Liam Richard Watson
5-10-87 – 2-2-92
Liam was born two weeks late after a normal pregnancy. He was a little small at 5 Ibs. 13 ozs., but was perfection itself to Peter and me. There were some feeding problems, but nothing serious. At his six week development check, it was picked up. that he had cataracts on both eyes. He was operated on at 8 weeks and contact lenses fitted. A series of tests then began to find out what was wrong with him. He was admitted to the hospital with chest infections in May and June 1988. It was then we were told he had CS and probably would not see his second birthday. Our whole world fell apart. Why us? Why Him? We brought Liam home determined to do our best for him. His health improved and although he couldn’t sit up or move around, we adapted our home, his toys, etc. to help him. We got outside help to get Liam to his full potential. He started a special nursery school on his second birthday, but I had to let go. It broke my heart to let someone else look after him, I was so proud of him.Just before Liam’s third birthday, his sister Lyndsey was born. Our family seemed complete, but 5 months later, Liam’s health started to deteriorate. His chest infections were a lot more serious. He had broncho-pneumonia and had to be tube fed. We tried to prepare ourselves for the worst, but each time our little man would pull through and prove what a fighter he was. For 12 months he was in and out of the hospital, getting weaker each time. His weight dropped to 10 Ibs. and he got tired very easily. At Christmas 1991, Liam was very poorly and was being sick all the time. We feared the worst, but come the New Year, he was well enough to go to school. We couldn’t believe it. For four weeks he was great, then on January 31st, he stopped eating, an early warning sign something was wrong. I kept him off school on that Friday. He was o.k., but not’himself. On Saturday he was very quiet and just wanted to be held and loved. We stayed up most of Saturday night with him, just holding him, loving him. On Sunday, his breathing got worse, he started to go blue and got very distressed. We rushed him to the hospital at 4 pm where he was given oxygen and painkillers. He relaxed and his breathing eased. He went to sleep until 9pm when he woke up crying because his nappy was soiled. I held him inr.uny arms and his breathing became very shallow. The nurses warned us he hadn’t got long and at llpm, Liam died in his Mummy’s arms, safe and free from pai Liam was a very special little boy, who had a special place in anyone’ heart who knew him. He always had a smile and had to put up with so much in his short life. If you have a child with CS, love them and cherish eve-ry moment. They’re very special children. Lyndsey is now 3 years old and I’ve since had another baby boy Daniel Liam who is 11 months old. I’ve also lost another child to CS. I had a stillborn daughter on April 1st of this year. I was 22 weeks pregnant. I had had the. prenatal test which had come back positive. I had to consider having a termination, but the decision was taken out of my hands when the baby was found to be already dead. I now have two angels in heaven.