Tag Archives: family

Medicalising motherhood

“I sighed deeply, exhausted and defeated by the realisation that feeding my child, the most primal and natural role that a mother can try to fulfil for her baby, would, of course, be yet another clinical event.” Excerpt from my upcoming memoir.

Neonatal Intensive Care Awareness Month

September is Neonatal Intensive Care Awareness Month #NICUAwarenessMonth when people from around the world come together to show their support for families with babies in the neonatal unit. The aim is to honour families experiencing a stay in neonatal care, and those in the medical profession who care for them. My daughter spent 3 monthsContinue reading “Neonatal Intensive Care Awareness Month”

Official discharge from neonatal care

Today is a day of celebration in our household, for after 2 long years our daughter has finally been discharged from neonatal care. Born at just 24 weeks, she spent 150 days in 4 different hospitals before coming home in November 2019. She battled metabolic bone disease, chronic lung disease, sepsis and meningitis.

Fragility

There’s been so much focus on Covid-19 for so long that it’s easy to forget how a common cold can be just as tough for a preemie to deal with. What amounts to a snotty nose and a bit of a cough for most of us can be enough to land a preemie back in hospital on oxygen, antibiotics, nebulisers, steroids and worse.

Preemie reunion

Last Wednesday we attended a reunion of the preemie babies who were in hospital at the same time as our little girl. The last time these children were in the same room, they were all in incubators attached to sats machines. Now they are strapping 2 year olds, strutting their stuff and fighting over the Tiny Tots cars.

Childhood crises – what effect do they have on parenting?

How much do childhood crises like prematurity, illnesses and serious accidents influence the way we parent our children? It’s an interesting question and one that I’m thinking more and more about as my baby becomes a little girl.

National Bereaved Parents Day

Today is National Bereaved Parents Day, raising awareness of all parents who have lost a child of any age, and from any circumstance. This includes still births, miscarriages and infertility, as well as neonatal deaths and child deaths.

Miracle girl

It was my little girl’s birthday this week. She technically turned 2, though if she hadn’t been born 15 weeks early, she wouldn’t have been celebrating her second birthday until October. It seems odd that she will forevermore have a summer birthday when she could easily have had an autumn one.

Guest blog from Ethan Ryan

Today’s post is a guest blog from Ethan Ryan whose son, Oliver, was born extremely prematurely during covid lockdown. Oliver very sadly passed away a few months after he was born and in this blog Ethan talks about how he helped his daughter, Rose, through her grieving process.