Ríoghnach was the baby I would brag about. She breastfed and slept brilliantly; she had her own wee routine within days. She loved her cuddles and being in your arms, lying on your chest lifting her head up to nosey at what was going on around her. Her sister and I sang her a song; ‘We love Ríoghnach, we love Ríoghnach, yes we do, we love you, we just love our Ríoghnach Roo’. Ríoghnach loved this song and always smiled when we sung it and kissed her chubby cheeks and chin.
Ríoghnach was always engaging with you and loved being held in your arms. The more you talked or sang to her, the bigger her wee dimpled smile got. People used to comment on how they couldn’t believe she was as young as she was because of her smiles and head control. She loved to watch her big sister play Gaelic football every Thursday and that is the last memory that Aoibhe has of her.
The day before she died she just wanted cuddles all day. She was rolling over, smiling and trying to laugh. I had just organised her Christening and we visited family, watched her big sister’s football game, and played all night. She woke up around 3am to be breastfed and by 4am she was gone. And to this day we still do not understand why.
Ríoghnach was perfect and healthy. She was happy and content. I thought if I did everything right that SIDS would never happen to her. Little did I know it still would.
