A heartbroken parents has told how they created their personal cooling cot out of frozen peas in order to say their last goodbyes to their 12-day-old baby son after he died.
On November 22, last year, Alice and Sam Taylor’s son Thomas went into cardiac arrest after contracting a viral illness.
After the child died at Alder Hey, his parents from Prenton, Wirral, said they wished to take him home in a cuddling cot to spend time with him before the burial.
A cuddle cot is a cooling equipment meant to keep a dead infant cold for up to five days, allowing families to spend time with their newborns and relatives to meet them.
They were informed there were none available, so Alice, 27, and Sam, 29, had to build their own on the instruction of medical professionals in order to allow the family time to say their final goodbyes.
Alice described the event as “strange,” remembering how she sat in the Asda car park with Thomas in her arms, waiting for Sam to appear.
The former teacher, meanwhile, claimed that she could have held him eternally and never wished the drive home to end.
Despite the fact that the pair was in an uncomfortable circumstance, Alice focused on returning Thomas to his rightful place.
She said it allowed her and Sam time to cherish beautiful moments with their son before burying him.
Alice, who also has an older son named Jack, described how she gave birth to Thomas at home and how he appeared to be in good health at first.
However, at nine days old, his mother observed that her youngest kid was not feeding as well as he had been, and he also developed a temperature.
Taking no risks, Sarah and Sam rushed their kid to Arrowe Park Hospital, where he underwent a battery of testing.
When Thomas’ health did not improve, he was airlifted to the specialty children’s hospital Alder Hey, but he died before reaching critical care.
Despite their odd situation when the hospital did not have a cuddle cot, the parents are thankful to Alder Hey personnel and are now raising funds so that other moms and dads who lose a newborn can have recourse to cuddle cots.
The couple is raising money for The Snowdrop Team and Suite, which helps grieving parents.
It felt like a home away from home, and it is run by the most fantastic people, the couple said on their GoFundMe page.
They made so many memories there, and Jack, Thomas’ elder brother, spent so much time building moments with his baby brother and producing keepsakes like hand prints together that he will love for the rest of his life.
Alice and Sam thanked the personnel at the suite for assisting them in liaising with the coroner’s office following Thomas’s death, arranging visits for family members, and supporting them throughout.
The pair also wished to gather funds so that the suite could include a second snuggle cot, as it presently only has one.
There is nothing that will make the loss of a baby any easier, but having the necessary assistance afterwards is essential to overcoming this horror, and that’s precisely what the snowdrop team helps with, they added.
Alice and Sam are attempting to raise funds for The Snowdrop Suite.
