The Neonatal Unit at Leeds Children’s Hospital is launching a second series of its innovative podcast series. The highly successful first series launched in 2021 to support parents and families as they experience the highs and lows of their journey on the Neonatal Unit (NNU) with a premature or very poorly baby.
With further support from Leeds Hospitals Charity, the second series has been created by local producer Caroline Verdon of ‘Under the Mast Productions’ and Neonatal Unit Volunteer Kerry McCarty, both veteran NNU mums with first-hand experience of caring for their own children on the unit.
In this second series Caroline and Kerry will expand on the success of season one, offering further support to neonatal parents. This series will explore some of the issues from series one in more detail and bring new conversations with families as well as professionals. Listeners can expect more insightful interviews, help and advice from experienced voices and the comfort of shared experience.
Series two launches at 8am Monday 18 December with a special Christmas episode that explores some of the emotions of having a baby on the unit at Christmas time as well as other festive occasions.
Podcast hosts speak to Neonatal Nursery Nurse Laura about some of the ways in which staff pull out all the stops to ensure families feel festive, including a Santa’s sleigh fashioned from a hospital cot! Mum Megan shares some of the challenges of having an older sibling at home whilst caring for a baby on the unit on Christmas Day.
Paul Morrison is father of three children and has spent two Christmases on NNU. In 2019 Jack was born prematurely at 26 weeks on 23 December. Jack’s due date was 18 March. Jack lived for 6 days which he spent on the NNU with his family. Rosie was born in September 2022 at 26 weeks. Her due date was Boxing Day. In Episode 1 Paul shares his reflections on these two extremely challenging Christmases and how he and his family now treasure their Christmas memories made with Jack:
‘He (Jack) is a part of Christmas, he is a part of our family life and it is tough this time of year, there’s a lot going on. This year is our first family Christmas at home… it’s not everybody but we deal with what we’ve got in front of us and you take it one day at a time… I don’t look back at Christmas with sad memories because Jack died, I personally look back on it being special time.’
Podcaster Caroline said of the new series:
‘This is a podcast we’re really proud to create. Series one was hugely successful and we’ve had so much feedback about how helpful it has been. We were also contacted by families who had listened who now wanted to share their stories and be a part of future episodes which has been lovely. This series will again feature a mixture of parent voices and those of doctors, nurses, psychologists and other team members from the ward and it allows us to delve a little deeper into specific health conditions affecting both babies and their families’
Leeds Children’s Hospital has one of the largest neonatal services in the UK, providing specialist care to around 1,700 babies each year, many of whom need intensive care or surgery. The neonatal team at Leeds has the trail-blazed Family Integrated (FICare) model of care.
Dr Liz McKechnie – Consultant Neonatologist at Leeds Children’s Hospital said:
‘Our model of Family Integrated Care aims to support parents become competent and confident in looking after their poorly or premature new baby. We work alongside parents to adapt our care to help families and it is from this joint working that the podcast was born… We hope the new series will reach even more parents and help them navigate their often rocky neonatal journey. We also hope the podcast will be educational for the friends and family of neonatal parents as we know that these people have a key role to play but often don’t know the right things to say or how best to help’
The first episode of ‘Unexpected Beginnings’ Series Two will be available on all podcasting platforms from 8am on Monday 18 of December, with new episodes released on the 18th of every month.