Ella-Mae Gleed (2006

We had the results of Ella-Maes's postmortem... it showed that she had respitory stress syndrome caused by extreme prematurity, it was pretty inconclusive as she was doing so well. It seems that she just fought too hard for the three precious days we had her.

Premature babies, especially those born at less than 32 weeks of pregnancy and weighing less than 3-1/3 pounds, often develop respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). About 40,000 babies develop RDS each year.

Babies with RDS have immature lungs that lack a chemical mixture called surfactant, which keeps the small air sacs in the lungs from collapsing during breathing. They do not get enough air in and out of their lungs. Since 1990, widespread use of surfactant treatment has greatly reduced the number of babies who die from RDS and has greatly decreased the severity of RDS in survivors. However, about 1,200 babies a year still die in the neonatal period due to RDS

We handed the donations over to NICU & we collected £260. I hope this helps other premature babies in the name of Ella-Mae.
Many thanks to...

Marie & Antonio
Fred & Margaret Mitchell
GFS Platform nursery
Claydens
Gwen & Bob
Helen Hicks
Jacqui Thomas
Joe & Linda Last
Sally & Bob
Caroline & Andy
Sara & Stef
Eric & Sylvia
Sharmaigne
Jennifer Long
Brian Shurley

We would also like to thank Kathy & An for the beautiful rose bush.
Dad & Audrey for the beautiful wreath they sent for the funeral on Ella-Mae's special day.
Marie & Antonio for the posy, Fred & Margaret for the rose, Jacqui at NICU for the rose.
Margaret & Gemma for the beautiful knitted angel that has taken proud position of our living room.
Gemma for the little piggy that went in Ella-Mae's resting box.
All of the cards & presnts are now kept in Ella-Mae's memory box & they give me great comfort as it shows how much she was loved & by so many.

Barrie & i would like to thank all our friends, family & well wishers for giving your support at such a traumatic time for us!
A big thankyou goes to Pat (ella-Mae's chaplain), you made our road a little smoother. You are a great friend to us.
Thankyou to Mr Dyke for your care, compassion & your time.
Thankyou Mr Fraser for caring for me whilst i stayed in Norfolk & Norwich.
Jackie (ella-Mae's nurse), who went "through" it with us... You were our rock!!
Stephanie & Elaine, my two fabulous midwives who taught me how to live again.

I personally would like to thank everybody i have met through SANDS, you have all been a life line for me & with out your support i would find it very difficult to go on.

But most of all i would like to thank my fantastic, beautiful, kind hearted man for giving me such a beautiful daughter. The wonderful memories that we hold dear in our hearts. Without you sweetheart there is no meaning to life. xxxxxx

Its Ella-Mae's estimated due date today... 19.9.06

A very hard day for both Barrie & i. We should have been in the labour suite today... But the best we could do for our little girl was to release some balloons for her at her graveside.
I bought 3 pink balloons from her brothers & wrote on each of them. The boys were not with us to release there own balloons so we did it in their name.
Barrie & i released a baby girl balloon.
Ella-Mae is our little treasure & is always to be remembered.