The mother of the little boy who passed away at 32 days after fighting whooping cough has revealed how she has struggled with motherhood since welcoming a new child.
Catherine Hughes gave birth to daughter Lucy in August, 17 months after son Riley passed away.
Catherine and husband Greg had campaigned for mothers to vaccinate during pregnancy. She has written about how when Lucy was born, many expected it would heal her after the loss of Riley.
But she said Lucy cried a lot and she suffered conflicting emotions.
‘I was happy in a way, but those first few weeks were HARD,’ she wrote. ‘I think I had over-romanticised what it was like to have a newborn baby, I thought it was going to be so easy, but it was difficult.’
‘I kept dressing her in pink and focused on the fact she was a girl, telling people “she looks so different to Riley”, trying to convince myself that looking at her didn’t make me think about him. But it wasn’t true really … she still had ten tiny fingers, ten tiny toes, soft skin and big blue eyes. She made me think about him so much, especially in those quiet moments at 2am when it was just her, me and the darkness.’
Catherine also revealed how the day Lucy turned 32 days old she was “a mess”.
‘Riley was 32 days when he passed away and I kept thinking about the day he died,’ she wrote. ‘I don’t think I put Lucy down that day.’
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