Hi everyone, Lisa and I have decided that a Blog would be a great way to let all our friends and family know how our little girl is progressing in her first few tough days, weeks and months.

This is Olivia Grace Earp's story and we would love you to enjoy the highs with us and keep her in your thoughts during the lows.

I apologise for the rambling nature and somewhat thrown together appearance of the Blog but I don't have much time at the moment!

********You need to read from the bottom up with Blogs so the newest post is always at the top. Look to the right of the page and click on "Olivia's Story Post Archive" for the earlier posts***********

We are proudly supporting the Cots for Tots appeal to raise £1 million for vital equipment at St Michael's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Please have a look at the website and donate a few pounds if you can.

http://www.cotsfortots.org.uk/

James and Lisa xx

Sunday, 16 January 2011

The 12 Week Scan

Every pregnant couple must visit their first foetal development scan with a huge amount of excitement and a slight degree of nervousness.  You sit in the waiting room with a thousand thoughts running through your mind but one in particular kept jumping out for me at least...I just want the sonographer to say that our baby was normal and healthy.

I'm sure many of you have experienced the anxious waiting room moments before the scan or perhaps hours if you received treatment at the RUH in Bath!  You try and give a reassuring glance to your wife or partner whilst holding their hand, balancing the anticipation of seeing your little miracle of life for the first time coupled with the "What ifs?".

I was in total awe for the first few minutes of the scan, looking in at something so precious and beautiful, the excitement and adrenaline streamed though every inch of my body.  In those few moments it seemed that my whole perspective on life was changing....it dawned on me that I was going to be Dad and all that it would entail!

Within seconds I was brought down to earth with a huge crash, it felt like somebody had squeezed the life out of me and wouldn't let go. There was a problem with our baby.

The sonographer tried her best to be gentle with us and not upset us but we were both looking very shocked.  She couldn't be sure but she thought that the baby's stomach was showing an unusual outline on the scan and we would need to come back in a weeks time to see if it had corrected itself.

We were devastated that evening and for a good few days afterwards, nobody could really tell us what was wrong and it was a waiting game.  As the rescan date approached I tried to stay as positive as possible but couldn't shut out a nagging thought that everything wouldn't be alright.  Our close family and friends were amazing at giving us support through that week and boy would we need it.

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