Our little girl Grace Amelia was born via a planned C Section on the 3rd May 2018 at 12.51pm!

When Grace was born she swallowed her Maconium (the first poop) and went into shock, her lungs were full and they had to be pumped and then her right lung collapsed. I was on the operating table, Greg (my husband) was watching her come out, they showed me her and then whipped her away, I heard her cry and then she stopped, heard sheer silence and could see in the reflection in the light someone was giving her CPR and pumping her. They had to give me further sedation as I was stressing out and was having what literally felt like a heart attack, as I didn't know what was happening, I told Greg to stay with her over the other side of the theatre and that I will be fine. I THINK I remember shouting to him saying just stay with my baby, stay with my baby, ITS BLURRED then he came over and said to me they are taking her away, that's when it changed for me. They were still in mid op as I had major complications which we didnt know until they opened me up, I needed my uterus realigned, the extra external lining cut away, the ovaries pulled apart and the cyst removed before they could stitch me up... so they took her, Greg stayed with me, they carried on their op and then we went into recovery. All my family were in the corridor, all expecting to see Grace on our way past but I came out in tears, Greg was so strong! They then asked for milk as she needs to have some as soon as she can breathe, I couldn't even move my arms in shock, so I asked the midwife to milk me 1ml worth. Greg left and went into NICU while she was being resuscitated, and then put on 100% oxygen to help her, at this point I still haven't met my baby, the only image in my head was her being dead on the table, and I can still smell and feel that very same feeling which just sends shivers down my spine. I can hear my heart beat in my ears. And when they say your heart skips a beat, it does, it really misses a beat! I then get taken to the ward in shock and get a call at 4.30pm (not allowed to move until 9) saying they need us there right now as they are putting Grace on a ventilator and it could make or break her. Greg lifted me into a wheelchair as i was still numb so couldn't sit up or hold my posture. She went on the ventilator and we were told to take hour by hour, naturally we didnt leave her, she then had an aggresive temperature and they had to sedate her to a vegetable for 48 hours. I asked them to try to reduce the sedation so she wasnt so dead and remember just wanting to hold my baby! I didnt hold her until Saturday, from Thursday, 49 hours after Birth. Our skin contact and total bonding then started to fix us both. I went into severe shock on Friday (4th) night and Saturday, body violently shaking, shivering, like total shut down! Was told to rest by the midwives on Blakeney ward! by Monday I was so exhausted they finally gave in and discharged me from the ward so i could stay on NICU but kept me in their medical care. The battle was still going on, as from day 4 she lost a lot of weight and her sugars were low!! She wasnt feeding properly, and she went down to 6.13 from 7.10. She was tiny, long but tiny. We have been through all of the rooms in NICU from total Dependancy to low dependency! Every single nurse was incredible, every single consultant gave us the facts in black and white, we were given no false hope, and that was more comforting than being told to be positive, because as soon as she turned a corner, we knew it was her. WE WILL WIN! My recovery went on the back burner and nearly 7 weeks later its still a challenge! But we are BOTH just fine and WE have the most PERFECT little family!! Grace finally overtook her birth weight on week 4, day 4! She is a normalised little girl, and we are so grateful. But without NICU at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital it would of been very different, the rapid intervention of the consultants and the nurses saved our little girl, she wouldnt be here without that. So i would like to raise as much as we can for the Nurses at NICU to carry on doing what they are doing, and ensure each parent is supported as much as we were! Thank you so much in advance for your donation, it means the world to me, Greg and Grace xxxxx