Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Instead of cards/gifts for my 60th Birthday I am asking for donations to Noah's Ark Childrens Hospital where the beautiful Eden-Olive spent the 1st year of her life. Please give whatever you can, big or small, I really appreciate it. Below you can read all about Eden-Olive and how Noah's Ark have cared for her.

On September 12, 2017, Eden-Olive was born by emergency c-section at 8.04pm.

Eden-Olive was born five weeks prematurely with rare birth defects.

She was taken straight to neonatal intensive care. We did not see our baby until the next day at around 11am. We felt our baby had been taken from us and felt completely empty.

When Eden-Olive was two days old she was taken for life-saving surgery. We were prepared for what may go wrong and told we could lose her. Then we were handed a consent form to sign.

Can you even imagine how it feels to sign a form to say you understand that your baby may die?

A nurse then insisted the porters and doctors hold off for five minutes so that we could hold our baby for the first time.

We were completely aware why he was doing this – because there was a chance we’d lose her. Our daughter was in theatre for what felt like
forever. Her surgery was a success but when they brought Eden-Olive back from surgery it was the most frightening thing I had ever seen in my life.

There were tubes everywhere; a tiny, swollen baby who was paralysed and sedated.

Although Eden-Olive’s surgery was a success and they had managed to repair her oesophagus, she was left unable to feed.

At around two weeks Eden was tried at breastfeeding. She was amazing. She knew what to do and took to it just perfectly.
She’d just breast fed for the first time and it was this really magical happy moment in the middle of all the dark stuff. But within a few minutes our baby turned blue and floppy in Michelle's lap and had to be revived.

This happened more times that I can recall. I remember feeling like
every time this happened my baby looked like she’d gone on my lap. I
used to scream when it happened. This has left me so traumatised that at times I would shake while holding her.

Eden-Olive wasn’t allowed to oral feed after this so Michelle became
obsessed with expressing milk for her. The pain of knowing she could feed and wanted to but couldn’t was completely heartbreaking.

Michelle just desperately wanted to be a normal mum. In the end we had two freezers full but she never ended up having it because by then she was being peg fed. She still receives most of her food that way now.

We’d spend nearly all our time at the side of Eden-Olive’s incubator,
reading and talking to her so she’d know we were there. On some days
Michelle found it too hard to spend another day in the NICU so I’d go on
 my own.  I just kept telling myself that I needed to get my head down
and keep on going, for the three of us.

Our baby spent her first 11 months in hospital. She spent the first four-and-a-half on the neonatal unit and was then transferred to Island Ward at the children’s hospital.

Since being born, Eden-Olive has endured countless intensive painful
procedures, caught so many viruses, been on life support five times and
had two major surgeries.

Our baby has lots of blue episodes where she chokes and her airways
collapse. This doesn’t get any easier. It’s still as scary as the first
time.

But life outside the NICU didn’t stop. Wes also has a nine-year-old
son, Jesse, that they were trying to keep life as normal as possible for.  
He’d been so excited about having a new sister but in the end he didn’t
get to meet her until she was eight weeks old. It’s hard to understand
yourself why these things happen but explaining it to a little boy who
just wants to see his new sister is tough.

Wes hated leaving Michelle on her own but with his Army work being based in Oxford as time went on, it was becoming an increasing battle to get time off work too. There was also the house and making sure he had time with Jesse so didn’t really get time to think about what was happening, he just had to get on with it.  I think in the back of my head I also thought that if I did stop for a minute to think that’s when it would all come crashing down.

The nursing staff and doctors on the neonatal unit are amazing but they are there to take care of their patients and you can’t expect them to
counsel families while doing such an important job like caring for sick
babies.

Eden-Olive is now home in her new home with everyone around her trying to keep her safe and well away from any viruses. Michelle, Wes, Eden and Jesse are starting to enjoy some normality to their lives, something they never had for a long time, and something we all take for granted. I think her favourite hobby is smiling and laughing!

Please donate whatever you can to this charity. Without this hospital Eden may not have been here today.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.