Evan Thomas Whittaker

Evan Thomas Whittaker

Born and passed away on 24th march 2008 aged 18 1/2 hours.

Beautiful son of Paula & Steven Whittaker.

Baby Evan died as a result of complications during pregnancy. The membranes surrounding him ruptured at only 18 weeks into the pregnancy. The doctors said he would be born within 72 hours, and even if he wasn't born in that time he would almost certainly catch an infection which could kill mum and baby.If this didn't happen and he lived they said he would not continue to grow properly,his lungs wouldn't grow and he would have deformities of his limbs due to not having enough fluid to move around in. We were sent home to wait for him to die.

However what the Dr's didn't know was that Evan was a little fighter who didn't do as he was told! Evan wasn't born at 18 weeks, he did continue to grow, he never caught an infection, and he moved about all the time!

Evan continued to thrive inside his mum until he was born prematurely at 29weeks on Easter Monday weighing 2lb 9oz. He was a beautiful,perfect baby,including his limbs, and continued to fight all day. Unfortunately though his little lungs were underdeveloped due to the loss of fluid so early on,and after 18 1/2 hours he could fight no more. Evan went peacefully to sleep in his mummy and daddy's arms.

Although we are heartbroken and miss our little man like mad, we are so proud of the way he continued to fight and always will be. We are glad we had the chance to cuddle and kiss Evan, and tell him how much we loved him-something we couldn't have done if he hadn't fought so hard in trying to prove the Dr's wrong.

God bless sweet pea,love & miss you forever, love mummy and daddy x x x x x


Also love to our little angel baby, who grew wings on 8th March 2007 at 8weeks gestation,&our tiniest angel, lost september 2008 at 4 1/2 weeks gestation. Love you both angels,play nicely with your brother Evan, we will all meet again one day x x x x



Our letter to Evan from mummy & daddy.

Darling Evan, it is difficult to know where to begin talking about you, so I guess a good place to start is at the very beginning of your life.

You were the baby your mummy and daddy desperately wanted, and after months of fertility treatment, we finally found out we were expecting you on a beautiful Saturday morning in September. We really couldn’t believe we were lucky enough to be having you, infact mummy sent daddy out to buy five more tests just to make sure it was true!

But true it was, and we were so happy, although those first few weeks of your life weren’t easy and you gave us quite a few scares. We prayed every day that you would carry on growing, and sure enough every week when we would see you on scan you kept on getting bigger. It made us so happy to see you waving at us, and we loved you so much from the minute we knew you were growing inside mummy.

As you got bigger, it was obvious you had your own little personality already-lets just say you were very determined! You liked to stay up late, and get up late too- and so help anyone who disturbed your sleep!! You made it quite clear you didn’t like to be woken up early by the neighbours dogs, or the crying babies in the hospital. This was obvious by the force of your kicks- you were clearly unhappy with the noise! You also let the midwives and the doctors know that you didn’t like to be poked and prodded by kicking them hard, and constantly hiding from them when they tried to listen to your heartbeat on the monitors. You even earned yourself the nickname ‘posh spice’ in the hospital because of this! You seemed to like chocolate, cheesy wotsits and carrot cake, but you weren’t so keen on rhubarb or red meat- mummy learned about this very quickly! You also liked to kick your little feet to Kylie Minogue! Despite your short stay on earth with us, we feel we knew you so well already.

The name Evan means ‘young warrior’ in Celtic, and Evan that is so true of you. You battled on inside your mummy for months and you continued to defy the odds of the doctors who first treated you. They said you wouldn’t make it past 18 weeks- you hung on until 29 weeks. They said you wouldn’t grow properly- you were the perfect size for your age.
They said you wouldn’t be able to move around much inside your mummy, especially after the steroid injections- you were never still, particularly after the steroids! Infact you moved around so much you earned yourself another nickname amongst your family- Dora the explorer!
It should be pointed out here that the doctors also said you were a girl-again you proved them wrong!

You continued to battle on, and your determination meant that you got to live outside of mummy for 18 ½ hours when you decided it was time to come out on Easter Monday. The doctors were surprised by you again- you put up such a fight and were so strong considering the size of your tiny lungs and your age. Even then you still managed to fight with the doctors and nurses, pulling at your breathing tubes.
You continued to fight all the odds for 18 ½ hours Evan, but sadly your little body was just too small and too tired from all the fighting you had had to do for the past 29 weeks. You managed to hang on until mummy was well enough from her operation to come and be with you and daddy, and then you went peacefully to sleep in our arms.

Although our hearts are broken Evan, and we cannot understand why you weren’t allowed to stay with us, we want you to know that we are so, so proud of you beautiful boy. We wish you could have stayed with us for a lot longer, but we will always be grateful for the precious time we had with you, before and after your birth. Having you for that short time was worth all of the heartache and stress- you made us a mummy and daddy, and we will always be proud of the way that you fought so hard.

The name Evan also means ‘God’s precious gift’, and you were the most beautiful, precious gift we have ever known. We will love you and miss you forever, you will always be in our hearts and we will never forget you.

In the words of the song that mummy and daddy would always sing to you from the moment we knew you existed Evan, you are our sunshine, our only sunshine, you make us happy when skies are grey, and you’ll never know just how much we love you. Sleep tight our precious angel with your big brother or sister, until we all meet again you will be our bright sunshine in the sky.
Love you always, mummy and daddy x x x x

Evan, you are now a big brother! Ella Grace Whittaker was born on 23/11/09 at 35+5, after mummy's waters broke again. Thankfully she had been inside the water long enough to be healthy...i think you must be looking over your baby sister keeping her safe, she has a very special angel to guard her. Thank you sweetpea.....you both are my world, i wish i could see you both grow, but a part of you is in your sister, you live on through her & through us...she looks so much like you Evan. Love you always x x x