Theo from day one…
We had been trying for a little over a year when we found out that we were pregnant. We were so excited and couldn’t wait for all of our upcoming appointments to find out more about our baby. As soon as we knew we were having a boy at our 20-week scan we decided on the name Theo. My pregnancy was luckily very smooth and plain sailing. I occasionally had back pain and I was very tired in the first trimester but nothing more serious than that. I continued to keep exercising as much as I could as I had been told this would help me with the birth. So I went swimming each week and attended pregnancy yoga. Both were very relaxing and enjoyable.
Very early arrival from little Theo!
At 26 weeks I began to get what I thought were Braxton Hicks pains across my lower back. Ignoring them I carried on working until a few days later when the pain spread from my lower back to my lower abdomen. My husband was away on a work trip so I called my mum to take me to the hospital to get checked out. By the time I had gotten there, I was told that I was fully dilated and needed to start pushing! Once in the delivery room, there were 11 staff members to help me deliver and to help my boy once he arrived. I was given lots of injections for various reasons, some for Theo and some for me. By this point, my waters still hadn’t broken but I was able to push them through. I was asking for an epidural but it was too late so gas and air it was! I delivered my baby boy into the world with my mum and sister beside me. I needed some small internal stitches but was able to walk very soon after labour. Theo was born at 26+6 weeks weighing 2.3lbs. He was whisked away as quickly as he arrived and I didn’t see him again for another few hours.
“The hours I spent sitting in a chair watching my baby through the plastic of an incubator never leave me”
He spent the next three months getting bigger, learning to breathe on his own and learning to eat in the NICU. The hours I spent sitting in a chair watching my baby through the plastic of an incubator never leave me. The day we got to bring him home was the best day ever, I was so worried that they would change their minds that I almost ran out of the hospital with him! He came home needing oxygen for a few months, and he has a hole in his heart that needs to be monitored, but overall he is doing so well. He is 3 in July and I can’t believe it was that long ago now!
To anyone facing the possibility of going through the NICU please reach out to people who have been through it. I set up an Instagram account @NICUNatter as a way of connecting parents with similar experiences and it has grown in size to just over 3,000 followers! Come say hi.
Below is a photo of gorgeous Theo on his first birthday photoshoot with Megan.
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