Bexley Metals Recycling are working with the Little Buds Fund at Darent Valley Hospital to raise awareness and funds for life saving equipment for premature and poorly babies. SCBU wards are lacking In funds and using equipment that isn't up to date. They are looking to buy new ventilators and incubators that have the technology to keep our babies in a more comfortable state when they need help.

A basic ventilator can start at £4,000 and a high dependency incubator can cost roughly £60,000. Only one baby can use these pieces of equipment at a time.

Our latest journey with Darent's baby wards was this January when a close family friend went through a very traumatic experience. Baby Rudy was born into a very intense situation and all of us from Bexley Metals want to say thank you for all the help and support you gave to Ellie and Jake at that time.

Ellie, Jake & Rudy’s Story:

’I was taken into hospital at 32 weeks pregnant due to being COVID 19 positive. We thought I was going to be kept in for observations and sent home the next day. A week later I was told they were going to deliver my baby by an emergency c section and put me straight into a coma to help me the best they could.

My baby was born on the 9th January in Darent Valley Hospital and taken straight to SCBU (Special care baby unit) where he was cared for by the nurses for 3 days before Jake could go up there as he was also isolating due to being COVID 19 positive too. The nurses on Walnut Ward created a diary called ‘My Walnut Journey’ to make sure Jake and I had a memory of all Rudy’s first milestones which we missed out on. They kept his first hat, his tiny little jaundice goggles and his first babygrow.

His first babygrow was a hospital babygrow as we had no bags with us. This baby grow was then brought to me in Intensive Care and laid on my chest so that I could have a part of my baby with me. They also stuck a photo of Rudy at the end of my bed so he was the first thing I saw when I woke up. They literally thought of everything.

Jake was up there everyday from the 13th January and was completely thrown into the deep end as it was our first baby and I wasn’t there to support him. The nurses on Walnut Ward helped him every step of the way. Showing him how to change his first nappy, get him dressed which was even harder than normal as he was attached to machines and Jake had to do this through the two holes in an incubator. They were even there to support Jake give Rudy his first bath.

I was in a coma for 9 days, I woke up on the 18th and was able to FaceTime Jake to see Rudy for the first time. I was then discharged on 22nd January. This is the day I got to meet my baby for the first time! Our baby had to stay in for another 2 weeks whilst the consultants decided how much oxygen he would need to be sent home on. He was discharged on 4th February. Rudy is now 4 months old, no longer on oxygen and is the happiest healthiest baby we could have ever wished for.

These nurses are literally angels in disguise and the support this ward gives to babies and parents is so amazing. Please spare anything you have.‘