Hi all.
I didn't realise this thread existed before now so thought I'd share my experience of the last 10 months.
In March of last year my daughter Evelyn had to be delivered at 24 weeks due to major complications with the pregnancy. She weighed 1lb 6oz and could pretty much fit in the palm of your hand. She spent the first 4 months of her life in hospital which was obviously difficult for all of us, especially not being able to hold your baby for the first few weeks and having to leave her there every night to come home to try and get some rest.
The time at the hospital is full of ups and downs, you meet other parents going through similar situations, befriend and support each other, and get to see them eventually leave with their babies. Others unfortunately never get to take their baby home. I ended up leaving my job of 10 years a month after she was born when they decided to make voluntary redundancies.
Ultimately the main concern with Evelyn was that she was born with chronic lung disease, something fairly common with severely premature babies. After being on the ventilator for a few months she went onto oxygen through a nasal tube but couldn't be weaned off it before we were finally discharged.
We came home at the end of July last year and she is still on oxygen now for 18 hours a day. Apart from that she's a perfectly normal 10 month old and continuing to develop well.
Shout out to the NHS as well. Even though the UK government is trying to run it into the ground it's been nothing short of perfect in the support and care both in hospital and since we've been home.
1 week.
10 months.