Welcome Welcome!

So today I decided that I'd like to start a blog. My daughter and I have had a rough time in the last 5 months. And I would like to share with you, what life is like as a new mum, with a life threatening illness. So let's do some introductions shall we?

My name is Kelly-Anne, most people just call me Kelly though. I'm 25 years old and I have Cystic Fibrosis. On 3rd February 2017 I was told I had a new role in life. And on 18th September 2017, I became 'Mummy'.

I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, 3 and a half weeks early. She was just 5lb 10oz and she was the smallest and most precious thing I had ever seen. I called her Ellysia-Jess Helen.

So that's us. Mummy and daughter. Best friends. An unbreakable pair.

BUT. My pregnancy wasn't straightforward. I mean, it was, to a certain extent. If you take into consideration my general health...

Before I fell pregnant I would spend 2-3 weeks in hospital on IV antibiotics for chest infections. And I would do this 4-6 times a year. Daily routines of medications, hospital appointments, admissions, spending days in bed being sick, or not being able to move. Let's face it, that's nobodies idea of heaven!! 

Anyway. When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn't all that thrilled. Everybody has this expectation that you'll be over the moon, filled with excitement... But why wasn't I? I'll tell you why... I have had 5 miscarriages, so to me, this was just another opportunity for my heart to break one more time. After the fifth miscarriage I decided to restart my contraceptive pill, I couldn't face loosing another baby. To know that a life had started to grow inside of me and that it would just be stolen from me again scared me, all I'd ever wanted was to become a mother, and every time I'd got my hopes up it was ripped from right in front of me. What had I ever done to deserve this? Maybe I just wasn't meant to be a mum. I was just starting to get my head around that fact that the only thing I wanted in my life wasn't going to happen, when I found out I was pregnant. 

I mentally prepared myself for another loss, another heart break, another child to be taken from right there, inside of me. Weeks passed and I had numerous early scans, I had bleeding and severe stomach pains. I convinced myself I was loosing that baby. But my 12 weeks scan came, then my 20 week scan came, I'd never made it past 9 weeks before!! Every scan, every time I saw that baby moving on t screen filled my heart with joy. I could finally get excited. I realised that I was actually having a baby this time. And it was a girl. Just like I'd always wanted. As the pregnancy went on and on, the weeks went, my due date got closer and closer!!

I made it to about 6 months and started to have contractions. All my joy went. This made me fear the worst, that I was loosing this baby. My contractions stopped suddenly and after this happening for a second time, I was kept in hospital, where my water broke at 36 weeks, they then decided to induce me. After 3, nearly 4 weeks in that hospital, I knew I wasn't leaving without my baby girl. They gave me the epidural and started the induction at 11:30pm on 17th September and I slept through it all until about 5/6am. By 9:30 I was fully dilated and ready to push. After waiting 15 minutes for a doctor, I started pushing at 9:45 and my precious, tiny bundle of joy arrived at 10:32am. 

So there we have it. The birth of Ellysia-Jess!! Our Adventurous Life Begins!!
K&E💖