Following the success of our initial fundraising efforts in December 2020 we felt compelled to continue raising money for worthwhile causes in the name of our beautiful daughter Pip. To date (June22) we have raised £10,854.51 for Woodland house, and over £13,000 total for other worthwhile bereavement charities. We have set a target to raise £20,000 for Woodland house.

Our friends and family continue to amaze us and come up with crazy challenges to push themselves and raise more funds in Pips memory.

On the 25th June 2022 Mark Aynsley and Simon Keell are taking on their toughest endurance challenge to date. The Yorkshire beast. The challenge is to cycle over 200 miles in a day with over 16,000 feet of climbing, over half the height of Mount Everest. The riders are tracked by ‘the Beast’ (essentially a pick up lorry), if they fall behind the required pace they risk failure. https://velo29events.com/sportives/yorkshire-beast/

You can follow our progress on Facebook and Instagram by searching @forpipblog.

The funds raised during this challenge will be going to Woodland house a new bereavement facility being built at Birmingham Women's hospital. Birmingham Women's hospital cares for over 2,000 grieving mums and dads every year who may have lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death. Every loss is a devastating and uniquely personal experience, but at the moment the space in which the expert bereavement midwives have to hold heartbreaking conversations doesn't reflect the significance of each families loss. News is delivered in cramped quiet rooms, often on the maternity ward or in busy outpatient areas, and our patients repeatedly speak of feeling rushed and of having nowhere to go after receiving devastating news. Woodland House will change this. It will be a brand-new, purpose-built, centre away from the hustle and bustle of the main hospital, where families can spend time together in safe, secure and serene surroundings before they feel ready to face the world again. We need to raise £3.5million to make Woodland House a reality.

When Pip passed away at Birmingham Children's hospital we were able to use their bereavement facilities and suites, a peaceful space to allow us to spend time with our daughter. We spent hours holding and talking to Pip about her big brother, her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Taking in her beautiful face, her little quirks and remembering all the little things we could remember from her scans. We felt absolutely lost and didn't know what to do. The family liaison team around us were incredible they took time to go through everything with us and to create special memories of her little feet, hands and special photographs which will be treasured. We were also able to get Pip Christened which was absolutely beautiful. We then left the hospital when we felt ready, our arms empty but filled with love and the few memories we have.

We were then able to visit Pip as many times as we wished over the next few days, music was playing in the background we could make Tea and Coffee and again just spend special time with our little girl. We both remembered 'Beauty and the Beast' playing and only seemed fitting that we walked in and out of her funeral to that song. Pip being the beauty and James (Daddy) who was carrying her the beast! To this day it still makes us sad but also makes us smile. 

We had a very different experience going back to Birmingham Women's Hospital, seeing pregnant women about to give birth was absolutely heart renching. We then had to go back into Fetal Medicine to sit in the same room where we found out that Pip had a full heart block to go through Pip's coroners report was very emotional. we were not expecting the magnitude of the emotion that being in the same room would bring. Having a designated facility like Woodland House would make a difficult time a little bit easier.

For those who are unfamiliar with Pips story

Our daughter Pip passed away at Birmingham Children's Hospital on the 11th December 2020. Pip had been diagnosed with a full heart block with only a heart beat of only 47 bpm at 28 weeks following a routine scan, we were then transferred to Birmingham Women's Hospital Fetal Medicine Centre for ongoing weekly monitoring and care. Pip fought really hard for another 6 weeks baffling our consultants showing no signs of distress or heart failure. At 34 weeks Pip's movements slowed down so the decision was made, our little girl would make an appearance on the 10th December via C-section. We knew Pip would have a tough start to life as she needed to have a pacemaker fitted once delivered. The large medical team from Birmingham Women's and Children's hospitals were assembled and the delivery, transfer and pacemaker operation went better than we could ever have imagined. We thought at this point we were out of the woods whilst acknowledging that Pip still had a long road to full health. However, nothing could prepare us for the next 12
hours. After fighting with all of her might for so long Pip passed due
to complications with her blood pressure. We are so proud of our
beautiful, strong, brave little girl. It is amazing how someone so small
 can leave a huge mark on our hearts.

We cannot thank the medical teams and support services enough; we will be forever thankful for everything they did for Pip and for us in our
happiest and darkest hours. They are truly amazing people and we want to do something special for a special place.

Any donations will be gratefully received in the memory of baby Pip.

Lots of love Laura, James & Bertie xxx