Last August, our amazing little Alfie was delivered by emergency c-section at Russells Hall Hospital in the West Midlands. He was only 35 weeks gestation and weighed in at a tiny 3lb 8oz.

At 34.5 weeks, while Ben was hanging some pictures in the nursery, I looked up and I couldn't see them; my vision had completely gone and quite quickly became very ill; I was admitted to hospital with a severe case of pre-eclampsia and given steroid injections to help develop Alfie's lungs as it was almost certain that he'd be delivered early. Just how early was still unclear.

A few days later, I was taken for a scan that showed Alfie's growth had remained static over the previous two weeks and he was measuring in the region of average 31 weeks gestation. The scan also showed there was absent end diastolic flow; essentially the used, un-oxygenated blood, wasn't flowing away from him through the umbilical chord to the placenta as it should have been. They needed to get him out fast before the blood started flowing backwards and potentially starved him of oxygen.

And then he was here. Whisked away, straight to the neonatal unit where he spent the longest 10 days. He was one of the lucky ones though; he had little medical need and was actually one of the larger babies on the unit. He needed to learn to feed and maintain his weight but it was a relief he was safe.

The unit is NHS funded but that is just enough for them to manage. One of the only things a neonatal mum can do to help her baby is to pump milk; a hospital grade pump in itself is £3k+. That unit had just two but space for 19 babies. Do the maths. And that's just one example. So to mark Alfie's first birthday and a whole year of him being awesome, we want to raise a bit to help. Without that unit and the medical professionals associated with it, our funny, handsome, headstrong, determined little guy might not be here. Anything you have to donate would be fabulous, however large or small.

Love and thanks x