Vicki Cockerill - NICU MUM Blog

15 DAYS POST PARTEM  Firstly, I know how things can be sensationalised by the media, how things can be taken out of context, but I feel I need to voice this to you after what has been reported in the media in the last few days. The archaic notion that just because we have given birth to the human we grew for 9 months that we should all be ‘bouncing back’ in the blink of an eye is just that, out of date. Whoever printed the first article of a celeb pictured in their skinny jeans 2 weeks after giving birth or told someone not to worry they will soon lose it needs a punch in the face. Because, guess what? It doesn’t work like that and it never will. As much as people would like to pretend it does, it is a façade. And it is a dangerous one to portray to other mums. In the first days your body is recovering from a trauma, whether it be a vaginal birth or C Section your uterus needs to reduce in the exact same way. Some may have more trauma than others, some have their sto...

Do not be a fanny and get screened. Just before I moved to a new house a couple of months ago, I received a letter prompting me to book my cervical screening ‘smear’, test. It was filed away quite quickly and forgotten about. In the back of my head it was almost like an automatic action, but it wasn’t until this week which is cervical cancer prevention week I realised the dangers of this action. My newsfeed this week is filling with those raising awareness of cervical cancer and taking part in Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust #SmearForSmear campaign. Simple post a pic of you with a ‘smear’ and encourage others to go and have their screening. The trust surveyed 2017 women and found that 35% women have put of having their smear due to embarrassment, 26% have found it hard to make the appointment and 35% would not take the time of work. 35% of 2017 women not being checked for a cancel that is responsible for around 850 women’s deaths a year because of embarrassment. We liv...

The tale of the soft play saviours. We hadn't been out for a few days and my anxiety that the kids would kick off was at an all time high. It took everything in my power not to cancel but alas we kept our soft play date. Saturday afternoon and the place was crammed to the brightly coloured rafters. There were no tables free, everyone was perched precariously with their much needed coffee on every available surface. The kids were wild but contained in the ball pitt. I hadn't really noticed that you had come to sit behind us. Until you were kind enough to make a fuss of the grizzly baby perched over my shoulder. We exchanged polite small talk. You told me about your baby ups and downs, that some of your children were all grown up. Then it was time to leave. The baby hadn't slept for hours, tea hadn't been made and the kids were showing signs of over tiredness. We were close to having a category one meltdown. As I wrestled the knackered but refusing to sleep...

    Regular readers of the blog will know that I am an online journalist for Blasting News UK . I tend to specialise in many parenting topics and trends so I am very excited to announce I have been given my own Child Health channel to host on the site! Your one stop place to catch up with all things trending and relevant in the world of parenting.                               ‘Parenting or child rearing is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood.’ We live in an age of all things digital including the media which has revolutionised the parenting world. Information, advice and support is now available and the click of a button. Breaking news is viral within minutes. Subjects and topics, we would have only shared with a ...

The annual anxiety fuelled check up.   Yesterday, I spoke about how I felt navigating my way as a TOF (Tetralogy of Fallot) mum and the lack of real life online parenting stories there are to relate to about this. Click here to read part one. Part two is below, and is a small glimpse into our world with Elijah’s annual check-up. I hope it helps others, and provides some insight into our world. Every year for the rest of Elijah’s life will see him having to have an annual check up to monitor his heart. To check he is gaining weight, he is growing well, thriving and his heart is functioning. The things they look for now are if his murmurs are the same, if the regurgitating leak has worsened, the valve is bearing up and that they can see good blood flow. The surgery Elijah had back in 2015 replaced one valve completely and in time this is likely to be replaced again, hence the annual checks. They do not get any easier and currently, my anxiety is at an all time hig...

My heart, my world.   It has been a while since I wrote a post that was dedicated to Elijah’s condition Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) which is a CHD (Congenital Heart Disease) but something struck me recently. I had a small concern that Elijah may be sweating a bit too much in his sleep, so I wanted to see what other TOF/CHD patients had to say or better still a parent’s experience of having a TOF child. So, I did what every modern parent does, I Googled it. I found a couple of Mumsnet threads, and one blog post from around 3 years ago but there isn’t really anyone out there that is being honest and sharing what it is really like to have a child with TOF. When I started my blog back in 2015, it was predominately focused on Elijah’s health and the journey we took from NICU, to open heart surgery and beyond then as things settled down I began to focus on other parenting subjects. As truth, be told Elijah’s condition does not tend to impact our day to day lives as much as you ...