Vicki Cockerill - NICU MUM Blog

I don’t think many of you will be surprised with my #mamaissue that I have chosen to kick of the series with. It is something I have both touched upon and gone into great detail about before on the blog. My #mamaissue is the lack of mental health support on offer for NICU parents in the UK. First of all, I know this will not be the case for all, and some will have received the support and care that all of us deserve. Why is it a postcode lottery in this country that determines the care that you receive when you baby is admitted to NICU? In this day and age surely we are all entitled to receive the same treatment? At the time I have to say I feel punished with the lack of treatment and support I had because of the area I was from. This should not be the case, and on a brighter note a friend had a baby in NICU in the same hospital and received some amazing support from a Bliss Nurse. She believes this may have been down to the fact that she was on her own, or that she was in there...

As a NICU Mum, issues that affect the day to day lives of NICU families are something that I almost take personally. I have been through the NICU journey and now after my family graduated the NICU in Sept 2014; I begin to ask what can I do? How can I help other NICU parents and improve the NICU experience for all? I know as just one person I am very unlikely to change government policies, or raise enough money from the NICU Mum store to buy a new Neo Natal Ward. But the one thing I can do is write, is talk, and to raise awareness of these issues and implore people, to share, like, comment, sign and spread awareness. I have signed up to campaign with Bliss over these issues and all I can do is try, and that is exactly what I will continue to do. The amazing charity Bliss have just released a report, that sadly I was not shocked at reading it. The report can be read at this link, ( Families kept apart: barriers to parents’ involvement in their baby’s hospital care ). It shows th...

In my 26 years there has been many a time, I have been depressed. Looking back to my teenage years it was due to not being able to cope with rejection, loss and not feeling I belonged. As I grew older, it was just like an old friend, every now and again when you least expected it, there it was rearing its ugly head and dragging me back. I think at times I had even become dependent on my depression, I expected it to be there, and if it did go away it wouldn’t be long before it returned. I guess, I am one of those people, I think too much, I worry more, and suffer from a lot of self-doubt. I basically I attract depression and melancholy. Sometimes, like an old friend, you may just bump into them, and it will be a quick catch up and the depression is again on its away. However, there are times where we can have a full blown reunion. This will lead to a trip to the doctors, and my other very good friend, the trusty anti-depressant is prescribed. The chemicals re align in my brain, I w...

  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...