Baby charity helped us in hour of need

  Thursday, September 15, 2011
 
A mother has told the emotional story of how she unexpectedly gave birth on the day she had planned get married.
Tina Elliott-Botterill was 28 weeks pregnant when she was rushed to hospital. She was suffering from pre-eclampsia, a condition where high blood pressure during pregnancy, caused her kidneys to fail. Tina's baby had stopped growing in the womb and was born weighing just 1lb 4oz and had to be delivered on the spot. Tina's partner Marc was on his stag night when he received a phone call from the hospital telling him about Tina's condition.
 He said: "I was in a state of absolute shock, it all happened so fast. "At 2am on Saturday morning the wedding was still going ahead and at 3.50am Emma-Mai was born."
The couple did eventually get married in a small ceremony at Leicester Town Hall in June.
Tina said: "Originally we had a big wedding planned with 200 guests, reception, disco and photographer but we don't mind missing out on that because our daughter is much more important."
  Since Emma-Mai's birth Tina and Marc have received support from Leicestershire premature baby charity Adapt. On Sunday the family joined the charity at its stall on Our Leicester in the city market to raise awareness of the work it does.
Tina said: "Without Adapt we wouldn't have coped, support workers have sat and spoke to us at very stressful times. "The charity has also helped us out financially. So we wanted come along here today to say thanks and help them to raise the money that they so desperately need."

Adapt was set up 16 years ago to support parents of premature or sick babies.
Claire Sutcliffe a support worker for Adapt said: "When a baby is born prematurely it is a very stressful time as people don't know what's going to happen to their baby. Adapt support workers comfort and reassure parents."