Story
When William was due to arrive early, we were originally told that we may have to go to Portsmouth hospital as Basingstoke didn't have a bed. I couldn't imagine having a baby 8 weeks early and having to travel for an hour or more to visit him each day. How would I work it with having an older child at home? How would we afford it? How would we juggle life?
Thankfully, a bed came up and they had an incubator ready for him at our local hospital which was just 7 minutes from us which meant that once I was discharged I could freely visit him anytime I want. The experience was all so heartbreaking and emotional and uncertain. We were lucky. We had a fairly healthy 32 weeker, we could get to the NICU, we had free parking and we just about managed to balance our lives in those 3 weeks. Not every parent is so fortunate:
1 in 7 babies born in the UK will need neonatal care.When this happens parents can travel an average of 27 miles to see their babies in hospital. Some parents face a round trip of 100 miles or more on a daily basis just to be with their poorly baby. Parents can't choose the distance they have to travel to be with their babies, but we can. This September people all around the UK are taking on a 27 mile or 100 mile challenge to raise money for Bliss Please give what you can, so that we can work to keep families together when a baby is born premature or sick.For more information about Bliss visit bliss.org.uk