Guest Blogging for Tiny Tickers

Blogging for Tiny Tickers

For those who regularly read the blog, you will know that I have shared my story and raised a lot of awareness for the charity Tiny Tickers.

They are a frankly amazing charity which is striving to help diagnose babies with undetected heart conditions and supporting families when they are getting that life changing diagnosis.

We used their THINK HEART campaign when we went for a foetal medicine scan with Harlow to check whether he too, would have CHD or not.

One of the most frequent questions we get about Elijah is why his condition wasn't picked up in the scans. Why it wasn't until 12 hours post birth that he was having cyanotic episodes and was admitted to NICU to be diagnosed.

The answer? No one knows, it just didn't show, get picked up and actually we were told the majority of TOF patients are diagnosed post birth.

Here he had a scan and was then diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot when we received the diagnosis it felt as though our world was crashing in around us.

I didn't know about Tiny Tickers until I started this very blog as a way or processing what we had been through, to raise awareness and to help others going through the same thing.

There seemed to be a lack of accessible information about, including those sharing their experiences when we were in hospital with Elijah. I wished I had known about Tiny Tickers as they certainly are doing a lot to change this.

This is why, I am so thrilled to be guest blogging for them and helping them help support other heart parents with my experiences as a heart mum.

My first blog is all about how I turned to blogging to process our CHD journey and how other parents can use blogging to process their experiences.

You can read it here.

I also penned a piece in honour of #nicuawarenessmonth which you can read here.

This is why I started my blog and to guest blog for a truly brilliant charity is why I began this in the first place, to help just one person makes it worthwhile.

Comments

The time Fajita night resulted in having a baby in a bath.

The newest Cockerill Do you all remember my ever so optimistic natural birth plan? You can read it here. However, spoiler alert, it didn’t happen. What did happen was something no one was expecting. Wednesday the 5 th July… a mundane sort of day spent cleaning the house and doing the weekly shop. With Greg going back to work the next day I was determined to make sure everything was ready for when this baby arrived! I was three days off my due date and still hadn’t had one single sign this baby was imminently coming. I had been receiving messages from quite a few people asking if baby was here yet. I was getting fed up as everything I had tried to induce labour failed miserably and every morning for the last two weeks I woke up disappointed I wasn’t in labour! I gave up, walking didn’t help, pineapple made me sick and I was beginning to tire of the raspberry leaf tea. This baby was staying put. In the evening I put Elijah bed, and we began to settle down for the eveni...

#bigkidsforgosh

I am sitting on the sofa with C Beebies blasting out and I look to my right, I feel a little hand grab mine. Elijah looks up at me and says, ‘Mummy’. This is one of those things that happens about a hundred times a day, but now and again I really take stock of them. I sweep his fringe out of his eyes and give him a little hug. There was a time that I may not have ever been able to do this. To be able to raise my (nearly) two-year-old as a normal, happy and healthy little boy. He may not have even be here at all. I am only able to do this because of Great Ormond Street Hospital. After Elijah’s diagnosis of Tetralogy of Fallot at birth, after his admission to NICU we had always known he needed open heart surgery to repair his heart. To put it simply, to save his life. Being a mother to Elijah means everything to me. GOSH saved my family. It was scheduled to be around the 6 month of age mark that he would have this surgery, from the latest consultant appointment a...

The one with Elijah's heart surgery.

We were back. April 22-28 2015, a year ago this weekend. In just two short weeks since we last went down to London. We had to go down the day before and check in and have another blood test. As all of the forms had been signed last time, we were out again within an hour or so. Back to the same family accommodation, in a different room and with a lot less luggage. Something felt different this time, although I didn't want to believe it was going ahead in the event it was cancelled again, deep down I knew it would be. The morning of the surgery I knew how I would feel as we had been through this all before. I didn't want to go out for a meal so we ate in the hotel room watching ch5 rubbish after Elijah went down in the travel cot. Its odd that through the whole pre admission, cancelled op and the actual operation I can remember what shit we watched on TV and what we ate for tea that night. One of those weird things that just sticks in your head. Sort of like when you remem...

Vicki Cockerill - NICU MUM Blog

Search This Blog