Our NICU journey started on the 23rd July 2019 when our perfect baby boy Louie was born at 25+1, just under 15 weeks early.

He was perfect in every way, he cried when he was born, opened his eyes and saw his daddy almost immediately, he was so strong and defied all odds for his first 48 hours. Then sadly things changed and his short precious life was taken from him. It was the worst day of our lives but he had also just given us the best 4 days of our lives.

These first months have been so hard, they have been so dark and the grief has physically knocked the air right out of my lungs. I just want to be with our baby.

But as I slowly started to swim to the surface I know I want to help others that are either thrown into this world without any warning or people that knew this would be the first step in their babies life. I just want to help them.

I have thought and thought and I realised one thing I would have liked stepping in to this way of life would be a simple care package with the basic essentials needed for parents and babies.

It will include for parents, a guide to NICU and advice that I wish we had, Hand sanitiser and lotion to keep your hands clean but also stop them from drying out, Toothpaste and toothbrushes, tissues, shower gel, sanitary towels and a notepad and pen. This was one thing we were so grateful to have, we used it to write memories and diary entries and in the end the team wrote their goodbyes to Louie.

For babies we will include a handknitted cardigan and hat, to keep them warm during kangaroo care and cotton balls to use when doing cares.

The team at Southmead nicu were amazing at easing us into nicu life and we couldn’t be more grateful to them for everything they did for us and I’m know this would be the same across the whole of NHS.

We’re so lucky to have the NHS and that’s why we aim to help.