Most family and friends know the background to James' arrival, but maybe not much about how amazing Arrowe Park were in supporting our family......

There were no real warning signs before James arrived, just a few twinges, which luckily were enough to make me take a trip to the hospital for a check up, and within less than an hour, James made his dramatic arrival, 16 weeks early!

Having no knowledge of this type of extreme prematurity, not for one second did either me or John think that our baby, who we already cherished so much, had any chance of survival.

How wrong we were.

We were thrown into a different world, surrounded by doctors and nurses determined to save our son. The respect for life, for someone so tiny, was what amazed us most in those early days. There was no question, this team would do whatever it took to help James live, and they did.

Arrowe Park became our home, and the staff our family for the following 15 weeks. We had ok days, and we had dreadful days, but the neonatal team, as well as the other families going through the same, got us to the finish line. Early morning photos left in the incubator of him pulling a cute face, the pep talks from our favourite nurse when we were having one of those days, the reassuring look from the Consultant trying to help us understand what was happpening, these were the things that helped to get us through.

We're forever indebted to Arrowe Park, and will never forget the efforts they went to in order to save our James, as well as care for us. We'd love you to help us give a little back, and help other families take their tiny babies HOME xxxxx