Olly and Charlotte’s Story (Phoebe)

Our daughter Phoebe was born 13 weeks premature on Boxing Day weighing a tiny 2lb 10oz. Her early birth was a complete shock for all of us when she was born whilst we were away visiting family for Christmas in Wales. Phoebe spent time in 5 different hospitals over the course of 9 weeks. A huge team of specially trained healthcare professionals were involved in Phoebe’s around the clock care throughout her time in hospital. Her care included breathing support, tube feeding, regular scans of her organs, blood tests, a blood transfusion and eye examinations. She made excellent progress during her time in hospital and was discharged to come home 4 weeks before her due date.

Luke and Arabella’s Story (Maeve)

Maeve was born on 11th December after being told at a routine scan that she needed to be delivered early. Unfortunately, Scarborough are not equipped for babies born as prematurely as Maeve, so we were transferred to Barnsley. Maeve was delivered 11 weeks early by emergency C-section weighing just 2lb 7oz. We stayed in Barnsley NICU for 10 days in 1 of the parent rooms whilst Maeve was treated and cared for around the clock. Due to her early birth, Maeve needed lots of specialised equipment such as an incubator to maintain her temperature and a ventilator to keep her breathing. We were then moved to York Special Care Baby Unit when Maeve became stable enough. She stayed here for 2 months before being discharged to go home.

We are fundraising for multiple Special Care Baby Units that helped us hugely during Phoebe’s and Maeve’s time in hospital. These units provide specialist around the clock care for premature and sick babies. The charities involved play a vital role in supplementing NHS funding to buy life-saving equipment, provide extra training for staff, and help to make the families’ time on the unit more comfortable. With your help, we would like to raise as much money as possible for future families with babies in special care to give the babies the best possible chance to thrive. If it was not for these specialised units, babies born extremely prematurely like Phoebe and Maeve would not survive. Both families are so very grateful that the units exist and we cannot thank all parties involved enough.

A team of family and friends are walking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks on the 27th of August and would be very grateful for your sponsorship towards these very worthy charities. We are also holding a quiz and raffle at the Sun Inn, Pickering on 26th of October, as well as a bake sale and head shave (dates to be confirmed).

Donations of any amount will be hugely appreciated and will be split equally between the following charities which helped both Phoebe and Maeve: Cuddles for Glan Clwyd Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (registered charity number: 517228), York Special Care Baby Unit Support Group (registered charity number: 516552), York and Scarborough Hospitals Charity (registered charity number: 1054527) and Barnsley Hospital Charity (registered charity number: 1058037).