Hi,

We are Lucy & Nicki and we fundraise for Warwick Special Care Baby Unit. We met in 2017 whilst fundraising for Warwick SCBU after both our daughters were in there and together we have raised over £10,000 for the unit that saved both of our girls. You can read our stories below and see why this unit and the incredible staff are so important to us.

Lucy's Story:

On 1st May 2016 at 16:58pm our Darling Evelyn-Mae was born at Warwick Hospital in theatre with forceps. That first night she didn't drink any milk, I couldn't move due to a spinal and she wouldn't settle, she was 'that' baby that kept the rest of the ward awake!

The following morning the midwives asked if they could take her off me so I could get some sleep, what happened next I didn't expect.

I had some sleep (which was appreciated) and Evelyn's Daddy Alan arrived and we went off to Special care to take our newborn home, but there was Evie with a cannular in and a feeding tube, what was wrong with our baby?

They knew Evelyn had swallowed a lot of mucus on the way out and may have caught an infection and they needed to do checks on her heart, my worst nightmare had come true, the daughter we had longed for was now in Special Care and we didn't know what was happening with her.

Over the next few days she received antibiotics via her cannula, ecg's to monitor her heart (I can just hear the machine as I type this telling me she was having an extreme Brady and we would run to get someone) and the nurses fed her through her feeding tube however eventually she was drinking 1ml via a bottle, I remember feeling like the proudest mommy ever!

We were in Special Care for 3 days, but the hours feel like days and the days feel like months. In the time we were there the nurses wiped our tears, experienced our firsts, smiled with us and taught us how to change and feed our baby, those amazing doctors and nurses who explained every test, every result (even when asked the same question 100 times) will always hold a special place in our hearts.

I was in hospital for 5 nights and Evie’s daddy couldn't stay over at all, missing out on precious moments with us both.

Therefore I am raising money for Warwick SCBU and also to buy a chair bed so Dads can stay over.

Nicki's Story:

It’s fair to say that Izzy was eager to meet the world way before she was meant to. In the middle of the night one Friday, my waters broke while at home in Warwick. I didn’t think anything of it, I was only 33 weeks and 4 days, it just seemed like another embarrassing fact of pregnancy that I had wet myself! So the next day went as planned, my husband George and I set off for the Peak District, one last long weekend away before baby came….well, baby clearly didn’t want to be left out! So much so that I enjoyed a lovely meal out with the family before retiring to bed that night with indigestion…or so I thought!. At two in the morning I realised I was doing NCT breathing techniques to cope with the pain, by 5am George told me it was time for hospital. We left the cottage at 6am and rang Warwick Hospital on the way in. No time to get to us, they said, find your nearest A&E. So George put the his foot down and Izzy arrived at Royal Derby Hospital at 10.58 on Sunday morning, just 3 and a half hours after we got to the hospital.

She was born at 33+6 weeks. We were so incredibly lucky to have the help and support of Royal Derby NICU but after one night I was discharged and Izzy was transferred to Warwick. Of course, she wasn’t even Izzy then, just Baby Scott, we hadn’t even had time to come up with a name! I wasn’t allowed in the ambulance with her and I can honestly say it was one of the hardest things I have ever done, But the transfer nurse said to me, “Don’t worry, the midwives at Warwick SCBU are the nicest, kindest people and they will love her and look after her”.

And they are…not a word of a lie. Not only did they support Izzy on her journey of learning to feed and gaining weight for the next two weeks, they were there through every painful step of tube feeding, bottle feeding and breast feeding, changing the first nappy, giving Izzy her first bath. Knowing there are people looking after her and who genuinely cared so much about her made life slightly more bearable when I had to leave her every night. She was with them for two weeks before we were finally allowed home and I cried so much, partly from relief but partly because I didn’t want to leave the safety of the unit.

George and I will never be able to thank the unit enough for what they did for us and Izzy and also for all the other Mum’s and Dad’s who have had to and will sadly continue to experience the same. Every little we raise helps the unit provide a better service for families going through the ultimate pain and stress of seeing their little one in hospital and Lucy and I are behind them every step of the way.