Teddy was born at 32 weeks gestation, it was a normal day for me at work when I started to get pains. I thought nothing of it till the end of my shift where I could barely walk. I got home and rang the hospital they told me to rest. Then I started to bleed and they told me to go in.

When I got there they told me to do a urine sample which had blood in. They told me in wait in the waiting room. I was in agony, my mum told them I need to be seen right away. I got put on a monitor which showed I was having contractions, the doctor told me they would try and stop the contractions.

the doctor told me they would try and stop the contractions. They asked if they could examine me and take a swab, it was then they realised I was already 6cm dilated I was rushed to labour ward, when I got there I was 9cm dilated. I can’t remember feeling much emotion just pain.

I had no time for steroid injections or pain relief within 40 minutes Teddy was born and taken straight to NICU. The nurse came back up and told me where Teddy was I’d never heard of NICU before. She was amazing gave me a photo of Teddy told me what is happening. She then took me down to see him. It was night time by this point so everything was dark and honestly kind of scary. I went into a small room full of tiny babies in incubators. I’d never seen anything like it. Seeing Teddy so small and seeing him struggle was hard. The next few days where a struggle as I came to terms of what has actually happened. Teddy then got meningitis. I never wanted to breast feed and never thought about doing it but at this point I didn’t have a choice. Expressing was very stressful but the breastfeeding nurse was amazing.

Teddy was in hospital 51 days and it did get easier but some days where harder than others. Teddy had 2 bleeds on the brain which caused swollen vessels. Just as we was close to coming home he’d go down hill again it seemed like an endless journey. Seeing smaller younger babies go home was lovely to see but also heart breaking. Teddy kept failing his sleep studies and no one knew why, it got to the point where even the nurses where feeling sorry for us but we had great support. Teddy had reflux which was causing the sleep studies to fail, it was soon sorted and we was on our way!Leaving NICU that was scary, it was all we had known. Teddy did spend lots of time back on children’s ward in the first two months after he was discharged. Eventually all settled and Teddy is now a perfectly healthy happy baby. I make sure I tell everyone about NICU, the staff and spoons. It is important expectant parents have some idea of neonatal care, I wish I knew about it before hand.

Leaving NICU that was scary, it was all we had known. Teddy did spend lots of time back on children’s ward in the first two months after he was discharged. Eventually all settled and Teddy is now a perfectly healthy happy baby. I make sure I tell everyone about NICU, the staff and spoons. It is important expectant parents have some idea of neonatal care, I wish I knew about it before hand.