One Saturday night, 33 weeks in to an uncomplicated pregnancy, we noticed a lack of foetal movement. This scare was fairly common for us, but after a hot bath or a cold drink we would always manage to coax baby to give a few kicks. This time we couldn’t.

We drove to Kingston Hospital slightly panicked, but our concerns quickly turned to joy once hooked up to an ECG machine and seeing a strong heartbeat. The joy however was short-lived as the staff at Kingston became worried about the lack of variation in the heartbeat, and before we knew it I was being prepared for an emergency C-section. Half an hour later our little girl, Juno Loveday Rose King, was born, nice and pink, and weighing a healthy 4.7 pounds. She was quickly ventilated as she was unable to breathe for herself, but her heartbeat was strong and she was perfectly formed.

While I was stitched up the incredible neonatal team whisked Juno away for special care. We were still positive everything was going to be OK. She looked so perfect. I joined the rest of the mothers on the maternity HDU and waited for my beautiful baby to return. Instead of Juno returning, a doctor came to see me and I was moved to a private room. It was then I knew Juno was not OK. Our world came crashing down as we listened to the specialist explain that Juno was showing no signs of brain activity. She would never be OK.

She was subsequently moved to St George’s for further testing to find out why this had happened, and it was here we got to spend our last precious hours with her before her ventilator was switched off. In the weeks that followed it was difficult to get any answers as to why Juno didn’t make it. The doctors are still unsure about what happened and we await her post-mortem results.

We are so proud of Juno. Although she was only with us for a few short days she impacted our lives in a huge way. She taught us never to take anything for granted, that life is fragile, and all that matters is love, family and friends. We saw so much kindness and love from so many people that we are determined to make something positive come from this terrible experience.

This experience is every parent’s worst nightmare but the care and support from everyone at the Kingston Maternity Unit was incredible. They were rays of light in our darkest hours and we are aiming to raise money for their neonatal unit with the charity Born Too Soon, so they can continue to help premature and sick babies. All the money raised goes into investing in equipment, staff training and improved services and facilities for families of the babies in the unit.