If it wasn’t for Stevenson House, we’d have felt like we’d abandoned him.

As first time parents, we had everything planned. We’d chosen which hospital our baby would be born in and we’d made the house all cosy, ready to bring him home. We couldn’t have been more excited.

Everything was absolutely fine during Lesa’s pregnancy, but on the day our son was due, he never came. Over the next few days Lesa became very uncomfortable – the baby had grown so big inside her. Then, on the fifth day, her waters broke which was a relief; however in the water was Broderick’s meconium (his first bowel movement). Everything at that moment changed.

His birth was complicated. To get him out the midwife had to use forceps and there was a team on standby just in case. Broderick was 9lbs and at first he seemed fine and was breathing normally. Suddenly his condition deteriorated. He became very blue and even stopped breathing – at that moment we thought he had died. The team worked to stabilise him and intubated him immediately, thankfully they succeeded and he was rushed to the intensive care ward.

We found out that Broderick had a condition called meconium aspiration syndrome which occurred during labour. We think Brody was very distressed which caused him to inhale his faeces which is extremely toxic, not to mention sticky and tarry so clogged up his lungs, making him unable to breathe.

We were left behind without our baby as he was rushed to intensive care. It was the most horrendous night. Not only had our baby been taken away, Lesa and I were also separated. It was so hard for her – she was completely broken and to see all the other mums who had their babies was heartbreaking.

Over the next few days while Lesa recovered, I slept on the ward. During the day, I would wheel her in to see Brody; we couldn’t do much so we read other parents’ stories who had been in the same situation which really helped.

When he was four days old, we met a family whose little boy was also in intensive care and they told us about a place we should contact for help. This place was Stevenson House, run by The Sick Children’s Trust. When the family explained the ‘Home from Home’ to us we felt that we didn’t deserve to stay there as we live 45 minutes away in Essex – far closer than many of the families, but they encouraged us to speak to the House Manager, so we did.

The House Manager, Alan, put these thoughts to bed. He reassured us that it didn’t matter whether we lived 45 minutes away or four hours away, The Sick Children’s Trust is there to support families with seriously ill children.

Those first few days Brody didn’t make much progress and we dreaded the worst – he was unconscious throughout and heavily sedated on morphine. It was a waiting game. Lesa was very upset and worried that she’d miss that crucial early mother and child bonding, the physical touch, the breastfeeding and everything else you’d expect to do as a first time mum. She feared when – and if – Brody got better, he would reject her. Stevenson House makes sure that mothers in particular, who feel that they are missing out on that bond, are able to bond with their new baby as much as possible. Because we had this ‘Home from Home’, it meant we could be with Brody any time we wanted to. We could read him bedtime stories, visit him at all hours and take every step with him

As the days turned into weeks, he became stronger. From being two weeks old his sedation was reduced and he gradually started coming round…so by the time he was 17 days old we had our first cuddle. It finally felt like we were a real Mum and Dad, rather than just looking at our son through a glass box, we could now take him out of his cot, hold him, bathe him and Lesa could finally breastfeed him.

If it wasn’t for Stevenson House, we would’ve felt like we’d abandoned Brody by travelling back home every day. It was invaluable. Although we couldn’t do as much as a normal Mum and Dad could, we were able to do some of the things and give our son all the attention and positive energy he needed.

As time went on, our psychological well-being improved. When we first entered Stevenson House it was like that the moment you first go to school, we were meek and timid. But towards the end we were much more positive and supported other families by sharing our experience, as others had with us.

Stevenson House also gave us hope. There were lots of families that went home during our stay and Alan would reassure us that things would get better.

When Brody was 30 days old, he was discharged from The Royal London and transferred to our local hospital. After another five days we could take him home on oxygen.

I remember walking through the door to our home and just thinking that I was so glad we were able to bring him back. I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like walking back into our house, which was all set up for Brody’s arrival, for him never to be carried through the door.

But Brodders did come home and now at nearly a year old, he’s crawling, is incredibly happy and has the loveliest smile. And the bond Lesa was worrying about? It’s the strongest. And we believe that’s because we stayed at Stevenson House and could be there by his bedside, throughout it all.

Dave Plane, Brody’s Dad