1 in 7 babies born in the UK will need specialist care. Bliss aims to improve outcomes and quality of life for these babies but needs your help to do that! 

Bliss drives improvements in neonatal care, ensuring that the needs of babies are at the heart of policy and planning for the future as well as providing information and support to families with a baby born premature or sick. 

In August 2022, at our 12 week scan, we found out that our baby had gastroschisis. This was already an anxious time for us and we had that stomach sinking feeling when the sonographer said “I’m really sorry” as she found a mass on the scan. After being taken to a side room, we were introduced to a lovely consultant who explained this was gastroschisis, where the baby’s intestines hadn’t remained in the tummy when it closed up as the foetus grew - and were now outside of the baby’s body. We were told we would receive consultant led care with scans every few weeks and to prepare for a NICU stay of up to 12 weeks once the baby was born. 

Our beautiful baby boy, Indy Jude, was born at 37 weeks on 24 January 2023 through planned induction. Doctors were on hand at his birth and he immediately was taken away for surgery.  Not being able to hold him and then the wait to hear how the surgery went was extremely hard but we had so much relief finally seeing him and hearing everything had gone as well as it possibly could with the intestines being put back into his tummy at the first attempt. 

We then pretty much lived in NICU. I slept on the maternity ward and spent each day and most of every night with Indy. Rick would come first thing in the morning and leave late at night. It felt like a completely different world on NICU - four babies in each small room, three nurses per room, incubators on, wires everywhere, machines beeping, doctors doing their rounds and seeing some really poorly babies around Indy in life or death situations. 

At the start we were unable to hold Indy and he  had a breathing tube in and was fed through an IV line. Day by day he astounded the doctors and nurses as he came off the breathing support, started taking milk and reached his maximum feed within 2 weeks. He was finally moved to low dependency and was discharged just before he was 3 weeks old - a day after his due date. This was one of the quickest cases of gastroschisis recovery the NICU staff had seen. 

We were overwhelmed with the care received from the doctors and nurses in NICU. From the skill of the surgeons, to the endless knowledge and positivity from the nurses, we were carried through our stay at NICU. 

For other parents and their families in these situations, Bliss provides support to help them through difficult journeys as well as improving the vital care for such poorly babies. They rely on donations to fund their work and without our help they won’t be able to reach the 90,000 babies needing neonatal care each year. 

I am running the London Marathon in April 2024 for Indy, for Bliss, for babies born poorly and for the parents who have to experience time in NICU. Please donate if you can, to support this amazing charity.