Vicki Cockerill - NICU MUM Blog

  Today the 29th Sept is an extra special day for me, it was my original due date with Elijah and is also #worldheartday so now seems a great time to announce the #NICUMUMHEARTYGIVEAWAY.   For all of the support the social media community has given me with my #bigkidsforgosh campaign,and for the amazing response my #PNDAW16 blog series got. I wanted to give something back. Whilst at the same time, saying thank you to some of you awesome people who have supported me too! It is to say thank you, to my readers I cannot believe when I first started back in March I would be nearing 20,000 blog views, 1.5k Insta follwers, 1k on Twitter and nearly 100 likes on the blog FB page. I truly am grateful and as long as you keep reading, I will keep writing. I will forever be in debt to you as starting this blog saved me, and it really did help me get over PTSD. I never thought I would be helping fellow NICU and heart mamas and papas, and even have my own online store. That I wo...

Generally when I have featured stories on the #medicalfiles series it has been with the focus on the baby. But what happens when you yourself have a life threatening condition when pregnant? How will this affect your baby? Your pregnancy? Your birth? Find out about how Sammie  @tattooed_mammy coped with being pregnant, and suffering from PDA. As you all know Elijah was born with a CHD. 1 in 100 babies are born with CHD. This is a brilliant post to raise awareness for another form of CHD. Please be warned this is a journey, and I will guarantee you will be emotional by the end!   8 months pregnant My PDA and me during pregnancy. So I don't really know where it all began, I guess you could say I was going through a pretty bad patch during 2011/2012 and one day I found myself in hospital due to an overdose. After numerous physical checks I thought it'd all be okay and I'd be allowed home. After a check up on my heart/breathing through a stethoscope, I saw the doct...

    I was tagged by the brilliant Me Becoming Mum to take part in the ‘Mummy Tag’.  This is a post where you can find out more about me... NICU MUM.   Are you a working mom or a stay at home mom? I work part time as a supervisor for a care hire company, and am at home for the rest of the week with Elijah. I do two, two day weeks, and two, three days weeks. I am also a full time blogger and have recently opened the NICU MUM online store! Would you have it any other way? No. I need some time to go off and be an adult. I love Elijah unconditionally but I also need my own life. It makes me a better mother. Do you co-sleep? Yes, we did until Elijah was about a year old. Even now and again, he will come on our bed early in the morning. It doesn't bother me too much. As long as we all get sleep. I liked sleeping with him before and just after his op and I could keep a close eye on him.   What is your must have item for your child / baby? ...

I connected with the gorgeous Selena @themumcoach when I first started blogging and  she kindly let me feature on her amazing blog. She was one of the first bloggers to take a chance on me. Now after the birth of her second baby, she has written a brilliant and honest post about pregnancy. I have to say although I suffered from 90% of the below, I think I blocked it out. When I think of being pregnant I think of being a big, happy weeble. Perhaps this is what happens, we block it out so we go on to have more babies. What I stand for is honesty and this post certainly is. This is the truth about pregnancy number two by The Mum Coach. Be warned if you are reading this on the commute to work you will be laughing like a hyena by the end. Okay, so I now have an eleven week old baby. Baby number two (number one is nearly four) I love my children. Admittedly I'm not mad keen on the threenager stage but I love them both unconditionally. What I do not love is pregnancy. There, I said it...

Well here we are little man, your second birthday.   I am sure most parents get emotional when their child’s birthday approaches, however you don’t know this yet, but you are extra special. Not just extra special in the fact that all parents think their child is, but you have proved everyone wrong in just 24 months. You are so strong, so amazing and you do not even know it yet kiddo. This year started off well, with us not needing to see the heart consultant until Jan 2017, then you being discharged from the development clinic all together! You moved up in nursery 2 months ahead of your little friends of the same age and you have settled in and learnt so much. Wow, haven’t you? Your love of cars, motorbikes, lorries anything with wheels! Your Grandad would have been so proud.   You can say so much now! Your love of singing is infectious and I love our movie days together. I love how you look after your little babies and tuck them in at night, you are so kind and g...

I planned on featuring a piece that I was going to write for the last day of #PNAW16. However when I received this amazing piece by Nicola from Too Much Mothering Information I knew I found my final show stopper. As soon as I greedily read this in about 2 minutes I knew it was perfect. It was honest, heartfelt and emotionally moving. At times I actually could imagine her reading this to her daughter face to face when she is older. When you suffer from PND/ PTSD there is a degree of guilt you feel. You feel guilty for feeling like this, guilty for how you feel about your baby. I have also wondered what Elijah may feel when he reads back on what I have written and how bad I really felt, how depressed I got. I wonder if he will feel differently about me as his mother. This is the last post in my #PNDAW16 series, so if you haven't already go check out the others!     Dear Ada, You are three years and ten months old. I am 35. And you have taught me more than I...

Today I wanted to share a piece that I wrote when I first started writing about my PTSD, and our NICU/ CHD story. I didn't know where the blog would take me and in just a few months I am overwhelmed with how far I have come. For the first time in quite some time I feel happy, positive and in control of myself. Something I was the complete opposite of back in March. I was a shell of myself. We are now approaching Elijah's 2nd birthday and for once I am looking forward not backwards. It just goes to show the difference of what you can happen when you begin to talk and start a conversation about something like PTSD. I was very frightened when I was first spoke out, what would people think of me? We need to stop the stigma, stop the fear and let other speak, free from judgement. Until only a couple of months ago I didn’t even have a Facebook account. I used my partner Greg’s to snoop on other people’s, did not understand Twitter (I still don’t tbh), and thought Instagram was som...

When I decided on becoming an official supporter for the first ever #PNDAW16 there was one lady I wanted to have on board. Straight away Anya Hayes (@mama_cheetah) was one of the first people I emailed and I was delighted when she agreed! I had been talking to Anya for a long time about my PTSD and felt I really could share my real story with her. I will warn you her story is more than emotional. I think about 3 paragraphs in I held my breath and didn't exhale until the end. It is incredibly real, honest, raw and one of the most moving pieces of writing, I have ever read. I am honoured to be able to share her story. She really is amazing. You will think so too after reading this, so go give her some love afterwards, she deserves it. PND…That’s not me…is it?! I didn’t identify with the label “postnatal depression”…that means women who are distant, detached, disconnected from their babies and totally not able to get on with normal life, doesn’t it? I was just ...