In mid-February, Sally and I found ourselves rushing to hospital two months before we were expecting to. 30 hours later, our daughter Amelia was born, 8 weeks premature. She spent nearly three weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the Rosie Maternity Hospital on the Addenbrookes site before we were allowed to take her home, and we continued to receive care from the NICU community team for a number of weeks afterwards.

The NICU is an incredible place, and the care Amelia received was amazing. The nursing staff in particular were incredibly supportive and really took the time to get to know both Amelia and us and were always on hand to provide advice and guidance. At what was an incredibly stressful time, we couldn't have asked for anything more from the NICU team.

In many ways, we were very fortunate - Amelia quickly progressed through the wards to lower dependency rooms, and we were able to take her home after a few weeks (though she was still being fed through a tube directly into her stomach). Many others with children there were less fortunate, and had been on the ward for a long time.

Because the Rosie is one of very few specialist units in the country, it takes babies from far and wide, and at one stage in the bed next to Amelia was a baby from Scotland. This brings me on to some of the great things that they do for families with babies in the NICU. As well as a family room with toys etc. for siblings that are visiting, they also provide on-site accommodation for families who have had to come from far and wide for treatment at the Rosie.

As you will probably all know, I am not the fittest of individuals, having used knee problems and having children as a great excuse not to do as much exercise as I should have over the last few years. So it is with trepidation that I've signed up to do not one, but three different sports consecutively. I have no idea how I'll cope (starting training has informed me that if anything my fitness levels were at an even lower level than I might have liked), but anything you can donate will definitely help motivate me to get through the challenge.