For couples with a new baby on the way for the first time, it can be a particularly anxious time.

And that was especially so for Luke and Alice Underdown, whose pregnancy scans had shown that their child was particularly small.

So when Alice stopped feeling him moving about, alarm bells rang and they took themselves to Margate’s QEQM hospital.

Just 90 minutes after arriving, little Ronnie was born weighing only 3lbs 14oz and taken into the special care baby unit, where he remained being nurtured for two weeks.

“Obviously, as new parents we were anxious but it was even more to deal with,” said Luke, 31, from Herne Bay.

“But we knew he was in good hands and getting exceptional care so that helped enormously.

“He wasn’t seriously ill, just small so had to be brought along carefully to put on weight and grow.”

Now home in Herne Bay with his parents and weighing a healthy 7lbs, little Ronnie continues to thrive after his birth five weeks premature on October 9.

But Luke and Alice, who is also 31 and works in the business, are keen to give something back to the special care baby unit which had given Ronnie and them such support.

Garage Coffee Roasters, based in Hoath near Herne Bay, was started by Luke in his garage eight years ago, and has now grown to wholesale supply 60 businesses as well as having four coffee shops of its own.

The business has already been supporting the East Kent Hospitals Charity with donations totalling £11,000 but now Luke and Alice want to raise £3,000 especially for the charity’s Tiny Toes appeal which supports the special care baby unit.

“We used to give people a discount if they brought in their own takeaway cup, but then we realised we could turn it around and add an extra 10p which we would donate to charity, “ he said.

“It’s amazing to see how all those 10ps add up and it’s a great way for us to say thank you to the hospital teams who looked after my wife Alice and our son.

“The care they gave was fantastic and Ronnie is now doing really well and we are so grateful for everything they did for us.”

For more information on East Kent Hospitals Charity and how to donate, visit the charity’s website.