We'd like to introduce our baby girl. She was known to us as 'Flipper' whilst still a bump and was due to join us on December 18th 2016.
Chloe Filipa Grace Calder joined us too soon, a massive 15 weeks early on Tuesday September 6th 2016. She was 25 weeks (25+2) gestational age, and weighed just 805g, or 1lb 12oz. We are lucky to live 2 miles from St Georges Hospital, London, which is a level 3 Neo Natal Unit where she was admitted immediately to intensive care.
Chloe was a fighter. Her extreme prematurity brought numerous challenges, and the grit and determination she showed against these has astounded all of us. We, her parents, are quite simply the proudest people on the planet. She is an inspiration, and true example of the innate resilience of a human being - no matter how tiny.
Our baby girl was never able to breathe without the highest level of ventilated support, which sadly also damaged her tiny lungs. She developed severe chronic lung disease. We continued to try everything to get her off the ventilator, onto a much kinder breathing support with a goal for her to grow bigger and stronger, and new lung tissue to outgrow the damaged. Devastatingly, she was unable to do this, and never came home to us to start our new life as a family.
Chloe grew her angel wings at 37 weeks equivalent gestation, 82 days old, on 27th November 2016. The short 12 weeks she was with us was undoubtedly the hardest of our lives. The journey of an extremely premature baby is terrifying, long and very tough, with the most precious of moments scattered within. The rollercoaster has no guarantees and no 'typical' path to follow.
She sadly was not for our world, but gave us enough time to get to know her, to love her unique, feisty personality and to teach us many things about life. Her last hours were full of cuddles and we were able to ensure she knew she was loved. The graceful determination she showed us all during her short life is also her legacy. Our lives will never be the same, but we will demonstrate the same graceful determination in our every step forward.

We will never be able to express our gratitude, nor repay, St George's Neo Natal Unit and the amazing staff who looked after Chloe for the immense support and care they continue to show us. What we can do, is ensure that Chloe's heroic fight makes a difference for others, by supporting Bliss and the unit's local charity too. Bliss work hard to support and empower parents to be at the centre of their baby's care, to train and support healthcare workers, campaign to drive necessary changes to policy and procedure as well as engage in life changing research.

The world doesn't know enough about the heroic journeys of these little ones, but Bliss are making a big difference, both to those in the think of such a frightening time, as well as for those who will be born premature or sick in the future.