Orla

She has blonde eyebrows and dark hair - more hair than my last two. When I had my first good look at her, her little face was red - she was bundled up in unfamiliar clothes with a little pink hat on her head. Her fingers were tiny, with sharp little fingernails! It was heartbreaking to see her other little hand bound up with a lure coming out, attached to a drip. A feeding tube was taped across her cheek and down to her nose.

Little Orla Rose arrived early at 35 weeks plus six days. She was born by emergency c-section at 2.42 pm (after spontaneous rupture of membranes at 4.00 am) on Wednesday 10 January 2007. After the briefest of times with me, she was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit. She weighed 2440 g (5 lb 6 oz).

We are now at home after a week in the hospital. We are going back there today for further testing, but I am hopeful that all will be well.