So, I've decided to embarrass myself by entering the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest event in November. It's a 10km run round Battersea power station with various obstacles, and I'll be raising money for Bliss as I do it.

Bliss is the charity for premature babies and their families in the UK. About 80,000 babies are born early every year, which is dangerous for them and incredibly difficult for their parents. Bliss offers advice and support for parents, and funds research projects to try to improve the care available for babies.

Some of you will know that I was born very early, at 27 weeks - about three months before I should have been. I weighed about 2lb 8oz. I'm lucky to be here at all, and even luckier not to have any lasting side-effects.

As well as being premature I was also a twin, which meant I was even smaller. My brother, Thomas, died the day after we were born. The photos you can see are of me in the weeks and months after I was born.

I asked my mum and dad to tell me a bit about how they found having a premature baby - they wrote this (from my mum's perspective):

"I was 27 weeks pregnant and carrying twins when I started having contractions at home at night. The ambulance took me to the nearest hospital with a Special Care Baby Unit 35 minutes away. After a while being monitored there I was told I was going to have the babies and they were sending me in an ambulance to a hospital with an Intensive Unit for premature babies 1 ½ hours away. On route I started to need to push and the ambulance diverted to another hospital where the babies were born. I glimpsed them briefly wrapped up in incubators before they were taken to complete their journey to the hospital with Intensive Care, where my husband, Mike, was waiting for them. I was not yet fit to travel and so stayed behind. The next day, the news was broken that the first twin, Thomas had died. He was too premature and his lungs were unable to breathe. Jamie, the second twin, was still fighting for his life in Intensive Care.

Jamie stayed in Intensive care for about 10 weeks. He was dependant on a ventilator at first and treated for jaundice. During this period we got to hold him about once a week, with oxygen being piped into his nose or given through a mask. There was the fear of infections, hydrocephalus or brain haemorrhage. Visiting the hospital was a round trip of 3 hours plus the time spent with Jamie. Monitors bleeped and sometimes alarms went off. Technical terms like bradycardia (slow or paused heartbeat) and apnoea (paused breathing) became everyday experiences. After 10 weeks, Jamie was moved to a nearer hospital with ordinary Special Care, where he spent 6 weeks. The fear that he, too, might not survive began to recede.

Jamie came home at last after 16 weeks, attached to an apnoea alarm, which would warn us if he stopped breathing, and after a lesson on how to resuscitate a baby.

Jamie proved to be a fighter and we are all very lucky that he has suffered no long-term effects from his difficult start in life. The hospital staff not only saved his life, but offered us vital support and encouragement, both over Thomas’ death and Jamie’s battle for recovery. Without medical expertise and technology he wouldn’t be here today."

Donating to Bliss will help them carry on their work and support more families at such a scary time. So please sponsor me for as much as you can, and help some tiny tiny people (and don't forget the Gift Aid!).

Jamie x