BIBS (Babies in Buscot Support) is a registered charity that supports babies and their families in the special care baby unit (Buscot Ward) at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. The committee and the supporters are all parents/carers of ex-Buscot babies who have been through the experience of having a premature or full term but ill baby.
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Nominated Charity of the year for TSB #TSBlocalpride
Maiden Erleigh Dry Cleaners and Launderette on Silverdale Rd are raising money for BIBS simply with a collection tin on their reception desk. In an innovative twist - that we really love - for every donation they receive you can pop a sticker on their old washing machine!!
They wanted to support BIBS after their nephew was born very prematurely and cared for on the ward for a number of months. In fact it was this Buscot graduate who gave the idea for the stickers! They have already filled one tin and now have a new one to fill, so pop in and pay them a visit! 💜
If you would also like a collection tin for your place of work please do get in touch through Facebook or pop an email to info@bibs.org.uk.
We always love hearing from former Buscot parents who are just bursting with pride.
Diane is no different and got in touch with BIBS to share some recent photos of her graduate, James. He was born at 26 and half weeks in 1995, weighing just 2.5lbs. When he was finally able to go home, he required oxygen which was fitted around the house and still suffered from apnoea.
Now he's a thriving healthy adult with no end to his talents and brains! James gained a degree in 🤓🤯Astrophysics🌟💫, is working hard as an analyst, living with his girlfriend and plays lead guitar🎸 in his band!
It is of no surprise that his parents are so full of pride, we are too 💜
🤱Story of Buscot mum of twins, turned Buscot nursery nurse 👩⚕️🏥 and half marathon runner 🏃♀️
The countdown begins to this year’s Reading Half Marathon!
Yet again, we have an amazing team of runners ready to don their BIBS vests and take their places on the start line in 9 weeks’ time. In the run up to race day, we’ll be introducing you to some of the members of Team BIBS 2019 - sharing their stories and motivation to raise vital funds for Buscot Ward.
Starting us off is Katy Gillis, who was so grateful for the care and support she received when her beautiful twin girls were born 9 weeks early and extremely poorly, that it not only inspired her to run the Half Marathon - she has also joined the Buscot team as a senior nursery nurse!
Katy’s pregnancy was difficult and complicated and she knew from very early on that her identical twin girls would be delivered early. They had developed a life-threatening condition called TTTS (twin to twin transfusion syndrome, where the babies have a shared placenta and blood circulation) and at 31 weeks, Katy had an emergency c-section to bring the girls into the world prematurely. Tiny sisters Poppy and Maggie were rushed straight to Buscot Ward. Katy remembers how she didn’t get the chance to cuddle her babies as they were so poorly: “This broke my heart, as it would with any mother. When I finally saw them 5 hours later, they looked so tiny and so poorly in their incubators…Maggie was fully ventilated and Poppy was on CPAP (a ventilator that maintains continuous positive airway pressure). They were both covered in wires and had cannulas in their hands. It was such a worrying time”.
Thankfully, after 6 days the girls were moved from intensive care to high dependency, and without any further setbacks, gradually learnt to feed and to regulate their body temperatures and gained weight. 25 long days later the girls were strong enough to go home.
The experience had such a profound effect on Katy: “Our time in the incredible care of Buscot Ward is one I will never forget. It made such an impression on me that in January 2019 I will be joining the team as a senior nursery nurse. It’s also inspired me to run Reading Half to raise as much money as possible for BIBS, who fund so many aspects that make the ward special. From life-saving equipment to parent facilities and a Family Support Practitioner, without any of which, our experience would have been very different”.
To support Katy, please visit her Justgiving page:
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/katy-gillis1
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