What next?

So it has been two weeks almost since Baby Idrees arrived and then promptly left us too. 

My mum arrived two days after the funeral and my sister arrived a few days later. My sister stayed for five days and it was actually really nice having them here. My mum is here for another 10 days and once she heads back, my six week post c-section recovery milestone will be crossed and A will be back at work. 

We have just been trying to pick up the pieces and wonder how best to approach our lives after everything that has happened. 

We still feel so blessed and grateful to have had our baby boy for the five days we had him and to be given the gift of being parents. 

He may not be around but we will forever be his mum and dad. We both wanted, more than anything in this world, to just become a mother and father. We may not have the sleep deprivation, late night feeds, warm cuddles, occasional giggles and endless stream of nappy changes and babygro washing but do these things define parenthood any more than what we have been through?  

A legacy of five days

Ever since our beautiful little baby boy Idrees came into this world, blessed us with precious memories and then soon made his way to Heaven after passing away peacefully in our arms, forever five days old, the outpouring of support, love, best wishes and even tears from friends, family and even virtual strangers has taken me by surprise and had me in awe. 

We laid our beautiful little angel to rest yesterday, on an uncharacteristically beautiful and sunny winter's day. His funeral was incredibly moving and his father lowered him into his final resting place surrounded by so many family and friends with heaps more sending him best wishes from afar.

Today we pick up the pieces and start to think about how to continue on with our lives after laying our little gift to rest. 

Now an angel...

Baby Idrees

4/11/14-8/11/14

Forever beautiful and five days old, passed away in mummy's warm arms peacefully as if falling asleep.

Now happily in heaven, playing with angels and other babies and watching over his mum and dad.

Heartbreak

The most heartbreaking words you can hear as a parent: your baby isn't going to make it very far or long. 

So today we cry many tears but we also give many, many grateful thanks for blessing us with the gift of baby Idrees who is here despite all the odds and has given us countless moments of joy throughout his short existence. 

We aren't medics so some of what they say goes above our heads and watching him twitch and move, curl his little fingers around mine a part of my mum heart says "he is fine, guys". But the tests and scans and echoes and results don't really lie. 

Our choice is pushing him forward for a surgery he may never make it out of and struggle to cope with the effects of afterwards or to just let him decide when he has had enough of this silly, boring world and take care of him the best way we know how till then. 

My eyes are full of tears, heart full of a smile. We may only get to keep you a while, precious little beautiful one, but every single second has been more than worth it.

Birth story

My original due date was 22nd November, however due to baby's heart condition they needed to induce me for medical reasons on the 16th at 39 weeks to ensure the pediatricians and special care nurses were all ready for the lo as soon as he was born as he would need immediate special care at birth. 

I had several growth scans which showed he was average sized till my last scan at 36 weeks which showed hos growth had dipped and my waters looked low. They made the decision to move my induction date forward to 9 November (38 weeks) to make sure he was safer out than in. 

On Monday 3rd, at 37 weeks, went in for my final Doppler check to make sure my waters and baby were OK. Had the appointment in the afternoon and everything seemed fine and set up for induction on the following Sunday. 

Birth announcement

Baby Idrees has arrived surprisingly but safely into this world at 00:45 on 4th November.

He is impatient like his dad, so demanded an entry via emergency c-section but was born crying, breathing and a larger than expected 5 lb 15 oz. 

We haven't had a chance to touch or cuddle him to make sure he is real but pictures seem to be confirming this isn't all a mental dream. 

He is currently being transferred to Alder Hey Children's hospital for the start of his heart warrior journey ahead, leaving behind his mum in recovery, morphined up and constantly looking at his picture.

Itty bitty laundry

Normal is a funny word. If this were a normal pregnancy, I would probably be deep into nesting mode and buying up a storm. As it stands I'm cautiously adding only a very select few items to my online shopping basket all the while justifying to some invisible person "I'll need this no matter what happens to baby". 

When you have a pretty serious diagnosis for baby's health hanging over your head it's hard to throw caution to the wind and allow yourself to work on best possible scenario mode.