My name is Vicki Moore, and I am the mother of a little human called Elijah,
who was co-created by my husband-to-be Greg. Elijah was born in September 2014,
but the journey of Motherhood did not start smoothly. He was admitted to the Neo
Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) twelve hours after birth, and was there for
nine days, eventually being diagnosed with a serious heart defect called ‘Tetralogy
Of Fallot’. He later required open-heart surgery at just six months old. Fortunately,
Elijah is now a typical little toddler, creating all sorts of chaos wherever he
goes. However, it is only now, after eighteen months, and a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder, that I feel I can begin to talk about what it’s really like to
have a baby in NICU, and to watch them go through surgery, and recover. It is
my hope that this blog will help others in the same boat, and I’m looking
forward to relating to all you other mums, and sharing all our different stories
and experiences together. This is for laughing about the highs and lows of raising
a toddler. These are the honest confessions of a NICU Mum.
Elijah the heart hero never letting anything stop him. Today is your 4th heart day. It's 4 years since we took you down to Great Ormond Street for open heart surgery. It seems to have crept up on us again. Another whole year has passed but it hasn't changed how I feel about that day. Some have said that oh, by now surely you should have gotten over it after all it's been 4 years. The answer is I don't think I ever will. I have been thinking a lot about that day, where I signed the consent forms for them to take you and operate on you. To either save or take your life. That day was the worst of my life, the unknown certainty of whether you would come back up again. I held you as they put you to sleep. They gave me your dummy as they took you from me and laid you on the operating table as if you weighed nothing. I couldn't even kiss you goodbye in case it was the last time. That's why I won't ever get over it and those who have been in the
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