pain. She actually looks very calm which has been very reassuring.

We have had the opportunity to hold her and Jen’s fed her in the first two days. I had some amazing times rocking her in the early hours of 3/6/09..getting her to drift off in my arms for half hour. Smitten father.

So she’s booked in for a MRI scan next Thursday which give the NICU unit time to do lots of other complicated stuff to figure out whats happening.

It’s a scarey time of deep crushing lows and long periods of calm..I can’t tell you how incredible it has been to have so much love from you all and as a Christian I am bowled over by God’s grace and love for us, that may be hard to understand for those of you who aren’t Christian…I’ll explain myself to you sometime.

I’ll try to keep you updated, appreciate you texts and calls and especially your prayers.

Jen is doing so well she’s had almost 3 days with no sleep bar the odd snatched half hour having had major surgery and she has kept smiling and positive..she’s my hero!! So we take it one day at a time and know whatever our girl is a beauty.

Day 1 & 2

So Brie Cheesegirl has arrived …..ok not really Brie but would have been funny.. for me!!

Macy Violet Grace Cheeseman was born 3/6/09 22:22 7lb and very Chinese looking!! And incredibly cute (proud father)

Its been a bit of a rollercoaster as today she went into NICU (intensive care) as there were concerns that she may have developed an infection from ingesting miconium (thats her own poo in lay mans terms) during labour.

She’s made great improvements and we’re hoping she’ll be back in the ward Friday with jen.

Jen was amazing and has an incredible testimony to share with you about meeting God in labour..in the final throws the babe got a bit distressed and Jen had to have an emergency caesarean. She’s healing incredibly well and has been up and about today.

Please pray:

Macy starts to feed well and comes out of intensive care
Jen gets some sleep (been up 48hrs ish so far)
I get a bit too!!

Thankyou all for your prayers and love its been overwhelming and we’ve shared half a dozen testimonies with nurses, midwives and dr’s as a result of it..people have been bowled over with the love of church..how great a testimony is that. Thank you God