The latest from the hospital is that Bailey was 'great' last night. He has had a couple of potassium infusions to make up for what he lacked, and he has also been given dextrose in solution to balance his blood sugar, which is down a little on what it should be.

Bailey was weighed today...... he has gone from 500g at birth to a whopping 710g today. The nurse weighed him twice to be sure there was no mistake. Part of the increase may be due to retained fluid, but he has put on some proper weight.

Much of the fluid has gone and his head is now quite well defined. Mummy changed Bailey's nappy and it upset him so much that his ventilation needed to be increased for a short while. He hates to be disturbed.

Baileys skin is in quite a poor condition. It is flaky in places. It looks painful but the nurses say it will get better on it's own. They use olive oil to soothe the skin, but they can't use too much of it otherwise it makes it difficult for them to get hold of him when they need to work with him. Bailey still needs sensors to monitor how he is doing and the olive oil affects how well they stick to him. A little oil seems to go a long way though and it gives his skin some relief for a few hours before it needs to be done again.

The retained fluid seems to be getting a lot better. His head and groin area are still very swollen with the volume of fluid, but overall he is looking better.

Daddy changed Bailey's nappy for the first time today and both parties came away unscathed from the experience.

Bailey continues to make good progress. His colour is coming through and the jaundice seems to be leaving him. He was stable enough to be moved within the the ward which, we have been told, is a good sign. The infection, or infections he has still cause some concern, but we can take some assurance from knowing that he has been treated for them from the moment that infection was suspected. A lumbar puncture was attempted, but the fighter that he is he wouldn't let them and it was abandoned, and although we won't have the results of what it would have found, we know that he didn't have to put up with the pain of the procedure, or run the risk of any complications from it.

Bailey is now taking a full feed of expressed milk from Michelle, 6ml every two hours which is excellent considering that the doctor said he wouldn't be feeding him for at least a week! He began feeding a few days ago on 0.5 ml every four hours and his feeding is going from strength to strength.

Michelle and I visited Bailey today at a different time from the usual and he must have been surprised because instead of sleeping through it, he was looking at us for a lot of the time we were with him.

Doctors confirmed today that the infections are definitely e-coli and possibly meningitis in addition. They have been treating him for both infections since they became suspicious that he might have them.

Bailey is making good progress with his jaundice, it seems to be leaving him fairly quickly. He now has pink ears, hands and feet. His lower legs are beginning to change back to pink and he has a few pink patches on his upper body. He is feeding well and tolerating the increases in his feed, on Wednesday he taking 0.5 ml every 4 hours and now he is up to 3ml every 3 hours.

As we entered the ICU on this day the microbiologist phoned the ward to say that tests done on Bailey had shown up infection that may have been causing liver and lung problems. The next day or so should bring more definite information.

I read Bailey his first story, and apart from raising his eyebrows from time to time he ignored me and slept through it all. We aren't sure how well his eyes can focus yet but there seemed to be lots of eye contact between us, especially when we spoke to him.

Bailey is back to his old self again, he kicks and punches when he is being worked on but he always complies in the end. He just needs to show his spirit and then settles to what needs to be done. Wisdom after five days! He's been here before I think.

Michelle was discharged from hospital today. It was a very tough day for her because she would be coming home and leaving our boy in the hospital. Before we left the hospital we went to see Bailey and we got the shock of our lives. Bailey's incubator was surrounded by doctors and other staff. When they saw us, one of the doctors broke away from the group and met us before we got to Baileys area. He told us that when Bailey's breathing tube was being suctioned out there had been some blood on the suction pipe and this was a worrying sign. They were not completely certain why the blood was there, it could have been old blood which had pooled in his lungs from the initial trauma of intubation, or it could be fresh blood from a fresh trauma, at this stage they simply could not tell. The doctors had listened to Bailey's breathing and to them it sounded like one lung was getting a better supply of air than the other. To remedy this they repositioned his breathing tube so that there was a clear gap between the end of the tube and the branch from which his lungs separated. At the time we went into the ICU they were waiting for an X-Ray to confirm the position of tube now it had been moved. The doctor assured us that the situation would be closely monitored and any adjustments needed would be made. He also told us that this kind of thing was very common in very small babies and that it was 'worrysome' for the staff. In other words it was a serious turn of events and only time would tell what the outcome would be.

Leaving Bailey to come home that day was extremely hard now that we knew that he was in real danger for the first time. The honeymoon period was very much over.