Preston's Story

It was march 2012 when I found out I was pregnant with Preston. I had given birth 3 months earlier to Preston's sister so Preston was our surprise baby even though I was worried about coping with 2 babies so close in age there was no question that we were going to keep him. My pregnancy was surprisingly easy and the whole 9 months passed in what seemed like a blink of an eye. My due date 29th Nov came and went and 4 days later on 3rd Dec 2012 at 12pm came the contractions and 10 hours later at 10:03pm we welcomed Preston into the world. Like my pregnancy my labour was easy too not needing any pain relief, we were both doing well and were discharged that night. 

When we got home I couldn't stop looking at him, he was perfect in every way and I was scared to sleep in case anything happened to him. 2 days later he just wouldn't stop crying, I didn't know what was wrong. I tried everything but nothing helped. It then dawned on me that Preston was showing signs of colic, I didn't know what to do my other children never had it so all I could do was buy Dr browns bottles and buy all the colic medicines suitable for his age and hope it helped, it didn't. Sometimes we would be awake for 3 days straight, Preston only sleeping in the day and we couldn't sleep then because Preston's sister was up. We eventually started sleeping in shifts, I would sleep 9pm til 3am and Cuc 3am till 9am, it worked for us. We kept taking Preston to the doctors trying to get them to help him and eventually at 3 months old they prescribed him gaviscon and at 4 months old he was like a different baby, all smiles and only cried when he was tired. 

The next 5 months were filled with so much happiness, going out whenever we could and playing games and having time as a family. Our house was filled with so much laughter. In June we moved out of our little 1 bed flat that we were cramped in like sardines into a 3 bed house, it was a new start and Preston loved it, especially having his own room. Preston loved a lot of things but more than anything he loved his sleep always giving a big smile and a big wriggle to get comfy when he was put in his cot and was asleep within seconds, he was a very lazy baby. 3 months after we moved into our house 10th September 2013, it was like any other day. I don't remember much, the shock of what was to come messed my head up so much that a lot of my memories were wiped. I remember running the virus protection on the computer then playing on the floor with Preston, he became tired so we put him down for his nap around 2:30pm while I put potatoes in the oven for his tea and prepared the salad we would have with it. After an hour we went to get him up and spent time playing games. 5:30pm we had our tea, it would take Preston less than a minute to eat his favourite pudding, chocolate mousse but an hour to eat his dinner. Half past 6 came and Preston started getting upset so we knew he was tired so off to bed he went and that was the start of events that would change our lives forever.

Around 3am I heard Preston's toy car keys and a little moan and then silence, I thought he had stirred and gone back to sleep which was normal for him so off we went to sleep. The next day 11th September I remember being so annoyed we had someone coming out so we had to stay in and I wanted to go out and get some wallpaper. I went downstairs as normal, Cuc was up with Mari, I hadn't heard him get up, I asked if Preston was up he said 'not yet' and he went to get him. I sat on the sofa and heard the most horrible moan, we have 2 dogs and I thought it was them messing around so I told them to pack it in. Within an instant my heart dropped like deep down I knew, so I shouted 'what?' no answer 'what?' again no answer and I just ran up the stairs and found Cuc in Preston's door way cradling him and crying. I asked if I needed to ring an ambulance and Cuc choked 'yes' I ran downstairs grabbed the phone and dialled 999 screaming 'please help me, my baby's dead' I knew he gone, as parents there's something inside of us that just knows. After hours of screaming and crying we went to the hospital to identify Preston and that's when Cuc told me when he found Preston he had to unwrap his cot bumper from around his neck twice, he hadn't told me straight away because he felt I couldn't cope with it and he was right, I couldn't. 11th September is a day i'll never forget, its the day my heart broke into a thousand pieces and could never be fixed. 

We don't have a time of death so we don't know if when we heard Preston's toy keys was when he died, we don't know a lot of things but we do know this, this shouldn't be anybody's future. Preston wasn't the first and he wont be the last if we don't share this story so please share, it could save at least one family from this pain and could save their child from having their life cut short by a useless piece of fabric that does more harm than good. If we had known Preston would still be here. 

Lisa xx

Ban cot bumpers sign here
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/54991