My Story

I can’t believe I am saying this but I will be taking part in the London Marathon this coming April for the amazing charity Baby Lifeline. Baby Lifeline is a charity that is so so close to my heart. Their mission is to make care safer and better for every pregnant woman and newborn all over the UK and worldwide which is something I am really passionate about. 

As many of you know I have had quite a journey over the last few years. I have had four children in less than three years and have had quite complicated pregnancies each time. My pregnancy with my eldest daughter Maddie was not straightforward at all. I suffered with awful perinatal OCD and was also diagnosed with ITP (a low platelet condition) which made my pregnancy high risk and led to me having to deliver her by caesarean section. Then during my pregnancy with Felicity I had a terrifying incident where I was given an accidental overdose of a medication to increase my platelet levels prior to having her at 39 weeks. I had an anaphylactic reaction and was extremely unwell. The care I received around this incident was shocking and I was very close to losing her, we are so lucky she is here and well now. I then went on to have a very complicated pregnancy with my now 11 month old twins Violet and Alfred. We had months of anxiety as there were many concerns about them. From 28 weeks I had to go to the hospital daily for monitoring or a scan. At one point I was wrongly told by a doctor that they couldn’t find Violet’s heartbeat and was then made to wait 7 hours for a more detailed scan, it was a terrifying time. I ended up having to have the twins 5 weeks early by general anaesthetic. The twins then had to spend time on the neonatal unit as they were so small and Alfred had developed sepsis. 

I am so so lucky that all my children are alive and well today, there are sadly so many Mums and babies that don’t have the same positive outcome that we had. I now have even more awareness that there needs to be much more training and research for health professionals so that what happened to my babies and myself doesn’t happen to others.  Baby Lifeline is a unique charity that   supports and works with NHS professionals at the heart of care. They buy equipment, develop and provide critical training, and conduct research which all makes care better and safer for pregnant women and newborn babies.

I would be so grateful if you are able to support me in my challenge of running the London Marathon for Baby Lifeline UK.