In August 2021 we were expecting our first child and could not have been more excitement and filled with joy!  In July my waters unexpectedly broke after no complications with my pregnancy and the premature journey had begun! The next 9 days proceeded with constant emergency rushes to the Hospital, when on the 18th July I gave birth to Henry 4 weeks and 2 days earlier than his expected due date.

I have to be honest we knew nothing about premature babies or what would happen if this was the case. When I was giving birth I had nurses in the room from the special care baby unit (SCBU) waiting to assist henry once he was born. When Henry was delivered safely I had a few minutes with him before he was taken from me and it would be many hours until I saw my baby boy again. 

It was scary, I didn't really know what was happening or if he was okay.  Once I got moved to a postpartum room, Scott joined me and said Henry was staying in a separate part of the hospital and it was open 24 hours for parents to visit. I Immediately wanted to visit and took (as any mother who has given birth would understand) the long and painful walk to see my son. we arrived at the SCBU unit, It was very overwhelming at first seeing so many babies in incubators and my mind was racing.

Scott led me to Henry who was sleeping in a plastic pod with tubes coming out of his nose and arms, I burst into tears asking Scott "was he okay what had happened"? He replied "yes I think so he needs to stay in here for a while until he feeds well and gets the all clear". Scott explained that we could come stay on this ward with Henry as they provided bedrooms for mothers and fathers. We spent 14 days in SCBU and witnessed my baby boy go through so many tests, which broke my heart everyday. There were a lot of requirements for Henry to meet before we were allowed to go home, some days we thought we were getting close and then something would happen and it all started again.

However, we know ultimately we were very lucky, as other parents would be forced to leave their babies as they had other children at home or parents with babies born before 28 weeks would be facing months without bringing them home. All the staff at SCBU gave 100% care and attention to Henry and supported us as new parents amazingly. They taught us the invaluable skills in caring for a premature baby. We honestly cannot thank the team and everyone involved enough for the genuine care we all received . 

Finally the day we both were so looking forward to had come and we were bringing our baby boy home! I hadn't been home at this point for a month and for the next three months we had lots of follow up appointments with Midwifes and Health visitors keeping a close eye on Henry, we have had a constant uphill battle with him gaining weight and are still currently getting him weighed monthly by the Health Visitor, however it seems he is finally on the right track after months of constant worry. .  

For those who don't know, premature babies are born with a very low fat percentage as they miss out on those precious last incubation days. From the get go it is a real battle to catch up to full term babies and are given a corrected age, which is a calculated by their birth date and due date. 

So why the great North Run, well firstly I was born in Newcastle and used to watch it every year with my Mum as a child, waving all the athletes and participants on! This race is very close to my heart as is BLISS, they do so much unbelievable work with babies like Henry, supporting the parents and providing the best possible chance for a baby to reach their full potential. No parent should go through the pain of having a sick baby and without BLISS many more would. I want to raise as much awareness and generate as many donations as possible for this charity. BLISS rely on donations to fund their amazing work and with our and many others help they will be able to provide 100,000 babies with neonatal care each year. 

So please sponsor Myself and Scott, any donation of any size would be unbelievably appreciated. 

Thank you x