martha's dancing heart
Martha was born on the 10th of January 2015, checking into this big and beautiful world a whole five weeks earlier than planned. It was an emotionally charged journey for mum and dad, Michelle and Rick leading up to her birth, with regular hospital visits until this gorgeous little lady was able to come home some weeks later.
Michelle and Rick, along with Martha's big brother Will have decided to raise £10,000 for the Children's Unit at the University of Wales Hospital by her first birthday. Without the love, support and care from the Unit, things may have turned out very differently for this family.
I asked Michelle to write some words about her journey to meeting Martha and how she came to launch Martha's Dancing Heart...
On the 23rd of December I went for my routine 32 week check-up with the midwife, I'd had an amazing pregnancy and felt really well all the way through. I was looking forward to Christmas then welcoming our new baby girl in February.
The midwife did all the regular checks and all was fine, she then said she wasn't required to listen in to the baby's heart beat anymore, unless I asked her to. She was smiling as she said it and I laughed and asked her to listen in.
It quickly became apparent that all wasn't quite as it should be - our little girl's heart was beating twice as fast as it should and it wasn't long before I was in the hospital hooked up to a monitor having fluid pumped into me.
I was kept in overnight as they tried to stabilise her heartbeat - it was 240 bpm (a normal rate would be 100-140) - and allowed home at 8pm on Christmas Eve on a cocktail of heart drugs, needing to come back to the hospital daily for ECGs.
The next three weeks are a bit of a blur to be honest. Christmas came and went and new year passed with me regularly staying overnight at the hospital. The heart drugs I was taking were slowing my heart, but having little effect on our baby. By Jan 9th my heart rate and pulse had fallen very low, so the consultants decided the safest option was an early delivery by c-section the following day.
On Jan 10th 2015 our daughter, Martha was born and diagnosed with a condition called PJRT ... it's a type of tachycardia and is basically an electrical short circuit in her heart. It's a condition that is rare in babies and needs to be controlled with medication.
Martha was cared for by the amazing staff at the Neonatal ward of University Hospital Wales, and the staff of the Children's Heart Unit for Wales, After four weeks we were able to take her home. She's now doing fantastically well, and we know that without the love and support of her hospital angels, she could have been very poorly. So we want to say a huge thank you by fundraising in lots of different ways throughout the rest of 2015. We want to be able to donate at least £10,000 to the Children's Unit at UHW before Martha's first birthday.
We'd love your help and support xxx
http://www.gofundme.com/nt8b0c
when mum and dad got married
Traditionally, a wedding day is about two people starting out in the world, but what is particularly lovely here is that this was a true family wedding, they all got married together.
The happy couple have had five children together and everyone had a starring role as bridesmaid, page boy, best boy and ring bearer. They got to watch their mum and dad get married in a sweetly simple almost eloping fashion. All this happened in a beautiful old registry office in the heart of Brighton. Between the usual daily breakfast mayhem, which included the two family cats and their five new born kittens, there was a trip to the hair salon for a few and a last minute game, in between getting dressed, on the X-Box for the others. Although it was a day planned and day of celebration, it was like it fitted snuggly into a normal Thursday afternoon, and the clock stopped for a short while in a busy family's life.
we're going on a bear hunt
The all time classic children's book, We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen was chanting through my mind as we tramped across fields and followed tracks lined with tall and thickly woven majestic trees. Brandishing a strong long plastic sword and armed with many snacks fit for a bear hunt, a young knight named Griff led us deep in to the forest in search of his bear friend. His faithful fair maiden sister, Anwen took control when times got hairy. Swinging off fallen branches and large boulders in her bare feet to help her little brother reach victory and glory. When the going got tough, tickling each other seemed to keep up spirits on this gritty journey.