My second day of not being able to see Ellie was far worse than the first. This time I didn't have Sophie to keep me company, it was just me and my thoughts.
There is one thing that got me through the whole sorry time, and that's my friends. I had an amazing amount of support pouring in every day, and just writing out updates for everyone helped to keep me calm and in control.
It wasn't just our local friends and family, who were of course amazing, but my online friends too. There was a beautiful group of ladies on a birth forum who held me together, and I'll never truely be able to thank them enough. I read back on their comments and well-wishes, and it still makes me cry how much they cared.
Another one who deserves a mention is one of my closest friends, Angela. Her own experiences with NICU and her understanding of all the feelings I was going through was so important. It was good to be able to send her a text and know that she knew how I felt.
But the biggest thanks have to go to Bec. Not only was she the one to convince me to go to the hospital in the first place, and ultimately saved Ellie's life, but she also took Sophie in without a second glance. It was never an effort for her and she didn't complain once, not even when Sophie woke up with gastro. She made the trip to Hobart twice so that we could see Sophie, even though it was a long drive. Without Bec I don't know how we could have done it.
So it was with the help of all of these people that I made it through that second day without seeing Ellie. I don't know how parents survived having sick children before the social media revolution. It must have been so much lonelier for them.
Drew kept going over every three hours to feed Ellie and bring me updates. Her swab tests had come back clear, and all going well she would be transfered back to the nursery and out of issolation the next morning. And of course I would be able to see her again!
He was really angry when he came back from his last feed, and I asked him what was wrong. He said he'd had a bad nurse who kept trying to tell him what to do and how to feed Ellie and it had really started to make him mad. But I was really surprised when he said that instead of sitting there silently wishing she would go away, he actually made a complaint to the nurse manager, and had her removed from Ellie's care. I was so proud of him, it was exactly what I would have done too.
The best news of all was that it was looking like Burnie would be able to take her back on Friday if her next blood results were clear and they haf a bed available. I tried not to get too excited and hopeful, but it was hard after being there for so long.
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