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A birthday present to change a life

It is strange, no matter where you are in the world, some things never change, the sun will rise, the sun will set, we laugh, we cry and, we grow older. Today was no different, with yesterday being such a significant day, today was no different, today Jayde was to be another year older. Some have commented that they could think of nowhere worse to celebrate a birthday, a hospital, an isolation room, whilst your child goes through one of the worst moments in their life. But, take a moment to put it into perspective. You are with your child, they have received the greatest gift in their life, a gift that has the potential to change the complete course of their lives from that of living in a bubble to that of a relatively normal existence. I would counter that it would be a no brainer, a mother would always opt to be with what is most precious to them, and for Jayde it was no different. Even with a leave pass the night before, she turned down my offer, which was a relief as I had no idea when I would have a chance to bake her a Red Velvet cake with extra pink butter icing. I did feel particularly bad that I wouldn’t get the opportunity to sing her happy birthday in the morning, but a quick phone call to the night nurse team quickly fixed that up. Jayde was woken in the morning to a team of nurses, holding an iPhone with a candle burning and a chocolate cup cake singing happy birthday.  Not long after this, she received a call from Levi and myself singing a very poor rendition of happy birthday that made the Marilyn Monroe version sounding like Mariah Carey.

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We both managed to get a leave pass as Angela took the Jude shift and Nan took the Levi shift. This was some much needed adult time away from the ward which we both needed. We had initially thought that we would make our way to one of the local places, but after a quick discussion, this was quickly ruled out with Jayde wanting to go somewhere that we would not normally go. So after a quick brainstorm, it was off to this little cafe just off the Eastern Distributor that we had past so frequently on our trips to and from the hospital. There wasn’t a big gluten free selection, so I had to settle for a bit of a salad, well one salad to be blunt. It was either that or a cake, which didn’t really sell itself as a lunch. To make matters a little more concerning, it was a kale salad, but, as the gentleman that I am, I decided to take one for the team and ordered my (protein free) kale salad and Jayde ordered a roast pumpkin salad. All I can say was wow, it was a beautiful lunch and the only complaint was that there was not enough salad.

After a wonderful lunch, it was time to make our way home, well back to the hospital, but I would be lying if I admitted that the thought of grabbing the boys and running back to our real home didn’t cross our minds. So with the relief sitters relieved, it was back to our normality with me taking the night shift and Jayde taking a couple of much needed nights to spend in the apartment. At present, both boys are doing amazing, we are continually getting told by our team that Jude is doing fantastic on paper. Though, we are just waiting for the day that the dreaded ‘but’ is going to pop up in conversation on the morning rounds. The little guy is constantly putting on a show for the nurses, doctors and mum and dad, but what truly makes his day, is when Levi visits. The look on his face is nothing short of elation. We now have to maintain the isolation of Levi to ensure that these visits can continue.