We will be raising money hosting a coffee morning, bingo and more!

Chloe is also running the Hackney half marathon on May 20th.

Please donate what you can to help Helen, Sharon & Chloe meet their target!

We would also like to donate to the ANTS ambulance team.

We are fundraising so that Helen, our lovely neonatal specialist nurse can access up to date training on family centred developmental care. This will enable her to share her knowledge and update the staff on NICU so they can ensure the parents and babies receive an excellent standard of evidence based family centred developmental care.

Appropriate, timely developmental care gives every NICU baby the best opportunity to grow and develop.

Developmental care helps reduce stress in a baby which is paramount, as high levels of stress long term can have a significant impact on a baby’s brain development.

Family centred developmental care dramatically reduces the levels of stress for a baby and this is done by

* skin to skin cuddles with parents - this helps bonding and calms the baby

* Containment holding - this is where parents can comfort their baby when they are too fragile to be held

* Non nutritive sucking - using a dummy can help very early babies develop their suck reflex and also for pain relief

* Supporting mummies to express - essential for babies delicate tummy’s. Also helps with pain relief, just a few drops make a huge difference. Mummies also wear small cloths or knitted triangles and keep one close to their baby so they can always smell their mummy close by. A mothers smell triggers a baby’s brain development instantly so this is vital when mummies and babies are separated

* Appropriate visual stimulation - babies only see in black and white for the first few weeks

* Nesting & positioning - A nest is used to allow babies to push against the nest to improve their muscle and tone. Good positioning helps babies develop their muscles and joints in the right way, which impacts on long term development eg for putting their hands to their mouth for eating, sitting, crawling & standing. Using specially designed nests and positioning aids can really make a difference.

There is a striking difference between the inside the womb and the NICU and as nurses we need to do as much as we possibly can to support the babies and their families in our care.

REUBEN'S STORY (Chloe's Son)

Reuben was born via c section at 33 and half weeks due to me having preeclampsia and weighed just 2lb 14. He was taken straight over to NICU after a quick glance of him. Reuben was born at 11:14am, at 7pm I got myself into a wheelchair and went over to NICU to see him in an incubator, all I could do was stroke his hand with my finger, he looked so weak and helpless. Reuben was in the top room on NICU which meant he was in critical care, I was so confused, was he going to survive? How could a baby so small survive? I remember a doctor speaking to me after he was born, I took nothing in and can't remember what she said. Two days after he was born at the Queen Elizabeth hospital we were told he had a bleed on his brain and was rushed to Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge by an ANTS ambulance (neonatal ambulance).

Me and my boyfriend Lee spent 17 days traveling backwards and forwards everyday to see him, sitting by his bedside for hours, silently looking at the other parents next to their babies, I could spend 10 hours a day there but when I left it still didn't feel like enough. Me and Lee were so scared about how our little boy would grow up due to the size of the bleed, struggling to come to terms with the fact that part of his brain had died. Reuben had an MRI scan on the 9th of May and he finally went back to NICU in Kings Lynn, again by ANTS, it was the first time I sang all the way home.

Reuben was finally close to home, it was easier to see him as it was only a 10 minute drive and I could come and go as I pleased. I knew in my heart everything was going to be okay.

While Reuben was still on NICU in Kings Lynn, we were taken into a room and given the MRI results. The doctors were so serious. We were told due to the size of the bleed on the left side of his brain and the small stroke he had on the bottom right side of his brain there was a strong chance he would have cerabal pausey. All I wanted to do was take my new baby boy home and look after him like all other mums did. As soon as I left that room I went over to Reuben's cot in NICU, gave him a kiss and told him he would be just fine.

At 5 weeks old we took our boy home, excited but uncertain of the future. It was the best day of our lives. Reuben had another MRI on 20th June, a few weeks after we saw a paediatrician at Kings Lynn who again told us he may have a problem with the left side of his body but so far he wasn't showing any abnormal signs.

Since then we have been back to Addenbrookes for a follow up and the doctor told us he was 'gobsmacked' with Reuben's development and if he showed the brain scan to his trainees they would not believe it was the same baby. I don't think I've ever been so proud of my little boy.

Reuben also had liver problems, he had a liver biopsy which took place at Kings Hospital in London. He had suspected Biliary Atresia so we went back for Reuben to have a procedure which involved a camera being put down his throat to check to see if his bile ducts were working properly. If you have have ever wondered where your spare change goes after you get a McDonalds, it goes to families like us. Only one parent could stay at Reuben's bedside. Thank god for the Ronald McDonald house where Lee stayed for 2 nights. Thankfully Reuben was okay.

Reuben is now nearly 9 months old, he does everything a normal baby does and is meeting his milestones. Every time Reuben does something for the first time, I think about how helpless he looked in the incubator, he wasn't helpless at all, he was fighting. Babies are stronger than we think.

All along I kept replaying a video I watched at a antenatal class... babies brains grow as they develop. Which to me meant, with the right stimulation and attention, the rest of Reuben's brain would compensate.

I also received black and white photos at that group, I was told babies only see in black and white and putting those pictures infront of them would stimulate them.

I only attended that one class and I believe everything happens for a reason, I took more out of that class than I think most people will ever know.

We will never know when the bleed on Reuben's brain actually happened, when I was still pregnant, during or shrortly after delivery. All I know now is whats done is done and I'm so greatful for all the nurses and doctors who have helped us and shown their kindness to us throughout our journey.

Did you know that babies are born with 1 third of their brain? As they learn new things their brains develop and grow. Stimulating and responding to babies is so important and I believe the rest of Reuben's brain can compensate for the part that has died. He would be a very different little boy today if it wasn't for all the love he's received.

I am running for the NHS, all the sick babies but most of all my little fighter Reuben.