My brother and I were both very early babies. Doug was 15 weeks early weighing 1lb 12ozs. He was in an incubator for 2 months as his lungs kept collapsing. He came home 2 weeks before his due date weighing 4lbs. I was 10 weeks early at a better (but not brilliant) 3lb 12ozs. While I never needed feeding or breathing tubes (I was "feisty"!) I also spent my first few weeks in an incubator.

Mum spent a lot of time on the Special Care Baby Unit, cutting up nappies to make them fit, and making outfits for us and our roommates using patterns for dolls clothes. She used to knit blankets for Bliss while she was there too.

Bliss does amazing work for premature babies. They fund research into new treatments as well as providing support and counselling for parents. It must have been scary for my parents to deal with two very early, very small babies in a row, and I’d love to be able to help parents having to cope with it now. This will be a real challenge for me so if you’ve got a spare pound or two please sponsor me!

(Just so you know – Mum got better with practice. My middle brother was 5 weeks early and the youngest was bang on time!)