On 22 July 2021 at 2.08am, our beautiful son Miles Lenny Thompson was born at the Whittington Hospital in North London. He was perfect, with one ear just like his mummy’s and one just like his daddy’s - he was our angel boy.

The pregnancy was straightforward and deemed to be low risk up until 39+3 weeks, being the day before Miles was born. That evening, we went into hospital after noticing Miles' movements were reduced. We had an initial monitoring and everything seemed to be fine, but before being allowed to go home to wait for Miles to make his appearance, the obstetrician suggested a final, precautionary check on the monitor. Half an hour later, the doctors and midwives thought something wasn’t quite right and so made the decision to perform an emergency c-section. At that stage, we were so excited to meet our little boy and whilst there was some concern and anxiety, at no point did we ever imagine what was going to happen. We still hoped and believed for a happy outcome.

Unfortunately, when Miles was born, he was very poorly and needed a lot of help and support. Miles was quickly taken into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Whittington. After waiting for what seemed like forever in the recovery ward, the neonatal doctor told us that Miles was suffering from seizures and suspected that Miles had Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE), which is where there has been a lack of oxygen and/or blood flow to the brain. The doctor recommended that Miles be transferred to the NICU at Queen Charlotte and Chelsea Hospital for brain monitoring and cooling treatment, which is where his body temperature would be lowered to around 33.5°C for 72 hours to protect his brain from any further damage.

We had no real understanding of how severe Miles’ brain damage was at that stage and no one could tell us what had happened or why, or what was going to happen. All the doctors and midwives couldn’t believe that we had gone from a low risk pregnancy and discussing a natural birth in the birth centre to a category one c-section within half an hour.

We were able to see Miles briefly before he was transferred, but we then had an excruciating wait before we could both be with our son. When we arrived at QCCH, Miles was in his little perspex cot covered in wires and dressed in his little cooling jacket, surrounded by lots of monitors. But none of that really registered, we just couldn’t take our eyes off our perfect baby. He looked so calm and peaceful. Knowing we only had a short amount of time together, we focused all our energy on enjoying our new family. It was impossible to be sad around him and all we could feel was an overwhelming sense of pride and happiness.

Miles was so strong and brave and gave us the most incredible four days to make precious memories together. We would sit with him, holding his hand and playing with his toes. We told him all about us and our crazy family and how much we all loved him. He was able to meet his grandparents and his auntie. Over those four magical days, we were able to hold him, cuddle and kiss him and smell his beautiful newborn smell.

On 26 July 2021, Miles passed away peacefully in our arms. Letting him go was and remains heartbreaking, but as his parents, we have taken on his pain. His little life impacted so many and taught us love and happiness like no other. We miss him so much, but we’re so happy for the time we were able to spend with him. He will always be a part of our family. We hope we can make him proud of us, like we are proud of him.

We and the doctors don’t yet know why this happened (and we might not ever find out), but we are continuing to work with various hospitals to hopefully find some answers.

The team of consultants, doctors and nurses at QCCH were incredible. They worked tirelessly to give Miles the best care and went above and beyond to involve us in Miles’ daily routines. Their dedication to trying to find out why he was so poorly was amazing. We will never be able to repay them for the kindness and support they gave to us over those four days - heroes really is the perfect way to describe them.

The team at the Whittington have also been incredibly supportive throughout and have been continuing the efforts to try and find some answers for Miles. We are so grateful for everything they do.

We would love to show our appreciation to the hospitals and individuals who cared for Miles. We are hoping to raise some money for the maternity and neonatal units at the Whittington, via their charity Whittington Babies, and also the NICU unit at QCCH through their charity COSMIC. We hope that some of the funds can be used for private recovery rooms where parents can go when they are separated from their babies after birth, as well as equipment and supplies for the intensive care units at both hospitals. Any donations are very gratefully received.

There are two donation links below - one for each hospital. We would like for the funds raised to be as equal as possible.

Thank you for reading our story.

Sophie and Will

For Miles - we will love you forever and always

Xx