Writer and director Daisy Aitkens recalls the exceptional care and kindness she experienced at Chelsea and Westminster’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit following the premature birth of her daughter.
It was 13 March 2019. I was emptying the dishwasher when my waters broke. It was our first child and I was only 32 weeks pregnant. We got in the car and called the hospital where I was due to give birth, only to be told not to come. The baby was so early, she was going to need intensive care and they had no beds available. I was scared.
Tearful and shaking, I called the closest hospital which, luckily, was Chelsea and Westminster. The woman on the phone was wonderful – she said, ‘Don’t worry – just come in and we’ll look after you’.
‘Our daughter was born later that day, tiny and perfect’
That can-do spirit and warm attitude sums up the professional care we received during our time at the hospital. Our daughter was born later that day, tiny and perfect – you could fit her in two hands cupped together. As they wheeled her off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, I said to one of the doctors, ‘She’s too small’. He simply said, ‘We’ll take care of that – all you have to do is watch her get bigger and stronger.’ And we did.
She spent four weeks in NICU. The memories are a blur of anxiety, confusion, care and endless Pret sandwiches. To begin with, she was on oxygen in an incubator, being fed through a tube. But the doctor was right – as the weeks went by, she started to breathe on her own and maintain her own body temperature. And finally, one day, a busy midwife took the time to slowly and carefully show me how to give her a bottle.
‘The midwives always took the time to smile and ask how I was’
Every midwife knew me by name, was so alert to our daughter’s condition, and took the time to smile, ask how I was and laugh at my feeble jokes. They always picked up the phone when I did a late-night check-in, and told me in granular detail how she was sleeping. They were never too busy, never too tired (when, in fact, they must have been both very busy and very tired).
‘We consider ourselves very lucky’
Today, our daughter is happy, healthy and loud! It wasn’t the birth I had planned, but we consider ourselves very lucky because we were diverted to this wonderful hospital, where we received constant support from the midwives, nurses and doctors of the NICU. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Since Daisy had her daughter, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has been refurbished, with support from CW+. Find out more about this project and take a tour of the NICU.
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