The medical staff have confirmed that all the signs point to Bailey having developed CLD. The most telling is that his blood oxygen saturation can be very unstable. Because he is ventilated by machine, his inhaled oxygen concentration can be varied to suit the way he is breathing. A lot of the time a concentration of 30% is adequate for him unless he moves about a lot and then, like anyone else, his muscles need more oxygen. The problem at the moment is that his lungs are not efficient enough to ransfer the oxygen to his blood at a fast enoug rate when he is mobile to keep him stable. This causes his oxygen saturation to drop and this in turn can make his colour go very pasty, even grey at times. In effect he has a faint. The doctors say that although it isn't desirable for him to be doing this, there should not be any long term problems caused by it. We had already been told about how babies with CLD usually grow out of it by the time they become toddlers, and so the out look for the future is still positive.

All the doctors say that he is still doing well and they have no major concerns about him, and as if to confirm this, they have upped his feed again to 11ml every 2 hours.

The infection or infections that Bailey has are being beaten. I don't know how they are measured, but this time last week his infection markers were at 3. Two days later they had shot up to 80, but the doctor explained that this sudden increase could be the death throes of the dying bugs. Sure enough, two days later, the number was down to 21 and yesterday we were told that it was down to 8. Providing he gets no new infections he shouls, at this rate, be clear by the weekend.

He has developed a nasty temper too which he uses to full effect to tell us when he is not happy.