Family M

At our 20 week scan we were told our precious girl L was not growing and that my placenta may not be working properly. We were told she probably would not survive and should consider an abortion.
We were devastated but we knew our tiny girl was strong. She was born at 37 weeks and although she was so tiny she was perfectly formed and we were in awe of her (and still are!) She struggled to feed and gain weight and was quickly labelled 'failure to thrive'. At age 6 months L was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition called Russell Silver syndrome. This means she will always be small, she doesn't feel hunger and she has many difficulties with her bones and joints. She cannot maintain safe blood sugar levels and requires daily injections to help her grow. Most of her nutrition is given to her through her PEG, this has been a lifeline for her! She has many daily struggles that would be invisible to many but she amazes us every day with her strength and resilience. We are so so proud of our baby girl and how far she has come!

Our second baby girl thrived during pregnancy and grew so well which we were so relieved about. However during labour there was massive complications and my husband was told he would be going home with no wife or baby. After a long stint in intensive care for both myself and baby we were finally able to meet. We were both very poorly and had a long way to go, I then contracted sepsis and was unable to feed my baby. This was one of the toughest times in our life.
We were finally all reunited as a family and our beautiful baby girls have been best friends since.
We have had an incredible journey as a family and our baby girls have had so much to overcome. We are beyond proud of them and the amazing, kind girls they have become.

Jolly Josh has always held a special place in our heart. Being able to take my two babies under two to a warm, inclusive, friendly environment every week was incredible. The community of families and having no judgement was just so special. We felt so welcome and we looked forward to going every week. We are so excited for the future of Jolly Josh!