Family get dream Christmas present as baby Charlotte comes home

PROFOUNDLY disabled Charlotte Wyatt was surrounded by presents as she spent her first Christmas at home with her family.

Debbie Wyatt, 24, and Darren, 33, said their baby girl was happy and relaxed at their home in Portsmouth, Hampshire, during her two-hour, unsupervised visit.

Mrs Wyatt said: “It was the best Christmas present we could ask for having Charlotte home.”

She added: “She was looking at the Christmas tree with all the lights. She was looking around the room and taking it all in.

“She seemed happy and she was really relaxed. We didn’t have any problems at all with her.”

The two-year-old weighed only 1lb and measured just 5in long when she was born three months prematurely on October 21, 2003.

She has serious brain, lung and kidney damage.

Her survival has confounded predictions that she would succumb to a respiratory infection.

Mr Wyatt collected his daughter in a taxi from St Mary’s Hospital, in Portsmouth, and pushed her in a buggy into their home where a pile of presents was waiting.

Mrs Wyatt said: “She opened her presents and she was playing with her toys. She was even watching the cartoons on the television.

“She needs stimulating so we bought her lots of things with bright lights and sounds.”

She added: “It made Christmas complete because last year Charlotte was in an oxygen box. The year before that she was in an incubator.

“Hopefully next year we should have her home for good.

“I just want to say thank you to the hospital because they have kept Charlotte alive and just to say thank you for letting us have Charlotte home for Christmas.”

Charlotte has already been allowed home from St Mary’s Hospital twice this month under clinical supervision.

Mr and Mrs Wyatt were given extra training in caring for their daughter and staff allowed them to take sole care of her for the first time yesterday.

Mrs Wyatt said: “We know what we are doing but it was a bit scary. I know she is our daughter but it felt like we could do more of her care.

“Plus it is less stressful not having anyone watching over you.”

The couple, who had another daughter, Christina, six weeks ago, hope it will be the first of several visits leading to Charlotte coming home permanently in the near future.