Our gorgeous Baby boy, Buddy, is now 3 weeks old! Buddy was born 5 weeks early via emergency C section, and we cannot thank the NHS, St Heiler Hospital, for all the amazing care we have received for our little man.

Our pregnancy with Buddy was a tough 8 months and we were looked after Between St Heiler and The Royal Brompton.

At our 20 weeks scan, Buddy's heart couldn't be seen, and as a result we were referred to a specialist to have Buddy's heart looked at. We went back to St Heiler and the consultant confirmed Buddy did have a whole in his heart and then our care continued at the Brompton- where we had regular scans and the consultant there also kept us informed.

As a result of Buddy having a whole in his heart, we needed to understand why. We had the NIPT test at St Heiler, which is a test that looks for chromosome abnormalities, and after a long wait, Buddy's results came back at one in a million.

At 34 weeks, we had a growth scan, and Buddy was measuring very small, the placenta was struggling and Buddy had barely any fluid surrounding him. We were seen again by a consultant, who told us Buddy was at high risk and was not safe being inside the womb- and we needed to have an emergency C section and was to be admitted the next day.

We went into Hospital Wednesday evening with complete mixed emotions, we were so excited to meet our little man, but also so anxious for the 'worst' which the medical team had prepared us for.

Buddy was born at 11.52am on Thursday 7th of June, weighing 3lbs 9oz, he was taken into special care immediately. Buddy was born blue, wasn't able to breathe for himself and was very floppy. The amazing team at St Heiler gave him all the help he needed and soon after Shane was able to meet him and I heard him cry from the operating table.

Buddy was then taken to the Neo Natal Unit (intensive care) in st Heiler, and he had lots of tubes, wires, monitoring, in an incubator- which was devistating to see and not being able to hold our brand new baby was destroying, but we knew Buddy was in the best hands.

All of the staff were absolutely amazing and were all working towards the same goal as us and that was to make Buddy fighting fit and get him home.

Every day, actually every hour, things for Buddy were improving massively. He had the breathing support removed, he was being monitored less, we were able to cuddle Him, medicines decreased, drips were slowly swapped for small doses of milk via a feeding tube, and then we were able to begin introducing a bottle to him. At such a stressful and emotional time, the staff were SO supportive and when we had the hardest part of leaving him every evening, the staff loved and looked after Buddy as if he was their own. All of the staff took their time to explain medical terms and procedures in simple language for us to be able to understand.

We had been prepared to have Buddy in hospital for around 5 weeks.... 8 days after being admitted Buddy was allowed home!!

We cannot thank the NHS enough for everything they have done for us all. If we hadn't been looked after as amazing as we was through the later part of our pregnancy and from delivery, then we would of lost our precious little man, and that breaks us. Buddy truly is our little miracle.

Post delivery, we have now had confirmed that Buddy will need open heart surgery in the next coming weeks to fix his heart defect at the Royal Brompton, so our love and thanks continues to the NHS.

We are raising money for the Neo Natal unit, as they are hoping to be able to buy a special incubator, 'Kanmed Open Cot'. This costs around £2500, and so far they have been able to raise £500. Any small donation you are able to make will be greatly reviewed to such an amazing cause- they really are real life Heros, who save lives.

Thank you for reading our story.

So much love, G, Shane and Master Buddy!xxx