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Annabelle was born very premature. She was 12 weeks early and weighed a mere 2Ibs 12oz.

Her early birth was such a shock to us as Sarah had felt so great and full of energy throughout the pregnancy and had only seen the midwife the day before. The doctors believe that it was probably due to an infection, but we will never know for sure.

We found ourselves thrust into the scary world of NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).Nothing prepares you for seeing your tiny baby covered in wires, tubes. It was a number of weeks before we saw her face as she was on  a CPAP machine (continuous posiitve airway pressure). After a couple of weeks we were finally able to hold her for the first time and the nurses allowed her out of the incubator for a short while.  We would try to give her "skin to skin" or "Kangaroo Care" everyday as there are proven benefits for premature babies. 

She had good days and bad those first few weeks. It was a daily rollercoaster of different tests, scans, constant information to be taken in. She had a couple of suspective cases of NEC, where part of the bowel can die off, which were treated by stopping feeds and a course of antibiotics. She has undergone numerous blood transfusions and also suffered with jaundice. We never knew what news we would be going into each morning.

One of the most difficult days was when she had to be rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital. Annabelle had a PDA (patent ductus arteriousus) a duct in the heart which stayed open that would normally close at birth but unfortunately sometimes doesn't happen in premature babies. They discovered that Annabelle's was getting larger, which meant she had to undergo surgery. The surgery was successful and she now has 2 titanium clips in her heart. It was a very difficult couple of weeks as she had an infection which slowed her recovery on top of her tiny body dealing with all the drugs etc... It was a number of days before she even opened her eyes.

We finally made it back to Harlow hospital and although fine for a few days then suffered another infection, which slowed her progress again. Annabelle finally made it out of intensive care and into special care towards the end of August. We then had to work on "normalising" her, getting her to feed on breast and bottle as she had been tube fed up until this point. Sarah had been expressing milk every 3/4 hours and this was fed through a tube from a few days old, slowly building up quantities until she was finally ready to feed like a "normal" baby.

We finally took our little Annabelle home on 24th September, 2 days after her due date.

She remains on oxygen, due to her being born so early her lungs had not had time to mature, so she is now refered to as having chronic lung desease. She is on oxygen day and night. This is very restrictive as she has to be connected to a cylinder all the time. At first the prospect of bringing a baby home on oxygen was very daunting, but its amazing what becomes the norm. She is on a small amount so hoping she can come off the oxygen early next year. This is to give her extra support throughout the winter.

She continues to have eye, hearing tests , heart and kidney scans and various other monitoring, but all appears normal so far.

We are forever grateful to the neonatal nurses, doctors and consultants. We are so lucky to have the NHS, but the unit continues to always need more money for equipment,  more nurses etc... That's why we would like to do something positive for Annabelle's first Chrsitmas and ask our friends and family to give as much or little as you can in thanks for their amazing care.

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Wishing you hope, health and happiness for Christmas and the coming year.

Lots of love, The Valentines xxx