Update
Here we are, 10 days after the birth, 6 days after the surgery, and Nell is doing very well indeed. Incredibly well.

After the surgery, she kept healthy and stable all week. Asleep mostly, and puffy because of the morphine, but she kept getting stronger and stronger. On Saturday Sue's parents came over to visit, and just as they were leaving, we got a phone call to say Nell was being moved off intensive care, onto the neo-natal ward at 7 p.m. that evening.

Sue was going home to be with the boys, so I went up and stayed with Nell during the transfer. There was some concern about her cannula which was changed twice, and eventually inserted in her head - not the nicest place, but at least they had good clean veins they could find there, and it means she's now wearing a plastic cup like a party hat.

Since her move, she's come off the respirator and also her oxygen feed, her tube feed has been reduced to nil, and she's on a bottle, each feed having increased by 5 ml on the previous, so she's now at 60 ml three-hourly, which is considered normal.

All the tubes and wires are gone except her nasal tube and the monitor on her toe, and the cannulas are still in her head, just in case, but we can now pick her up for a cuddle and she's getting better and better.

Having said that, she has had a temperature today, so she's being closely monitored for signs of an infection, but she's well in herself, and the nursing staff don't seem too worried, so I'm not going to be either.

And finally, for now, a bit of video showing my daughter, and for the easily squeamish, I should warn that it also shows her scar...