GLAD TIDINGS WE BRING
How good news has come out of personal setbacks
Like most parents with young children, Christmas Day, for us, is likely to be exhausting. My son Leo, who is six, will be full of excitement, waking us at dawn to open presents. And his sister, Violet, will be racing around in her baby walker, shrieking with laughter. I won’t take any of it for granted because it’s been a long, hard road to get us here.
My husband, Greg, and I were delighted when we found out I was pregnant in 2010. We started organising the nursery and talking about baby names. But at 26 weeks, I woke up with sharp pains in my stomach. When they got worse I rang the hospital, who told me to come in. I thought I was wasting everyone’s time, but I was in early labour. I was told I needed an emergency Caesarean section and it was touch and go whether the baby would survive.
When Leo was born, he’d been starved of oxygen and was whisked away to an incubator. As he lay there, his tiny body covered in wires and tubes, I desperately wanted to hold him, but I wasn’t able to for four days, and then it took three people to help me cuddle him. It was nothing like the scene I had pictured of holding my baby for the first time.
Every day, Greg and I sat by Leo’s cot, overwhelmed by love and fear, willing him to survive. At two weeks, he contracted sepsis, and was put on life support. One day, he flat-lined, and was resuscitated in front of us.
Watching Leo struggling for life, I felt like my heart would break, and yet he proved to be an incredible fighter. Ten weeks after he was born – and still four weeks before his due date – we brought him home.
Everything Leo achieved was a special milestone. Against the odds, he grew into a bright, cheerful and beautiful little boy, never letting his tough start hold him back.
Our experience with Leo was agonising, and for a long time, we didn’t want another child. But once he started school, we changed our mind. It was a huge decision. Reassured that having a second premature baby was very unlikely, I was thrilled to find I was pregnant again. Leo was excited at having a sister, and chose a name for her: Violet Molly.
Then, at 24 weeks, I was woken up in the night by what felt like a contraction. Trying not to panic, I dashed to the hospital. The news was devastating – I was in pre-term labour. To comfort me, Greg took my hand, saying, “Whatever happens, we will always have light in our lives, because we have Leo.” Those words have never left me.
When Violet was born, she was given a 50% chance of survival and was taken to intensive care and put on life support. She had three large holes in her heart. She developed a chest infection, a collapsed lung and viral meningitis. We couldn’t hold her for 13 days.
Violet was four months old and still on oxygen when we took her home. She was taken off oxygen in the summer, and even though she’s still tiny and continually monitored, she’s a happy toddler who can roll, clap and crawl. Leo is besotted with her, he jumps around to make her giggle.
We’ve learnt life is not a given, it’s a gift. To have two happy and healthy children this Christmas is the biggest blessing we could ask for.’
‘Life is not a given, it’s a gift’ For Laura James the health and happiness of her children feels like a miracle