After nearly a year in hospital, a baby born 16 weeks premature has come home to the Isle of Wight.
Lily Walker and David Hipkiss' daughter, Ava, weighed just one pound and four ounces when she was delivered via emergency c-section at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital in December last year.
After spending nine weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), she was then transferred to Southampton Children’s Hospital’s for additional specialist care, while her parents stayed at the nearby Ronald McDonald House.
Most families stay for around two weeks, but for Lily and David it turned out to be a bit longer (268 nights).
Now, as Ava's first birthday — and Christmas — approaches, the family finally have something to celebrate.
After returning to the Island yesterday (Tuesday), Lily said:
“...we’re so pleased to be home for those milestones and we’ll no doubt be making lots of memories in the weeks ahead.
“Although we hope never to have a prolonged hospital stay with Ava again, we will miss the staff and the other families we got to know so well at Ronald McDonald House Southampton and we’ll be forever grateful for the support and friendship they gave us.
"We plan to visit as soon as we can!”
David said:
“It's amazing to see how far Ava has come and we can’t wait to introduce her to lots of family and friends, who’ve not met her yet.
“Ava has a number of ongoing health issues, including chronic lung disease, but she is doing so well and her strength has kept us going."
Sarah-Jayne Bevis, House Manager at Ronald McDonald House Southampton, said:
“We are here for families for as long as they have a sick child in hospital, no matter how long that might be.
"It was our pleasure to be able to provide a ‘home away from home’ for Lily and David and help ease some of the emotional and financial burden for them while Ava was receiving the treatment she needed. It’s sad to see them go, but we are so pleased they can finally go home and start their next chapter as a family.”
Ava will spend the first few nights at St Mary's Hospital, where she’ll be monitored and will get to know her new care home.
After a week or so, she will go home for the first time.