Primrose Maeve Price Went to Sleep at 10 Months Old — By Morning, Becky Price Was Performing CPR on Her Princess and Facing the Unthinkable Reality of SIDS.T2019
On January 15, 2019, at 10:40 in the morning, Becky Price heard the words that changed her world for the first time.
“Oh, hello.”
A tiny cry followed. Bright blue eyes. Shockingly long blonde hair. A perfect little girl held up across the surgical drape.
Primrose Maeve Price had arrived.
She was the princess Becky never knew she needed. After two boys — Kristian and Gabriel — the 20-week scan had stunned them with pink instead of blue. The house filled with glittery outfits, fluffy blankets, and bows in every shade imaginable.
Her brothers were ecstatic. Her dad was in bliss. Becky shopped like a woman who had waited her whole life for a daughter.
The pregnancy had been mostly normal, just the usual worries. Primrose measured ahead, breech at the end, stubborn like her mother. An attempted ECV failed. Becky swallowed her fear of surgery and agreed to a planned C-section because her daughter’s safety mattered more than her own panic.
And that January morning, with DIO playing in the operating room and wires everywhere, her princess entered the world.
Life felt complete.
Primrose was a dream baby. She loved her sleep. Rarely cried. Bright-eyed and easy. She had a goofy gap between her tiny teeth when they came in and made the funniest excited growl noise her family affectionately called “the grudge.” She giggled constantly with her brothers. She flashed that gummy grin like she knew exactly how adored she was.
At three months old, Becky noticed something wasn’t quite right. Primrose wasn’t drinking more milk. She began losing weight. Doctors used the phrase “failure to thrive.” Blood tests followed. Referrals to pediatricians and dietitians. Weekly visits with the health visitor.
Every result came back normal.
“She’s just small,” they said.
She was slightly behind on milestones. Then, at eight months old, she caught up. It was like a switch flipped. She started eating everything. Hitting milestones. Laughing louder. Playing harder. Relief washed over the family. Whatever that scary phase had been, it seemed to pass.
Everything was amazing.
On November 17, 2019, Primrose went to bed like she always did. She had spent the day playing around the Christmas tree they’d put up early. Gabriel had a bad cough that night, so the house was restless. Becky and her partner checked on Primrose around 3 a.m. before finally going to sleep themselves.
She was fine.
At 5 a.m., Kristian woke up. Becky made him breakfast. They talked about school. The morning felt ordinary. By 8:30 a.m., breakfast was on the table for everyone.
“Can you wake Primrose?” Becky asked her partner casually.
Then she heard a scream.
A scream she will never forget.
Becky ran upstairs, irritated for a split second at the thought of something trivial — maybe a spider. That fleeting thought would haunt her later.
