"Kind, generous, understanding, empathetic, strong and supportive"

Our daughter was born prematurely and the placenta had ruptured meaning she was for some undetermined length of time, not getting enough oxygen to her organs. As a result, she began life with an acute kidney injury, which has progressed to Chronic Kidney Disease, a condition she will have to manage her entire life. 

She was born in Edinburgh, but 2 weeks late we were transferred through to Glasgow as her kidneys were still not improving. We spent some time in the NICU, then Special care and eventually the renal ward 3C.

Whilst it was really horrible to be away from home over Christmas and New Year, the staff at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital were so kind, generous, understanding, empathetic, strong and supportive.

Days were long and repetitive, scary and uncertain as we watched our daughter get a little bit better, then a little bit worse (then better again etc) and sometimes the smallest moments with doctors and nurses, where we spoke about something other than kidneys or rejoiced in moments where her blood results came back more positive looking, were some highlights of our days. 

The NICU and special care staff were incredible and cared for our daughter with eagle eyes and precision but also genuine affection for her. Nurses that had only spent a night with her would come by when they were next on shift to check on her and see how she was doing. 

The staff on ward 3C, who we will no doubt be seeing again at several points in our daughter's life, were incredible from the moment we arrived. Although we were coming to the end of a NICU journey we were entering into a much longer one, something which was not lost on everyone there. Up until this point we hadn’t been able to stay in the room with our daughter overnight, so it was amazing to be able to be with her all through the day and night. But when we were taking a break, or getting lunch or having a much needed night of sleep, there wasn’t one part of me that felt I couldn’t leave her, because she was in the best hands.

She was also with people that had genuine affection for her, they liked spending time with her, didn’t see her as a job or a burden and that makes such a difference when you’re leaving your baby. Seeing the staff with all the other children on the ward was also heart warming - faces lit up when children arrived, they made it feel like nothing scary happened there. 

They also had endless patience for all the questions we had (and my mother and my friends!) We are now such a well informed parents because of the time and effort they put in to making sure we fully understood each and every test, procedure and the reasoning behind it all. That knowledge has been invaluable so far and I know will stand us in good stead.

We cannot thank them enough for everything they did for our daughter and for us, when we were in their care.

I think our daughter is only alive today due to the care she received at the Queen Elizabeth and I will be forever in debt to all the staff that crossed paths with her.