.. Life ..

This is my daughter, Lydia, a couple of hours after her birth. She weighed 580g and measured the length of a ruler. Within her first week, she had dropped down to a scary 450g and I was warned that if she had lost any more weight, then we would have to let her go. She picked up, and all was fine. We waited 20 painful days before we saw the colour of her eyes. Green, just like mine!! She had her first operation at 24 days old to close the PDA valve. She, thankfully, recovered from that. At 32 days old, I was able to hold her for the first time. My life stopped that very second she layed in my arms. It was precious to say the least. Through 112 painful days going from NICU to SCBU, I was able to bring my baby home. Not knowing 2 weeks later we could have lost her for the second time.

I woke up one morning and took Lydia out of her basinette as per usual. Didn’t notice anything wrong. I layed her in my bed while I woke up. In a split second, everything went wrong. She wouldn’t drink her bottle, she went pale, started to not breathe properly. What was wrong? I took her straight to the ER where she was taken to the PICU and later was put on life support. I later found out that she had Meningitis and her chances of survival were slim to none. My whole world shattered. In the first few days, I had to painfully watch her deteriorate. I stayed for the first 48 hours. Couldn’t eat or sleep. The feeling I felt at that moment, was worse than what I was feeling at her birth. I can’t put it into words. Luckily, she started drinking milk again after 48 hours, and her stats started picking up! It was amazing! She was then moved to another ward after a week or so in PICU. She was in the Rose Ward for a further two weeks, having antibiotics pumped into her to make sure the bacteria had disappeared from her body. Three long weeks, and my baby was finally home with me, again!

After both episodes, I’ve thankfully never had to take her back to the ER, and I haven’t had any scary episodes at home since. It took her a while to adjust to being at home, with oxygen. It was hard on all of us, I think. But, with my family’s/friends help, guidance and love, Lydia and I both pulled through it and Lydia was taken off of oxygen after 8 months since birth. After that, things became easier in the home, and I was able to show her off to the world :) That was such an experience. Everyone always asked how old she was. And when we said, ‘she’s 8 months old, but the size of a 4 month old as she was born at 23 weeks,’ they couldn’t believe it and didn’t know what to say. those situations always made me smile.

She is now a healthy and strong, intelligent 2 year old with mild Cerebral Palsy but thankfully it can be fixed with physio and exercises I get given. She cannot walk yet, or talk much, but she’s the light of my life and she wouldn’t be here today without the help of the wonderful nurses/doctors at the Womens and Childrens Hospital! They saved my babies life, and I’m forever grateful! My baby’s chance of survival was slim to none, but they made my dreams come true. They’re the reason she’s here today.