I had a scan, thinking I was just going to find out if we were having a boy or a girl at 20 weeks. During that scan, the midwife said I would need to come back in 2 weeks as she couldn't see everything she needed, including the sex of the baby. We went back 2 weeks later, and the same midwife scanned me. The look on her face told me something wasn't right. She tried to reassure me that it could just be the position of the baby but said Cardiff would send us an appointment to be on the safe side.

That same week, we were seen at Cardiff. We heard lots of words thrown around during the scan about the heart, none of which made sense, but we were still very hopeful that nothing was wrong. We were taken into a room, and everything was explained. The baby had tricuspid atresia with VSD and ASD. That day, the 14th of September 2023, was the day our world turned upside down.

We spent the drive back trying to work out how to explain to her sister, who wasn't even 2, that the baby might not survive. Telling family was hard, but the Cardiff consultant gave us a book that explained what was going on in some detail. We had scans every month to keep an eye on the baby in Cardiff, Swansea, and my local community hospital. At that point, it seemed all we were doing was having scans, but at least I got to see the baby all the time.

We were told that the baby would have to be born in Bristol St Michael's, so we would be at the best place for the baby's survival. Three weeks before the due date, we were told there were no beds available. We phoned every day but still nothing. On the 22nd of December, while in Birmingham planning to spend Christmas with family, we got the phone call to be in Bristol the next day.

We left early in the morning, leaving our nearly 22-month-old with her grandparents. We got to Bristol, and I didn't get induced until 9 a.m. on Christmas morning. They broke my waters at 9:30 a.m., and at 11 a.m., we got to meet our beautiful baby girl. Davina was placed on my chest while we did delayed cord clamping. Once the cord was cut, Davina was taken to get checked out. My husband went with her while I was unable to follow because the midwives were concerned about me going into shock.

After I had ticked everything off their list, I went to see Davina in the NICU. Nothing can prepare you to see your baby full of wires and machines pumping, but during her initial scan, the doctors were happy enough to step her down to high dependency. The next day, Davina was transferred again, this time by the WATCH team to Cardiff hospital. Amazingly, in less than 24 hours, Davina was in Wales being monitored—not in Dolphin Ward in Bristol, as they first thought. She was doing better than anyone expected. We were another step closer to home than we had planned.

Davina finally got to meet her sister in Cardiff hospital, where her grandparents drove down to visit. It was amazing—we had our family together for a few hours and could have both our daughters in the same room, even if it was a hospital room. On the 31st of December, Davina was taken off constant monitoring and just checked on a 4-hourly basis. There was just one more step we had to complete before coming home.

My husband and I had to learn about the home monitoring program, where you check the baby's weight and SATs twice a week and record them with the hospital. On the 1st of January 2024, we came home. My baby was home, and our 22-month-old was on the way. The first few weeks having Davina home were hard. We checked her SATs as often as we could—any little sign something might be off, we checked. My grandmother bought a BabySense sensor for the cot, so if she stopped breathing, it would alarm to let us know. Davina hardly left the house in the first 4 weeks because people wanted to just place a hand on her.

The first time we spent the whole day out, Davina caught a cold, so we were back to worrying again. Davina had a check-up on the 8th of February, and her SATs had dropped, so we were staying at Morriston Hospital for a few hours to see if we could get her SATs back to normal with a little oxygen. Around 12 hours later and still there, we were told that Davina needed to be transferred to either Cardiff or Bristol. We met the WATCH team once again and went to Dolphin Ward in Bristol.

From the Saturday to Wednesday afternoon, Davina was on low oxygen, but the nurses could not take her off oxygen altogether because she couldn't keep her blood oxygen levels above 75. By Wednesday night, Davina was moved to high dependency and later that night moved to PICU. It seemed like the reverse of when she was born was happening. It happened so fast. She also moved from low-flow oxygen to CPAP just as fast.

Friday was a settled day. I got cuddles with her because she managed to deal off the oxygen for a little bit while they changed Davina's bedding. Everyone thought we were turning a corner, but that was far from the truth. Davina got worse on Saturday night. They had to fully sedate her and intubate her. The next day, I met a doctor who informed me he was Davina's surgeon and would be performing her surgery that day. Unfortunately, my husband couldn't get there because he was needed at home with our other daughter. I did have my mother there, but it's not the same—I felt alone and scared.

The surgery was a success, and Davina was doing better every day. We were transferred back to Dolphin Ward by day 5 post-operation and to Cardiff 2 days later. Davina was in Cardiff charming all the nurses for a few days while I learned how to give Davina her medication, one of which had to be injected into her legs. I also had to learn how to now feed Davina via a feeding tube, also known as an NG.

On the 1st of March, also known as Saint David's Day in Wales, I got Davina dressed up ready to go home. We were finally going to all be back together again as a family. Davina's sister was excited to have her baby sister back and couldn't wait to give her cuddles and kisses.

For a while, we had to learn Davina's new normal. Her SATs were now at a different level for her, and she was a lot more sickly. We got there and felt comfortable enough to finally introduce Davina to some of her family in Birmingham. Now at 3 months old, she finally got to meet her auntie, uncles, and great-grandparents.

Spending so much time in the hospital did delay Davina because she wasn't holding her head up, but she was doing other things, like waving at people and smiling earlier than we expected. Davina did eventually start holding her head up but refused to have tummy time. All of spring and summer was spent introducing Davina to family while also having check-ups at different hospitals.

We have had more than one stay at the hospital due to weight gain problems, but Davina has always smiled through it all. We reached Davina's goal weight of 6kg in August and were told she was on the list for the next surgery. Her weight was hard, but we finally got the phone call to say the 10th of October would be the next one.

On the 9th, Davina, myself, and my husband all traveled to Bristol, worried that the surgery might be called off at the last minute but hopeful that it wouldn't. We got there, and the next day signed the paperwork. Davina was given some medication to make her sleepy, ready for when they had to put her to sleep. That, I have to say, was the funniest thing by far—Davina had never blown bubbles at all, but after having this medication, she was blowing bubbles and shouting at people each time they were not looking at her or just laughing at people.

The fun was short-lived, though, because we had to hand Davina over for her second operation. Eight hours later, after clock-watching and trying to keep busy, we finally got to see our beautiful girl again. Once again, Davina showed everyone how strong she was and was back to her normal self within 3 days. She then got moved to Dolphin Ward and was there for 4 days before we got the best news ever—it was time to go home again.

Davina is still the same smiling, happy girl she was before her second operation and has just grown in strength. Davina turns 1 on Christmas Day, and this year, we are excited to be celebrating her birthday. Christmas will also be celebrated, but Davina's birthday is, to me at least, the most important. She really is our miracle baby.

For all those parents going through this, don't be afraid to ask for mental health help. This is hard on anyone's mental health, and the help is out there.