A GRATEFUL mum is taking on the ultimate challenge to raise awareness of premature and poorly babies.

Mariella Stearn, from Colchester, had her first baby Louis five years ago.

He was born at Queens Hospital in Romford weighing an eye-watering ten pounds.

It was a difficult birth and baby Louis ended up being taken to the neonatal intensive care unit for about a week.

Mrs Stearn, 38, said: “He was just really sick and they thought something was wrong with him.

“My husband, Rob, had gone home the night he was born and came back the next day thinking he would see us both, but I had to tell him Louis was in intensive care.”

Louis was monitored in an incubator and Mrs Stearn said the experience opened her eyes to the challenges of premature babies.

She said: “He was 10lbs so he was the biggest baby on the ward.

“You see premature babies on the TV but it’s very different when you see them in real life.

“Thankfully it was nothing to serious, but we were on his ward for 12 hours a day, trying to touch him and care for him through the holes in the incubator.”

Louis recovered and has been perfectly healthy ever since.

After sister Sophia was born three years ago, Mariella decided to focus on losing her baby weight and has been attending the Abbot’s Road Weight Watchers group in Colchester with coach Karen Ward.

She said: “I gained four and a half stone before having Louis but lost two and a half afterwards.

“To shift the rest of the weight I decided I wanted to run the London Marathon this year.”

She is running in aid of Bliss, a charity supporting premature and sick babies.

Mariella described it as an incredible charity which holds a special place in her heart.

She added: “I’m feeling scared and anxious. I watch the marathon every year and now I have had my family I decided to do this for me.

“It gave me something to aim for. Bliss does such amazing work, you are a bit ignorant before having children so this is about raising awareness.”

“It’s just giving something back.”

To support her before the big day visit her fundraising page, uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MariellaStearn.