I'll be totally honest and say we were absolutely ignorant to what lay ahead of us when Joseph was born at 30 weeks, weighing 3lbs 4 ounces. I knew babies were born prematurely but had no idea the level of care and support that they needed. It's definitely a rollercoaster of emotions, scared, helpless, overjoyed and hopeful all at the same time.
Seeing a group of strangers take your baby away to an intensive care unit straight after they are born is devastating. The next 6 weeks were incredibly tough, he looked so tiny and fragile, so many wires and tubes (that he loved to pull!) for such a small baby. When your baby is upset it's natural to pick them up and hold them but that thin bit of glass of the incubator made it feel like we were a million miles away from him. I know people were only asking because they cared but I hated anyone asking how we were or if we were ok, obviously we weren't, we had to leave our baby boy in hospital needing machines to help him breathe and being fed through a tube, whilst having 2 other boys at home to make sure they didn't feel left out. Every time his monitor would go off because he would stop breathing was terrifying, but the amazing staff were there to help and reassure us. There was talk of potential operations on his stomach or heart, chronic lung disease, but again we were well supported through everything. Every day was a challenge, I think we cried and laughed every single day. I still need to switch off any TV show or film that has a premature baby, I think Joseph has traumatised me for life!
With the help of everyone there all the little milestones of the first time I got to hold him, bath him, feed him with a bottle, move to Special Care all added up the day the finally got to ring the bell and take him home 56 days later!
A premature baby may look tiny and fragile to touch but don’t underestimate the courage, strength and determination of a baby born too soon.”
So please give whatever you can to help