Nicole
I don’t know where to start……
My pregnancy was normal until I got to week 25 when I noticed some blood so I had a scan. Everything looked ok, but then they noticed my baby was small for dates so from then on I had a scan once a week up until my due date. They kept telling me he/she (we wanted to keep sex of baby a surprise) looked healthy just small for dates. no worries there. On the 19th March 1998 I had my last scan and my obstetrician told me I should be induced that day because my baby hadn’t grown since the last appointment. My due date was on the 24th March anyway so it felt ok.
I was admitted Thursday 19th March. After inducing me, breaking my waters and putting me on adrip to try to increase my contractions, I was still only 3 cm dilated. After 36 hours they decided to give me an emergency c-section.
Nicole Andree was born at 1.33 am on Saturday the 21st March weighing just 4lb 13oz. She needed oxygen and they took her straight to scbu (special care baby unit). Everything seemed fine at first ;yes Nicole was in scbu but she wouldn’t be there for long she would be with me soon. Nurses didn’t seem worried whatsoever so we weren’t either. That Saturday afternoon a paediatrician came to see me and told me Nicole had a heart murmur and we needed to take her to Nottingham hospital for a scan to see her heart. We were told there that she had a hole in her heart and all chambers were going through wrong way. The surgeons were optimistic; Nicole had a 80% chance of getting through the operation so we were then starting to feel a little better.
On the 24th of March Nicole’s paediatrician asked to see us. I remember it was in what was then the family room. She told us that they had noticed a few things with Nicole; her ears were lower than normal, her fingers overlapped, her small size, she found it hard to suck and was being tube fed, she was having seizures, she had a very low cry too……. That’s when she told us Nicole had something called Edwards’ syndrome. We had never heard of it. She then began to tell us that Edwards’ isn’t compatible with life and Nicole would not live past 3 months old. I was hysterical I can remember it felt like my stitches from c-section had somehow ripped open, I was just in such shock.
After a while we took Nicole home for her end of life. We treated every day as if it was our last with her. We took her to the seaside and she sat on a donkey. We did everything we could with her.
We were in and out of hospital with Nicole. All the nurses adored her, she was such a little fighter. Her laugh was the sweetest little laugh. Nicole contracted a water infection at 3 months old and the doctors told us she had just 24 hours, but no Nicole the little fighter pulled through. She was a star, a little fighter.
Nicole passed away at home on the 9th December 1998 at just 8 and a half months old.
She will be a big part of our lives forever baby girl
Andrea and Mark Humphreys x