My waters broke when I was 30 weeks and 5 days pregnant. The day after, we went straight to the hospital. My partner Katie and I were so excited to finally be expecting our IVF baby after our treatment last Christmas. I remember it was the end of January when we got pregnant. After my waters broke, I started bleeding the following day. The hospital kept me in for a week before deciding to deliver him via an emergency c-section. I was so relieved when he was taken straight to the neonatal unit. Luckily, we had a room on his ward, so we could stay close to him.
We stayed at the Doncaster Royal Infirmary for five weeks until he was discharged. I slept there every night, staying as close as possible. It was hard because it wasn’t the normal birth I had planned, being able to hold him straight away and feed him immediately. We didn’t get that chance, and we didn't even get to hold him until a couple of days after he was born. It was really tough. However, having our own room on the ward meant we could go and see him whenever we wanted.
Pam was incredible. She worked as a neonatal nurse one day a month on the unit, but she had transitioned to become a mental health support worker on the same unit. She worked Mondays and Fridays. She was really lovely and supportive. Every Monday morning, she would come to our room, and she actually looked after Sonny one time. She catered to our needs with such kindness and dedication. While we were on the unit, they told us we had to watch a couple of helpful videos before getting discharged and told us to find these videos on the Bliss website.
I was breastfeeding, so they would wake me up in the middle of the night when he came off tube feeding. They’d get me to go in and breastfeed him, which eventually made things better and easier. We could do more things with him as time went on. The first couple of weeks were the hardest, but we got through it.
My advice about staying on the unit would probably be to just take each day as it comes. It does get easier, and every day that passes is a day closer to coming home. Hang on in there – it is hard because you expect to have your baby and take them home straight away. You don't expect to stay in the hospital with them for so long, and being isolated from the world because of covid made it even tougher.
I didn't have visitors for Sonny because I was terrified. He was so fragile, small, and vulnerable, and I didn't want him to pick anything up. So, it was literally just me and my partner who saw him for those five weeks. That isolation was hard, but it does get easier.
Sonny was only two pounds nine ounces when he was born, but he never lost weight. He just kept gaining and gaining. He never had any setbacks, even though they told us to prepare for them. He absolutely smashed it every day. Now, he's a right little chunk!
