Taking it all in
Watching your baby take her first steps is a huge moment for any mum but, when my daughter, Ivy, initially wobbled forward from one foot to the other, it was a particularly special moment.
Ever since she was a baby, doctors had warned me these milestones would be a much bigger hurdle for Ivy than for others. Because my little girl had been born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism.
It had come as a huge shock to me and my partner, Carl Sutcliffe – so much so that I couldn’t even tell my friends and family at first. But now I was so proud, I wanted to shout about Ivy from the rooftops.
Carl, 34, and I had been together since we’d met through a friend when we were 18. Back then, children were the last thing on our mind. I got a job as a banking assistant and Carl became a fire prevention officer. On weekends, we’d go clubbing with friends and go on holiday every year.
But when we were ready to expand our family, we had one ectopic pregnancy, then another. Unable to handle the heartbreak, we stopped trying. Instead, we bought a house in our hometown of Pontefract and got a fur baby – Lenny, a Rhodesian Ridgeback. He and I quickly became inseparable and I couldn’t sleep unless he was curled up at the bottom of the bed.
Finally, at the end of 2017, I fell pregnant again. But instead of being excited, I was terrified. Terrified I was going to lose another little one. But an early scan proved everything was fine. As the reassuring, steady heartbeat filled the room, I cried happy tears.
For Christmas, we gave our family a copy of the scan and everyone was so happy, they
Keeley Bailey was heartbroken when her newborn daughter, Ivy, was diagnosed with dwarfism, but now she knows nothing will stand in her way – thanks to a special friend…
burst into tears, too.
I have to admit though, pregnancy wasn’t the dreamy, delightful time I’d imagined. I felt constantly sick and developed gestational diabetes.
Concerned, doctors booked me in for extra growth scans. But to their surprise, at 26 weeks, our baby was on the small, rather than big, side.
‘Little, just like her mum,’ Carl grinned. He was right. I was only 5ft 2ins and no one in my family was very tall.
But as we were referred to the Foetal Institute at Leeds, I started to do some research. ‘It could be a sign of Down’s Syndrome,’ I told Carl worriedly. Wanting to be prepared, we paid for a private blood test, but it came back low risk.
I went into labour at 37 weeks pregnant, in August 2018, and gave birth to our gorgeous daughter, Ivy,