'Summer was conceived in Australia, she's a hot baby and hates the cold'.... 

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Over the other side of the world living and working in such a beautiful country we were having the time of our lives.

Here's kind of the beginning of the story in the middle of telling you about our journey.

After three gorgeous months of island hopping north to south of Thailand we agreed on one thing.. it was far from being home time. We'd quit our jobs, waved ciao to our friends and family and headed off deep into terminal 5 of heathrow airport. Buried underneath this huge ugly backpack which contained my entire life we boarded our Thai airways flight. Some how and I don't know how but us four backpackers wangled their way upstairs into business class hmmm..... Paul could sell wool to a sheep haha. 

With sun-kissed skin and over a thousand Buddha souvenirs it was time to fly from Thailand and wing it over in Australia - we had no idea, we looked at a map, closed our eyes and our finger landed on Perth. Thats pretty much how it went, no fuss just booked a flight and took off.

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FIVEAM we landed in Perth, we sat outside the arrivals terminal: coffee one in hand, cigarette in the other - you know typical backpackers style. NOW WHAT????? We waved a cab, it took us deep into the city. We fell in love instantly.

We stayed two weeks in the city then realised we were running out of dollars and fast. We jumped on a train and headed east of the city, this is where everyone talked about getting work. A few months into living the Australian dream we found our place, backed onto a golf course with a games room and swimming pool. Life was goood.

We drove an hour and a half to and from work everyday 5-6 days per week. We worked on different fruit farms picking and packing. We received the fastest promotions of our entire lives, turned up to work monday morning then were made managers by monday afternoon - something to do with speaking good English. 

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July arrived and so did their 'winter' basically like Summer in the UK. BBQ's everyday and parties almost every night. My sister and friends flew out to us for my birthday: parties, hangovers, parties, hangovers and they won't let me get away with not mentioning hangovers again so there it is.

Waving them off after three weeks of pure fun was sad, almost like it hit me like a ton of bricks the reality of just how far away from home we were.

A while after they left I found out I was pregnant.

AMAZING!!!

I snuck into our bedroom being really quiet not to wake anyone and whispered Paul's name. We were up late the night before so it ended up being more of a shout than a whisper. The minute I fell pregnant (before I knew) I instantly went off alcohol.. weird I thought, whys this happened?? I adore the glass (bottle) of vino....

Isn't incredible what your body does to accommodate a tiny human! 

Paul bolted upright and looked at me like I was an alien, are you ok baby??

Good Morning babe, yes erm... We're pregnant!!

'WOW' he shouted them ran out of the room - not quite the reaction I was expecting. He poked his head around the door and said come on lets tell your sister - she was asleep down the hall in her room. From then on life went from good to fantastic. Alcohol and cigarettes became a thing of the past. Life was about to change. How exciting!!

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I will continue to tell our travelling story another time. Then came the beginning of the Summer, after having a full year of summer we'd found our potential daughters name. I was five full fluffy months preggers and felt truly fantastic. We were also getting ready to fly back to the UK. We made special friends in Australia, ones that quickly became family. I truly believe you meet people for a reason and I know we'll see you again one day. After a farewell party it was time to say goodbye. There we were, sat outside Perth International airport where our journey had begun exactly a year ago, we smiled at each other and felt so so grateful for the year we'd had. Checked in & waiting for our Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi then onto Heathrow, UK.

Touch down.. yikes my goosebumps have goosebumps. Early December and it was freezing! Reunited with our family and introducing them to bump were magical moments. Oh what a year we'd had. Home and ready to start a brand new chapter.. although I'm not quite sure how long my backpack will stay in that cupboard ... (To Be Continued)

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Being back in the UK was strange, being pregnant was amazing.. until we had our 20 weeks scan. We'd had a six & twelve week scan in Perth.

The sonographer at our local hospital quickly revealed something was wrong. My stomach instantly in knots and Paul didn't make eye contact with me, she left the room. We had hit the ground with a bang - Aussie life felt years away from where we were.

When the sonographer returned she explained we needed to go to UCLH in Warren Street the next day for an in depth scan. What was wrong? Did this happen to everyone? Was it because I flew home from the other side of the world yesterday?

We arrived bright and early at the hospital awaiting our scan. Then all was confirmed, baby Grieves was going to need a lot of medical intuition. Paul & I were ready to embrace anything and everything.

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Now seven months on our gorgeous bright eyed girl, Summer-May is the best addition to our life by far. Writing this blog has helped us both. Our objective is for Summer, one day, to read and understand her journey. We are so unbelievably proud of our daughter. Summer isn't yet out of the clear and still needs lots of medical assistance.

Just last week my biggest fear came true.

I was at home with Summer on my own when I turned my back on her for just two minutes to put my washing on a spin, when I turned back around to face her I noticed that she had pulled both of her tubes out from her nose and scratched her eye in the process of doing so. This has always been my biggest fear. When Summer was first born she was solely reliant on her prong to hold her airway open - when the staff at Great Ormond Street hospital were training us I couldn't fit her breathing tube and so I panicked half way through a tube change and asked the nurse to quickly take over - what a failure, the woman that gave life to this baby couldn't fit a tube into her nose to save her life. From then on Paul & I made a pact, I would cut and sew her prongs and he would fit them weekly.

For seven months this worked well for us..

UNTIL she pulled them out! I remained as calm as I could, shaking like a leaf remembering NOT to lay her down as her tongue would slip back and close her airway. Why was this happening now - grow up, pull yourself together and fit your babies tube now! Were the two thoughts I had. I went straight onto autopilot, I taped the tube and inserted it up into her nose and down in to her airway... I DID IT! PHEW - Thank you Lord. Panic over, she didn't fight me and it didn't go wrong. Close call. After we both calmed down I phoned for the community nurse team to come and fit her feeding tube back into place. Emergency diverted. Everyday I thank my lucky stars I get to be Summer's mummy, she has taught me the meaning of strength. 

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Summer has a Grade 4 airway, most babies are born with a Grade 1 airway. Now the winter has well and truly hit here in the UK she is prone to all kinds of illness. Our next challenge is to keep her out of hospital for the entire winter. She has recently developed a chesty cough, I am hoping its linked to her teething so are keeping a super close eye on her and keeping her nice and warm at home.

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Summer was conceived in Australia, she's a hot baby and hates the cold'.... 

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Thank you for reading Summer And Winter,

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Jessica x

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