Teddy with his sister and Nanny who he has not seen for a longer while.
When Teddy was born he was diagnosed postnatally with Down’s syndrome. He was very poorly and we had a stint in NICU* at Chelsea Westminster hospital. Thinking back to those days it was like a practice run for lockdown. Living in a bubble with so many unknowns and worries, cleanliness and sterility at the top of everyone’s priorities, a feeling of isolation and crippling fear, no visitors and somewhat limited contact with your own baby. Asking someone if it's 'ok to hold him', NHS angels walking the floors 24/7, keeping everyone alive. A seriously strange world that you never anticipated or believed would happen.
Then after what seemed like forever, came the day you hope for. The move from NICU to HDU**, and then on to SCBU***. The path of wellness, leading to home, hope, happiness and a normal life.
This lockdown has been easier than NICU (well, apart from having to work with two toddlers helping!). It may have been longer, but Teddy and his sister Lily have coped really well.
He misses nursery and has an amazing bond with his grandparents, so not seeing them at the beginning was really tough. We didn’t bother explaining about a virus, just that ‘Nanny has a cough, when she’s better we can see her’. She didn’t, but that’s what we told him. He understood that, and when things started to ease, he was beyond delighted to see them and play. The path back to normality and hugs!
During lockdown Teddy's been amazing and continued to surprise us with his achievements. He’s been breaking the rules on ‘he probably won’t…’ ‘he will never…’ ‘he won’t be able to….’. Keep breaking those rules Ted, because if we can’t predict Lily’s future, we certainly shouldn’t try to predict yours.
Big love to all those families still on the path to SCBU. Nothing lasts forever, including lockdown, hugs will prevail.
*NICU – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit **HDU – High Dependency Unit ***SCBU – Special Care Baby Unit
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DownRightAmazing 2020 project created by