I truly believe the Kicks Count campaign saved my baby. I will be forever grateful for the leaflets and information given to me and the posters in the hospital waiting areas I saw while waiting for my appointments. I’m a second time Mam, although it’s been 12 years since we had our son so the reality is it's like starting all over again.

I spent my uncomplicated pregnancy listening and occasionally ignoring all the “advice” from friends, strangers and family. Some was useful tips, some down right silly, but I was way more relaxed this time around and I had mastered a face that looked as though I was taking it all in.

New Year’s Eve was different this year, no Prosecco toasts at midnight & no headache in the morning ... but also no movements from my baby! I was week 32 of my pregnancy which, apart from the occasional heartburn, was blissful. Something that day just wasn’t quite right.

I lay in bed, as usual, waiting for my good morning dig in the ribs, which usually didn’t need any prompting. But today nothing. I went downstairs and had a cold drink, sugary cereal, a star jump.....then eventually that was followed by a kick!

Baby was there, she’s just getting big now, not much room to move around. Well, that’s what my mam and mother in law suggested. I mean, why shouldn’t I listen to them? After all, they had 6 pregnancies between them that makes them more the expert than me, right!!!

My husband went off to work and I sat in the house waiting for the next move a prod. A poke of my ballooning belly with just the odd little reaction from the baby, a weak halfhearted kick from her ... was it because of my anterior placenta? I spent a good hour looking on the internet, putting “32 weeks baby movements” in the search bar. I eventually put down my phone and looked through my maternity notes. I should have done it 4 hours before, there was a leaflet about Kicks Count. Yes, my baby had kicked today, but it was different from the usual routine and much reduced. My normally my active and responsive baby seemed unwell.

My husband walked in through the door from work and my face must have said it all. off to the MAU we went. It was New Year’s Day, I felt like a pest. I was hooked up to a monitor hopefully ready to be proved wrong but I wasn’t. Baby’s heartbeat was heard which reassured me a little but, after a 4-hour session on the monitor, lots of water, laying on my left, still no baby movements.

I was taken to fetal medicine for a scan. I wasn’t excited to see my baby, I was scared. I was watching the screen, a good heartbeat, but our baby was limp. I didn’t need a doctor to explain that something was wrong I could see with my own eyes.

I had some blood taken and was reassured and sent home. We had to wait for the blood work to come back from the lab, which would be 24 hours. I didn’t sleep and the next day I went back to the MAU uninvited, I was still unhappy with the now complete loss of movement.

Back on the monitor a lovely heartbeat but no movements. My blood results were back suggesting something rare had happened - a FMH or Fetal Maternal Haemorrhage. A FMH which is where the baby's blood goes into the mothers' bloodstream and is not returned to the baby. I was unfamiliar with this condition, I didn’t realise the severity of it at the time.

Next thing I know I was gowned up and taken for an emergency c-section. 45 minutes later my baby girl was born ... born alive and screaming thank god!! Thanks to the leaflet. The only symptom of a FMH is Mam presenting with reduced movements. If I had left it any longer we would not have the beautiful outcome we have today.

She was born on 03/01/19 weighing in at a mere 4lb 9oz, needing a blood transfusion to replace the blood that she had lost, but she was alive!!!

We spent 3 weeks in SCBU and have been home a good few weeks now, we are adjusting to our foursome like she’s always been here.

I will always be thankful to your leaflets and the midwives who support your campaign.