Sharon

Our daughter Sharon Florence Gibson was born on 07 October 1998 weighing 6lbs 2oz.  The pregnancy was okay, but all the way through I kept telling the midwives and doctors that something wasn’t right.  They wouldn’t listen to me and said I was just having a big healthy baby.
On 06 October, I went into hospital to be induced and the day after, labour had started.  Within a few hours, I was bleeding very badly so I was rushed for an emergency caesarean.  When I came around, I was told that our baby wasn’t breathing when she was born.  The doctors managed to get her breathing but they thought she had something called Edwards’ Syndrome.

I had never heard of it! The doctors told us that Sharon could live an hour or a year but no longer.My world fell apart.

They told me to say goodbye to her.  They were taking Sharon to Antrim Hospital an hour away and I had to wait 24 hours until I could follow her.  That was the longest 24 hours of my life.  Arriving next day at Antrim, my husband Keith said he was going to go and see Sharon, but I didn’t want to – if I didn’t see her, it wouldn’t be real.  After a short time, we went down to see Sharon together and my heart just broke.

There were doctors everywhere, looking at books not knowing for sure what Edwards’ Syndrome was.  We had to wait 24 hours to find out Sharon’s diagnosis.  On the Friday at 16:45 we were told our daughter had full blown Edwards’ Syndrome.

Sharon was my sixth child (1 son, 5 daughters).  A week after her birth, we got her home where we tried to have a normal life for Sharon and our other children.  It was so hard not knowing where to go – nobody we spoke to knew about Edwards’.  I came across a phone number from a lady from SOFT who, in turn, contacted Mary who lived near us.  Mary had lost a daughter a few years before and she contacted me just to talk to me.I am so grateful to Mary to this day – I cannot thank her enough.

Three weeks later, Sharon wouldn’t feed so she was admitted to Coleraine Hospital to have a feeding tube fitted.  We were shown how to feed her every 2 hours.

Sharon was a very content baby.  She never cried and was just perfect. At 5 weeks and 2 days old, Sharon had had a great night.  Keith went to work – the first day I planned in my head to get up, get the kids dressed and go for a wee walk down town – doing everyday things.  The children were all sitting ready and excited to take their baby sister down town for the first time.  I took Sharon from her older sister Louise to dress her.  Her wee face was just glowing and she looked so well.  I changed her nappy and she gave a big deep breath and was gone.

21 years later, we miss her every day.  Our last grandson was born on her birthday.”

Florence