Fred’s Story
Whipps Cross Hospital
At 32 weeks and 3 days of pregnancy, Hannah’s waters unexpectedly broke. We went straight to UCL Hospital and were given lots of drugs to boost Fred’s lung and brain development. Fred was born by emergency C-section later, weighing just 3 pounds 13. He was whisked away by a wonderful team who gave him all the support he needed, including a surfactant lung procedure, oxygen support and much more, before getting him settled into an incubator.
Thanks to the wonderful NHS, Fred made amazing progress - within a few days his oxygen support was downgraded. At 6 days old, he was well enough to move to our local hospital (Whipps Cross) via hospital transport. At 7 days old and fully settled into his second hospital home, he came off all oxygen support and was supported to breastfeed for the first time.
After overcoming a few more hurdles, all his tubes and wires were removed on day 29 and we spent our first night together as a family. Fred finally came home at 30 days old, still 3 weeks before his original due date.
On top of the amazing care that Fred received at Whipps Cross, wonderful support for parents allowed us to be with Fred all day and leave him each evening knowing he was in the best hands. This included a reclining chair where Hannah could sit comfortably by Fred's incubator during C-section recovery; a well-stocked family room where James could work from each day; breast pumps; a phone line that we could call through the night to check on Fred and so much more.
We will never forget the amazing support we received in Fred’s first month of life.
Hannah and James will be running a triathlon on Sunday 11th August 2024 to fundraise for Whipps Cross Hospital to help more families get equally great care for their sick and premature babies.
