My son Harry was born 12 weeks prematurely after I experienced bleeding at 15 weeks and then my waters breaking early at 22 weeks. With the aid of bed rest and steroid injections Harry remained in my womb for a further 6 weeks with minimal amniotic fluid around him. I went into a natural labour at almost 28 weeks and Harry was born weighing just 2lbs 6oz. The first 48 hours of his life were critical with doctors fearing they would be unable to resuscitate him if it came to it. He spent 8 weeks in NICU in the Queen Alexander hospital in Portsmouth where he was born; an hours drive from our home in Surrey and a further 4 weeks in SCBU at the Royal Surrey County hospital in Guildford. He was on ventilation, cpap and oxygen throughout this time but eventually came home breathing on his own weighing 5lbs.

There was no definitive reason as to why my waters had broke early and this is why I have chosen to raise money for Tommy's. The more research that is conducted into the causes of premature birth, means a greater chance of identifying mothers at risk which will hopefully reduce the number of premature babies born. Hopefully extensive research will also help to reduce the number of babies born with a disability as a result of being born prematurely. Harry was one such baby who when he was 2 years old was diagnosed with having mild Cerebral Palsy (Spastic Diplegia).

Tommy's fund research into stillbirth, premature birth and miscarriage by funding 3 research centres in the UK which focus their research efforts on different issues relating to pregnancy.They believe every parent has the right to a healthy pregnancy and baby. There target is to halve the number of babies that die during pregnancy or birth by 2030.

However big or small, your money could help towards paying for the following:

£5 a month would pay for 8 mums-to-be to have a small cervical stitch to help prevent their babies being born to soon.

£20 a month would help pay for a Phd research student working on prematurity at the Tommy's research centre in London.

£50 a month would help fund a Tommy's research midwife in one of Tommy's high risk antenatal clinics for one year.

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