The hospital made the mother's top-most wish in the bucket list come true which was to make the baby girl meet her great-grandma meet before the inevitable.
The arrival of a baby is the best news that a parent can receive. They prepare for the soon-to-be-born in all the ways possible. From the comfort of the little one to future plans, everything is looked after.
A new mum, Sophie Murfin, made a bucket list of the things she would do with her "beautiful lockdown baby" when she arrived, but her list was left incomplete when Violet passed away within 11 days of birth. She was able to take her baby girl back home in Cwmbran to make her terminally-ill grandmother Liena meet Violet for one last time, thanks to the wonderful staff of Welsh hospital, reported The Sun.
The early sonographies of Sophie's pregnancy at 12-weeks revealed that Violet was a “lovely, healthy baby”. But during a routine 20-week scan the room was overcome by haunting silence. Violet was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome by a specialist at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol. It is a condition where the left side of the heart doesn't develop properly.
It meant that no-one could tell how long Violet would survive. It could be a few hours or a few weeks, anything was possible. Talking to Wales Online, the 27-year-old mother said, "I was having the 20-week scan and there was just silence in the room. I knew there was something wrong and they admitted that they had spotted something and we were referred to specialists in Bristol."
When the mother visited the Bristol hospital, she was sat down by some "amazing staff" of the hospital and was given assurance that "the condition wouldn’t be painful and she would know nothing different.”
Even though Sophie was provided with answers to all her questions, it was still an overwhelming situation for her. She said, "It was still scary and I found that were very few palliative stories shared by parents – but no-one said how truly wonderful the time with her would be."
The staff also encouraged Sophie to make the most of the time she had left with her daughter but with the acceptance that "Violet was never going to grow up, never going to play sport, but I needed her to have a purpose."
This was also the time when Sophie came to know that her grandmother who's suffering from cancer might not be able to see her great-grand-daughter. But with the help of the hospital staff, the mother and daughter traveled back home in an ambulance. “I can clearly remember the look on the midwife’s face – the PPE couldn’t hide the glimmer in her eyes. The entire team had volunteered to get us home to south Wales – I couldn’t believe it, their kindness was humbling,” said Sophie.
If it wasn't for the generous staff of the hospital, one of the topmost things in Sophie's bucket list would've been left unfinished. Little Violet not only got to meet her great-grandmother but also four generations of the family under one roof.
Describing Violet's first and the last time at home her mother said, "The time at home with Violet was wonderful. The sun shone every day of her life – she never once saw rain. We managed an awful lot in 11 days."
She continued, "We were both christened in the garden, with family and friends on Zoom. Neighbors watched from a distance accompanied by a dog, two cats, and a hedgehog – it was like a real-life Disney film. We clapped for carers, went to the park, celebrated Gran’s birthday, and had a photoshoot in the garden. Bucket list complete."
The happy days were marked with sadness when on June 3, baby Violet passed away in the arms of her mother just three hours after her great-grandma.
The mother decided to share the story "to give some comfort to other parents in this situation – palliative care for a baby can be simply wonderful." She also thanked the St.Michael’s Hospital for their services and has set up a fundraising page to help them "so that they can continue to help other babies like Violet and support families like ours. It is how grateful we are for what they did for us, their selfless actions, reassurance, and kindness, gave us the most precious gift – time."
According to Sophie, her daughter's life was meant to be filled with love. "I truly believe that Violet was loaned to us to teach us a lesson, to show us to look for the good things in ourselves and to see the kindness of people around us," she said and added, "I wouldn’t change a single thing about our story but I wish we could go back to page one and do it all over again."
References:
https://www.the-sun.com/news/1393998/baby-violet-lived-11-days-murfin-bristol-hospital/
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/hypoplastic-left-heart-syndrome-baby-18842071
