OUR TIME TOGETHER WAS TOO SHORT

Stephanie Curry, 34, said goodbye to her little boy on Christmas Day

- FRANCESCA WOODSTOCK

Placing a pair of angel wings on the Christmas tree, I smiled as they caught the light. They were a tribute to our son Louis, who’d been born with a severe form of spina bifida a few weeks earlier on 4 December 2016. Louis had only lived for 40 minutes, but although our time together was short, my husband Adam, then 33, and I would never forget him.

When I fell pregnant again the following year, we were delighted. Scans showed this baby was healthy, and on 7 December 2017, Teddy was born at 8lb 6oz, almost exactly a year after we lost Louis. ‘He’s perfect,’ I said, holding Teddy for the first time. He shared the same button nose as Louis, which I found so comforting.

But tests revealed concerns over Teddy’s hearing, and he struggled to feed. He developed an infection and we were transferred to a high-dependency unit, until being discharged five days later.

I couldn’t wait to celebrate our first family Christmas together, and with Louis’ decoration on the tree, having Teddy home with us felt so poignant. ‘We’re finally all together,’ I said to Adam.

In January 2018, we had a follow-up appointment at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, to check on Teddy’s hearing. It revealed there was permanent hearing loss, and there were concerns over other things, like the creases in his palms and the size of his fontanelle.

It was so hard not to worry and as the weeks passed, Teddy missed milestones, such as smiling, and seemed in a world of his own. He was often difficult to settle, but despite it all, I adored being his mum. ‘All babies are different,’ I said to Adam, reasoning why he might be slower to reach milestones.