A ‘very shocked’ couple who only found out they were expecting 10 days before the birth of their baby girl are taking joy in her safe arrival this month.
Samantha and Joe Hicks, of Portishead, say they are ‘truly humbled’ by people’s generosity after being inundated with offerings of ‘countless’ essentials from family, friends and the community following their baby daughter Julia’s birth on January 11.
During Samantha’s pregnancy, she noticed a small amount of weight gain which she put down to lockdown and possible irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
She says she attributes baby Julia’s kicking to sickness, having been ill, and her pregnancy was even missed when she was at Southmead Hospital with coronavirus in November.
She had previously taken two tests which both came back negative. Then, on January 1, husband Joe placed his hands on Samantha when he felt their baby kick. Samantha then took another pregnancy test, which came back positive.
Ten days later, Samantha’s contractions began and Mr Hicks rushed his wife to hospital.
Husband Joe said: "Safe to say we were very shocked to have a baby just 10 days after we discovered we were expecting at all. We hadn't even seen a midwife and we were not exactly prepared.”
The couple, who also have two sons aged three and eight, said they had not planned on having more children and want to thank everyone for their generous donations.
Joe added: “After posting about the birth of our new daughter on Facebook, I expected a few laughs and surprised faces from family and friends. I did not expect to be inundated with offers of help left, right and centre.
“The people of this town are amazing and we want everyone to know how grateful we are for this generosity. It's truly humbling and I don't think I can properly express in words what it means to us.
“I don't know all of your names so can't name you all, but special thanks to Jan Furze, Angela Bath, Julian Bath, Paddy Hand, Zoe Curtin and Karen Squintani. Without whom, God knows how this would have panned out so far.
“I know there are so many more people out there that have helped and I want to thank you all as well. We are blessed in so many ways, one of which is being surrounded by such great people.”
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