Today’s guest blog is from the founders of a gorgeous new business – Sassy Bloom – that aims to put smiles on mums and babies faces. The company was founded after Hollie discovered she had a rare and incurable condition during her pregnancy and after a gift from friends put a huge smile back on her face. Here they tell their powerful story and also offer Netmums members some amazing offers to try Sassy Bloom for themselves.
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Sassy Bloom was founded by Hollie, Darren and Paul Sassienie in 2012, after Hollie was diagnosed whilst 29 weeks pregnant with a very rare, incurable and life threatening progressive lung and heart disease called Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
After passing out several times during her pregnancy and being rushed to hospital by ambulance on numerous occasions – only to be dismissed each time as the doctors were confused by the symptoms that Hollie was presenting – Hollie saw a cardiologist who luckily recognised the severity of Hollie’s symptoms and immediately called for an ambulance.
Darren, her husband was secretly told that his wife had a 50% chance of survival and that things were very serious and that the baby had to be born within 48 hours. “She looks very well on the outside, but your wife is EXTRMELY sick” he recalled. Hollie was transferred to a specialist hospital with an anaesthetist present as they feared she would die en route!
“It was scary but I don’t think I really realised the seriousness of the condition,” says Hollie. “It wasn’t until I opened my eyes at about 2am in the morning and found my parents, siblings and husband sat round my bed, all with ashen faces, that it started to sink in just how critical my condition was.”
“When the care team explained that I needed to get all my affairs in place as I might not get through the delivery, it really hit home just how ill I actually was”
After a month in hospital, lots of medication and many unpleasant tests including a permanent infusion to Hollies heart – the couple’s baby was scheduled to be delivered with a large team present. The delivery date kept moving as the team had to juggle Hollie’s health and delivering a premature baby.
Most mums previously in Hollie’s situation have died during labour or shortly after as the body re-adjusted. It was incredibly scary for Hollie, Darren and all their family and friends. At 34 weeks and after 5 hours in surgery – the couple’s new baby was delivered and taken to Special Care whilst Hollie was rushed to intensive care.
Darren spoke to specialists all around the world, tracked down patients and put Hollie in touch with a mum who had successfully come through the other side and did everything within his power to see Hollie through this chaos that turned the couple’s world upside down.
“In Intensive Care I had to tell Hollie everything was going to be ok whilst watching people dying as their relatives were breaking down behind her”.
Can you imagine a new mum going through all of this and then not being able to be with her baby for days?! Darren spent the coming days running from Special Care to Intensive Care to be with his new baby and his wife.
On day 5 in Intensive Care day the panic alarm went off and the entire team came running, Darren turned white as they shouted at team members to get him out of the room – he thought that Hollie had died just like all the other woman that he had read about on the internet! Luckily Hollie had just passed out and after a medication increase. Hollie learned to walk again – she was downgraded to the Cardiology unit – a big milestone.
It was here that Hollie received (from close friends), a beautiful gift box full of carefully selected goodies for her new baby. Hollie was overwhelmed and really wanted other parents to be able to experience receiving a beautiful box full of handpicked goodies for their baby each month as it really put a smile on her face – the idea of Sassy Bloom was born.
So why are thousands of mums loving sassy Bloom?
Sassy Bloom deliver ‘care packages’ to parents for their baby each month. Each Sassy 
Bloom box is especially handpicked and tailored to baby’s age and stage of development, gender and sometimes even include personalised items too.
“Every parent wants the best for their baby but with so many products out there – it can often be time consuming and tricky for parents knowing what they need. Sassy Bloom is a really exciting way for mums to shop for their baby – discovering wonderful products and brands and with each Sassy Bloom box having a retail value of £40-£70 – it’s also a brilliant way to save too.” Says Hollie Sassienie, Co-Founder of Sassy Bloom.
“We have spent over two years searching for only the very best baby products from around the world. Our panel of experienced and first time mums have tried and tested all of the products with their little ones – only the best ones make the cut into one of our Sassy Bloom boxes. We’ve done all the hard work for mums, freeing up their time to spend with their little one.”
We now have thousands of mums joining Sassy Bloom and the feedback received from our customers has been extremely encouraging, purporting to our “outstanding customer service”, how beautiful the box is and the high quality of brilliant products. It’s this that truly drives us each day to create the best possible experience for our customers in every single possible way.
We’ve also received some great celebrity endorsements from people such as Kimberley Walsh, Peter Andre, Jean-Christophe Novelli , Caprice, Edith Bowman, Danny Dyer, Lucy-Jo Hudson, Kerry Katona and Dame Sarah Storey.
Sassy Bloom are now working with over 200 fantastic baby brands including MAM, Jo Jo Maman Bebe, Tommee Tippee as well as independents such as Quack Quack Moo and Snoozeshade.
Sassy Bloom are aiming to raise £100,000 for charities including the Pulmonary Hypertension Association – the UK charity that helped Hollie and her family come to terms with this life changing disease that there is currently no cure for. Customers are able to donate to this charity along with some others as they checkout.
Netmums were lucky enough to receive some gorgeous Sassy Bloom boxes
The postman knocked on the door carrying three plain brown boxes and when we opened them our faces lit up. They contained three boxes of beautifully packaged, handpicked gifts from Sassy Bloom.
One for a mum who is 32 weeks pregnant with twins
One for a 6 month old baby boy
And one for an 18 month old little girl
It was so exciting to open up the beautifully wrapped packages and discover what treasures lay within. The gifts were all gorgeous – some personalised, all really beautiful and just perfect for the recipients. All three boxes were packed full and really worth the money it costs to buy them. We also discovered some unique and wonderful high-quality products we had never seen before. We don’t know how anyone receiving a Sassy Bloom box could fail to smile. They certainly brought a smile to our faces. Just wonderful.
Interested in joining Sassy Bloom or giving the gift of Sassy Bloom?
Sassy Bloom boxes currently cater for pregnant women in their third trimester up to babies who are 2 years of age
Join monthly or select a 3 month, 6 month or 12 month subscription, from as little as £22.15 which includes FREE delivery. Remember each Sassy Bloom box has a minimum RRP of £40!
Sassy Bloom has put together some special offers just for Netmums members
OFFER 1
£10.00 Off 6 month Get Sassy
Your Promo Code: NET10
OFFER 2– Best Value
£20.00 Off annual month Get Sassy
Your Promo Code: NET20
50% off your first order
Sassy Bloom are also offering the first 100 NETUMUMS members 50% off your first Get Sassy Box
Your Promo Code: NET50
£5 off any gift
Sassy Bloom makes a wonderful gift too – with options to suit your budget. £5.00 off any Gift
Your Promo Code: NETMUMS5
Use your code when you order from the website. Do go and take a look – it’s just gorgeous.
