Betsy's Story - Elizabeth Grace Jedi Knight (aka Betsy) was born at 9.18pm on Friday 24th March 2017 at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and weighed just 2lb 4oz.

She was born at 28 weeks & 2 days, so nearly 12 weeks premature. Her home for the first 2 months of her life was to be NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).

If someone had mentioned NICU to us prior to 28th March we wouldn't have had a clue what it was, but during the next few weeks it became the place that saved our daughters life and supported us through some very dark days.

For the first couple of days of Betsy's life we felt very sorry for ourselves because we had a baby in Intensive Care. We soon realised that she was in a much healthier position than a number of babies in there and that we were the lucky parents. There were babies born with serious heart conditions who needed to be operated on within the first few weeks of their lives. We walked in early one morning to see the crash team trying to resuscitate a new born baby - thankfully the baby survived but the image will live with us for many years to come. There were also the tragic stories of the ones that didn't make it home.

Betsy's time in NICU was a complete emotional roller coaster. We were physically and mentally broken during those first few weeks. Betsy was breathing without assistance for the first 3 weeks and was making really good progress. She then had a couple of really poorly weeks which resulted in assisted breathing and additional medication. This 'blip' turned out to be suspected Sepsis and Chronic Lung Failure! During the next few weeks she made steady progress and was finally sent home on 23rd May - The proudest day of our lives.

Throughout the whole time in NICU the support and care from all of the doctors and nurses on the ward was absolutely amazing. The support given to us was second to none and when we left Betsy each evening we knew she was in the best possible place.

As a thank you to the NICU team we are taking part in a sponsored slim with a target of losing 10 stone between us and raising £10,000 for the ward. This money is to help improve facilities for the parents of babies on the ward and to try and make their stay as pleasant as is possible.

Any support you are able to give would be hugely appreciated.

Many Thanks

Rachel, Dean & Betsy

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