Bringing My Baby Home Safely…

If you have been with me since the early beginnings of my blog, you will know about Alyssa’s sudden arrival in the world and how we had to stay in SCBU for two weeks before we were able to go home (read all about it in “Alyssa’s Arrival SCBU & All!). The day I was told that we were finally able to leave, I remember first of all feeling utter disbelief, then

pure joy before promptly bursting into tears at all the emotions running through me.

My mum arrived with some fresh clothes for Alyssa and I and her car seat. We packed my bags, got the baby dressed and placed this tiny bundle in her brand new car seat. She was so small that it almost swallowed her up! One of the lovely nurses checked she was strapped in safely and securely and for the first time ever, I took my little girl out into the sunshine and began our journey home.

As we approached the car, I began to look at it cautiously. My mum had come to collect us in my car, which was a very sensible Vauxhall Meriva 5 door family car that I had driven for over a year and had previously been very happy with. However, as we got nearer, I suddenly thought what a death trap it could be. I mean, I could control my car (my mum was driving in this case) but I couldn’t control anyone else on the road! Had my car been serviced lately? Was it going to be okay? I

 strapped her into the back seat, triple checking that the chair was secure whilst she lay there sleeping and completely oblivious to the turmoil going on inside me. We hopped in ourselves and made the very uneventful 20-minute journey home.

Now, because I had had an emergency c-section I was unable to drive for the first 4 weeks after I arrived home (6 in total) however, just as that time was up, it turned out my brother needed a lift one evening. So, 8pm in my pyjamas I might add, I put Alyssa to sleep and jumped in the car to run my brother 5 minutes up the road. No problem. On the way back, I heard this noise and was having trouble steering the car and heard a pop! Pulled over (in the middle of creepy pitch black woods!!!!) and found that one of my front tyres had blown and was completely flat! This was mere weeks after bringing my daughter home in this very car and it had done a maximum of 3 short trips since bringing us home so this could quite easily have happened on the dual carriageway the day we left the hospital. My step-dad came to rescue me that evening but when I got home I was quite upset and went to give my precious baby a cuddle.

Before this moment, I have to say I was never particularly interested in car safety. I’d get the garage to give it a once over before an MOT each year and check the water and oil but that was about it. To be honest… I had never really given the tyres much though?!? However, did you know that 700,000 newborns will make their first car journey (ie from hospital to home) this year but as many as 1 in 4 of these babies may travel home on illegal tyres?! I am both appalled and ashamed to say that Alyssa was one of them. She deserved/s so much more…

So here I am, acknowledging my failings and trying to encourage all of you not to make the same mistakes annnnndddd I have something to help you all too. Point-Sis a brilliant website where you can order tyres, exhausts and more! If like me, you don’t know what the hell you are doing when it comes to tyres, it doesn’t matter! You can actually just put in your car reg number and it will bring up all the information you need to know for ordering more tyres that are right for your car aaannnnddd they offer lots of different brands too!

So whether you are bringing your baby home for the first time, taking your child to school, picking up a grandchild or simply driving YOURSELF to the shops… it doesn’t matter! Either check your car and tyres yourself or have a professional do it for you. There’s no excuse and you don’t want to have an accident because of such a poor excuse!

Be safe!

That’s all from Alyssa and I for another week. Don’t forget to head over to The Baby & Toddler show and see what amazing exhibitors you can expect to appear this year!

Any exhibitors attending  The Baby & Toddler Show this year who would like their products featured in a weekly blog post, pop me an email to [email protected]

Anyone looking for tickets for this years Baby & Toddler show head over to the website here for all the details

Disclaimer: This was a sponsored post.