Austin was born at Southmead Hospital on the 9th November 2015, but he was born far too soon. Austin was born via emergency C-Section at 26 weeks gestation (14 weeks early) due to an incompetent cervix and subsequent infection. He weighed just 934g (2lb 1oz)- less than a bag of sugar! Everything we had imagined our birth to be had gone and our baby was fighting for his life. We spent 74 days in th
e Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and was an uncertain and surreal world of ups and downs- crying and cheering, feelings of fear and optimism, love and anger, loss and jealousy. I felt helpless and detached from him and dreamed of the day I could pick him up instantly when he was distressed and just cuddle him. I had a baby, but I did not feel like a Mum! All I felt was utter grief for what I had lost and for what I could potentially lose. Despite the odds and having a life threatening gut infection and surgery for a congenital heart defect, we were able to establish breastfeeding and Austin has grown into a happy, healthy and active baby. Now the days of NICU are behind us, they will always be with us and every night when I rock him to sleep I flash back to those days and think how lucky I am to have such an incredible human being. We could never repay Southmead NICU for saving our little boy and the ongoing support they give me and my family. And as a nurse myself, I know as great as the NHS is, so much of the pioneering work that has improved the outcomes for sick and premature babies has come from charitable funds. In collaboration with BLISS (Charity for Babies born premature or sick) Southmead have provided funds to ensure: they have highly skilled staff; provided parent volunteers who support parents by sharing their own experiences and give them hope; provide comfortable reclining chairs so parents can give their babies lots of nurturing Skin-to-skin; breastfeeding support, free parental bonding aids and baby nests that provide the optimum environment for babies to grow and develop - the list is endless! So now you want to know what Austin and I are going to do to and ultimately what your lovely money will be spent on? Well... as a team we are raising money for Southmead NICU and BLISS by running 5km EVERY single day for 74 days (number of days we spent in NICU) with Austin in his buggy dressed as a superhero, changing his alter-ego every week. With our first charity Southmead NICU, your money will go towards providing the unit with:
50 new baby nests- http://cuski.com/claires-nest/ £22.50 each
50+ Miniboo Parental Bonding Aids- http://www.cuskishop.co.uk/award-winning-miniboo-656-p.asp £10 each
And hopefully, if enough money is raised some more comfortable reclining chairs would be amazing-those babies need nice long cuddles! £500+ each
Our second charity BLISS, your money will go towards: supporting parents and professionals, such as first aid training for parents; campaigning for better care for babies and their parents; and importantly continuing their life saving research. I know this sounds a bit vague but if it was not for this charity collaborating with NICUs across the country then Austin and so many babies like him might not have survived. As much as I am grateful to NICU I wanted to raise money for BLISS as well because they make life changing differences to babies and their parents across the country. Finally I think I need to say that I am not a runner, in fact I hate it! So this is a huge challenge for me both physically and mentally, but I wanted to do something with Austin that represents (quite frankly) the hardest time in our lives and all the other parents who have and haven't been as lucky as us. This run is also about showing everyone the hard work, pain and bravery that parents with babies in NICU have to endure every single day. PLEASE help us make a difference to babies born premature and sick.
