From 2 NICU Babies to Charity Founder: Ola from Colourful Beginnings | S3E63

There are two elements to today’s episode – of course we have a wonderful guest for you to listen to, but first we have an update about the podcast. This is the final episode of season 3, and we’ll be taking a bit of a break over Christmas and early 2026, to rest and recharge and come back with more stories from NICU and inspiration from people who’ve been through it too.

Our guest today is Ola, who had not one but two premature babies in NICU – the first was born at 23 weeks, the second at 29 weeks. She took these incredibly difficult experiences and decided to create something that would help support other NICU parents, and so her charity, “Colourful Beginnings”, was born.

She discusses everything that she and her family went through in NICU, the shocking moment when she found out she was pregnant for a second time and why her faith was the turning point that made her realise that others don’t have the support system she had at the time. The charity is always looking for volunteers, so if you’d like to help, the link is shared below.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to season 3 of The NICU Space podcast, and we wish you and your families a restful Christmas and New Year.

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In this episode, we’re chatting about:

Ola’s story of having her first child at 23 weeks unexpectedly
Discovering she was pregnant for a second time right after taking her first child home from NICU
How these experiences led to the creation of the charity, Colourful Beginnings
What Colourful Beginnings does to support other NICU parents

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Take what you need!

[00:49] Thank you for being here and bit of an update

[04:22] Introducing Ola from Colourful Beginnings

[05:01] Ola’s story of having a baby at 23 weeks

[10:41] The lack of information and positive stories

[15:11] The phone call from the hospital

[17:13] Thinking of the lack of support others receive

[18:53] Finding out she was pregnant again

[22:56] Starting Colourful Beginnings

[29:16] Providing support boxes

[32:43] How you can help Colourful Beginnings