A Message From Our Founder

My name is Ola, I have two beautiful girls who were born at 23 weeks and 29 weeks respectively. My first daughter was born at 23 weeks, with no chance of surviving. She spent nine months in five different hospitals, came home on oxygen and a feeding tube, with lots of hospital appointments. My NICU experience with my daughter inspired me to start a support group for families in similar situations.

Colourful Beginnings was founded on 17th November 2016, after I experienced two premature births and spent extended time in various NICUs and specialist hospitals. I realised that there was very little support for families with premature babies. The medical teams helped but could only go as far as their line of duty permitted.

I found the NICU journey very hard and disheartening. I felt I had nowhere to turn to the first time around and the second time, I had to rely on my experience with my first child and the ideas and observations of friends who werent even preemie mums. Seeing how tedious and mentally, physically, and emotionally draining the experience of having a preemie baby was for me, my family and other families I encountered, it became imperative to have a support group for families of preemie and sick babies where ideas, experiences, challenges and solutions can be shared. My second daughter was born at 29 weeks exactly a month after starting the group, which eventually became Colourful Beginnings.

When I had my first daughter, I searched eagerly for some success stories but found none and this really made my first NICU experience very daunting, scary and isolating. Not finding stories of babies and families who had gone through what I was going through really inspired me to change the narrative for other families. I was motivated to create the space to share stories on our social media platforms.

Due to my personal experience of being completely unprepared for my babies arrival and the challenges I faced as a result, Colourful Beginnings also provides free Treasure Boxes to families in the NICU. The Treasure Boxes contain essential items and keepsakes for the families to treasure forever.

These Treasure Boxes are sent throughout the year to families and NICUs, upon request. The number of Treasure Boxes we are able to deliver depends on funding and donations from our kind supporters. Over the past six years, we have sent over 800 Treasure Boxes to families throughout the UK, and we hope to continue to do so with your help."

Learn more about our work: www.colourfulbeginnings.com