News

What we do Wednesday – Bethany and Louie’s story

Published 31st August 2022

What we do Wednesday. “Everything makes a massive difference all thanks to the EBA”. We received a very touching update from mum Bethany about her baby Louie’s stay on the units, and what the help and support from the EBA meant to them. Thank you so much for sharing your story Bethany, and the gorgeous photos of Louie. We are so pleased to see him doing so well and so happy that we were able to help support you all during the very tough time he was in hospital.

Also a big shout out and thank you to Bethany for doing some fundraising for us, as she is taking part in this years PUSH FOR PREMS!! Fundraising events really help us to be able to keep doing what we do, and make such a vital difference to families as Bethany outlines below:

“My son Louie was born prematurely at 27 weeks and three days in October 2021 (cause unknown). As a first-time mum it threw me into a world of the unknown and I was terrified for my little boy . Who would have known the first time I ever saw my baby boy would be in a blue light filled incubator with many wires and tubes surrounding him? With the help of the Trevor Mann unit and the Early Birth Association, I was able to take my little boy home three months later a happy and healthy baby.

The support the EBA does for the families and babies is wonderful. An example of this was, on Christmas Day 2021 it was Louie’s first Christmas and we were in hospital feeling mentally exhausted. We received gifts for myself, his daddy and Louie, keepsakes and memories that we will treasure forever. It gave us a little bit of normality back and also a smile on all of our faces. Being able to have a ‘normal’ Christmas like opening gifts felt amazing. I also had phone call support all through our journey from mums on the EBA who had been through what I did and I don’t know if I could have done it without them. Having someone who actually knew what you were going through meant the world to me and I no longer felt on my own and that it was just me this happened too.

The cakes and biscuits in the kitchen when you don’t have time of or forget to eat. The breast-feeding pillows, the feeding chairs, the breast pumps, the see-through pencil cases you can take your phone in so you don’t miss memories, the emotional support, the bags of essentials you get when you find yourself blown into the NICU unit after a whirl wind of giving birth to a baby that wasn’t meant to be there for another three months. Everything makes a massive difference all thanks to the EBA.

The world of prematurity is a scary one, it’s full of unknown and you lose control of everything. However, thanks to the EBA and the Trevor Mann unit we were supported physically and mentally through this and we couldn’t of thanked them enough.

This year I will be doing push for prems to say thank you to them for all their help and support so please donate what you can because it REALLY does make a difference.”

To sponsor Bethany please visit
https://gofund.me/b82d172c