Hi everyone, 

Not sure if people are aware but the shop/company winnie woos was set up in memory of our daughter Winnie who passed away when I was 21 weeks pregnant.

I was told I would never have children so the fact I fell pregnant was a miracle in the first place.

Unfortunately, at the 12 week scan we was told that Winnie had a high nucal measuring at 10mm and that it was a very high chance she had Down syndrome. I was then told I could carry on with the pregnancy not finding out or I could have a CVS/amniocentesis. I chose to have the CVS , this would determine exactly what chromosome disorder, if any, that Winnie had. It come back she had a chromosome disorder called Turners Syndrome.

We was told to terminate the pregnancy as it was the best option but I didn’t have the heart to do this and all the time her heart was beating and she wasn’t suffering I would continue the pregnancy. 

Due to the fact Winnie had turners syndrome I was put on to four weekly scans, this is because it was very likely Winnie would pass away. I was booked in for my 16 week scan and unfortunately this is when we was told Winnie had cystic hygromas and fetal hydrops. A very common disease that runs along side little girls with turners syndrome. We was told to expect her to pass away within the next two weeks.

For anyone that doesn’t know what fetal hydrops is, it’s basically a build up of fluid in and around the babies organs. All babies swallow their amniotic fluid and normally would wee the fluid back out. Fetal hydrops is when a baby swallows their amniotic fluid and doesn’t wee the fluid out so it starts to build up around their lungs, kidneys, heart etc until the organs collapse and stop working.

At winnies 16 week scan, we was shown the fluid was surrounding her lungs, her tummy andher brain. We expected the worst but she was our little fighter and she kept going. We returned to hospital for the 20 week scan. This was Friday 12th February. We was told that the fluid was surrounding her heart, it was crushing her skull, it was crushing her lungs and she basically had no chance of survival. I was told I would have to come back to the hospital on Monday 15th so three days later and Winnie probably would of passed on her own so if this is the case we would discuss the options of me giving birth to her etc. 

We returned to the hospital on Monday 15th February and had a scan and to our surprise our little Winnie was still going and if by some miracle the fluid was reducing on its own. (There was a glimmer of hope at last.) 

We was told that there was a procedure that Winnie could have to reduce the fluid building up, and this would relieve the pressure for her and help her breathe and her organs grow etc. However, we wasn’t sure if the damage had already been done , as in had her organs been damaged too much, would she have brain damage, would she have a quality of life etc. We decided to book in with the specialists at the hospital to determine all of this, so we was booked in for Friday 19th February.

We arrived at the hospital Friday morning and unfortunately upon being scanned we was told Winnie had passed away on her own. Our worlds had been shattered completely and our darling girl was now our beautiful precious little angel. 

In aid of everything we have gone through, we would like to raise money for the fetal medicine foundation, this is a charity who help pregnant woman throughout their pregnancies and help with things such as chromosome disorders and abnormalities.

The fetal medicine department at QA doesn’t get the recognition or appreciation that they deserve, they were absolutely amazing in the care and the knowledge they gave us into winnies condition and we can’t thank them enough for trying to do everything they could for me and Winnie. Even downto the midwife that delivered Winnie , she was amazing and everything was done with such dignity for both me and Winnie. 

Please please please can people donate for this foundation, it means so muchto me and Luke and if our story can help another family that may be going through this and give them a bit more knowledge etc then our mission is complete.

Even if you donate a £1 every little helps.

We lost our Winnie but we may be able to helpanother family not lose theirs. 

Thank you cx