Our little Callie was born in October 2024 and at this point we had no indication of any health conditions. We brought her home to her big sister Darcy and we were all totally in love with our new little bean. Fast forward two weeks and she started to become unwell and we spent a week in hospital to then be told she had a Congenital Heart Disease called a VSD. Commonly known as a ‘hole in the heart’. As you can imagine our hearts dropped, I can’t begin to explain how it feels at this point to know that your precious little baby is unwell without a clue in the world how you see the future. We were later sent home to be together as a family and It’s been a tough ride since then. Callie struggled with her breathing and feeding due to her heart working too hard and because of this needed to be tube fed in December. We needed to feed her 7/8 times a day via the tube and we soon became experts at it and it became our ‘norm’. Callie had regular check ups and regular sleepovers (that’s what we liked to call them) in the hospital as she would always be very poorly after just catching a small minor cold. Fast forward again to March where we had our appointment with GOSH to give Callie an another Echo scan. This appointment hit us the hardest, as soon as the cardiologist finished he spoke those words to us ‘we need to close the hole’. We both knew what this meant, Callie needed open heart surgery to make her better and stop her from going into heart failure. She wasn’t gaining weight and thriving like she should be. I found it hard to contain my sadness for what she was about to endure. Our poor baby. After a few cancelled appointments and yet another illness Callie did have her open heart surgery this summer at 8 months old. I was introduced to Tiny tickers through someone I met who’s child also had a heart condition, I later met another friend through Tiny tickers. My fellow heart mama’s and I talk everyday! I fully support what Tiny Tickers do in early detection, training and the support they offer families is incredible. Unfortunately Callie’s heart condition was not detected in my pregnancy but I really hope with the money raised it can go towards what tiny tickers is all about. I am walking 100 miles in October for my girl. So proud of her and proud of us as a family for everything this year has thrown at us. I do consider myself as the lucky one and feel so very blessed.

My pregnancy was far from straight forward. And I thought that would be the hardest part, but that was so far away from the truth. Hadley made her very dramatic appearance into the world on the 3rd December via emergency c section. Unfortunately she was unresponsive and was taken straight to the recuss table, where doctors and nurses worked on her. Eventually she was brought to see me for a brief moment before being whisked away to the NICU. Just a short 4 days later she was allowed to be with me. I thought that was it. We did it! The hardest part is over and I now get to enjoy my precious and perfect little girl. But the very next morning during routine checks at just 5 days old the nurse found a heart murmur and Hadley was booked in for a scan later that same day. My heart dropped. Through pregnancy I had, had foetal echos and scans every two weeks so I thought surly there can’t be anything. Later that day Hadley was taken back to NICU for a scan and I was advised she had a small whole in her heart that would likely close on its own in four weeks and I would be invited to be seen by the cardiology team. However, when she was 7 days old we received an appointment with the cardiologist for three days later. That was the day we received the devastating news that they had re checked the scans and Hadley actually had two wholes in her heart and she will need to be put on medication and will require open heart surgery. My whole world came crashing down. I cried for days, for weeks and even months. I would sit in my bed holding my girl in my arms sobbing. My 10 day old baby needed open heart surgery. We faced many challenges on our journey with Hadley struggling to gain weight and requiring her to be NG fed and marked as failure to thrive. Feeding her pumped milk every three hours. On the 11th June I received the call from GOSH advising Hadleys surgery would be on the 24th. Unfortunately after waiting 8 hours on the ward this surgery was then cancelled and re booked for the 9th June. The surgery went ahead as planned and thankfully she has recovered well. I was introduced to Tiny tickers from other medical parents I had met through tube feeding groups online. It was nice to have found a place where many parents were going through the same and could share their positive stories. Through the group I was also introduce to two women whom have supported me through my journey. With one even being in GOSH at the same time. I had never met Amy before but the moment I saw her I hugged her and knew she understood me better than anyone especially in that moment. I also had Tilly to support me throughout this whole journey, advising me what to expect and checking on us throughout. Tiny tickers supports hospitals to detect CHD during pregnancy but they also offer a support network for parents. I will forever be grateful for them.

My pregnancy was complicated, not because of my baby, but because of my body. After surgeries for cervical cancer treatments my cervix was damaged, so I needed a cervical stitch. Ironically, the surgery took place on my partner’s birthday, during a sweltering July morning when I was 5 months pregnant. It wasn’t pleasant, but we had the incredible team at Tommy’s in London. With the constant monitoring, weekly scans, and consultant appointments, I felt reassured that my baby was safe. Once I reached a safe gestation and stitch was removed, we had a full anomaly scan at our local hospital. Nothing unusual was detected during pregnancy, and I have since learned this is very very common. After months of fearing he’d arrive too soon, Ocie came fashionably late (42 + 3) on a cold December Monday, via emergency C-section. For the first 3 months, everything seemed normal. Ocie had regular checkups and health visitors, all assuring us he was healthy. But I didn’t feel right. I couldn’t let people near him, avoided places, skipped baby clubs. Anxiety consumed me. I developed OCD about germs and feared I had postnatal depression. Looking back, I realize it was maternal instinct. My gut knew something was wrong. A chance hospital visit for fading jaundice changed everything. A paediatrician heard a heart murmur, which they said was “common” and should resolve. But at his 10-week GP check, it was still there. We were referred to Dr K, a kind cardiologist. I braced myself, thinking it might just be a small hole in the heart—something “loads of people have”(A phrases I now loathe). But as the ultrasound dragged on in silence, I knew it was serious. Dr K finally said, “He’s going to need surgery at Great Ormond Street, urgently. He wouldn’t survive here.” Those words cut like a knife. Great Ormond Street was for really sick children. Other people. Those poor kids I saw when I used to commute into Holborn. My baby wasn’t supposed to be one of “them From that moment, life felt like preparing for a battle we might not return from. Ocie deteriorated as he was in heart failure, struggling through tiny bottles, losing weight, enduring medications and hospital visits. The wait for “urgent” surgery was agonizing, because demand for cardiac surgery is high, and cardiac intensive care beds are limited. Surgery can get cancelled all the way up until you’re gowned up in theatre. It really is that brutal. Every day was hard, but the worst were the days surrounding surgery itself. I can’t articulate my feelings about those weeks, I’m not sure we ever will and what we saw there. What held me together was not being alone. My partner was my rock, at the bedside and family and friends supported us in countless ways. Most of all, connecting with other mums of cardiac babies meant everything. Through Tiny Tickers charity, I met Charlotte and Amy—our babies had surgery within weeks of each other. All three babies are now thriving and feisty little chunky babies. Without the community of Tiny Tickers I don’t know where we’d be. They say faith can move mountains. I believe faith and friends can.