A VLOGGER who broadcasts videos about family life after a cancer scare prompted her to record memories for her baby on YouTube has been shortlisted in the Mumsnet Awards.

Jules Furness started recording video diaries last winter as a way of charting family life with newly adopted son Josh for her friends and family, but never expected to be up for an award.

Soon after she started recording videos and sharing her experiences of adoption and IVF treatment on her own channel, Channel Mum, which was founded by Siobhan Freegard, the founder of peer-to-peer parenting site Netmums, asked her to create tri-monthly videos for them.

Now the 32-year-old of Lyneham is one of three finalists in the Mumsnet Awards in recognition of her The Giggles Family channel.

“I cried when I found out,” said Jules.

“I never thought about awards or anything, as far as I’m concerned it was always just about life with my baby.

“But it takes a lot of work and hours of recording and editing, and it is great to get some recognition for that.”

It was a cancer scare which first prompted Jules to start recording videos, as well as for her family.

“Last December I had a bit of a health scare and I had just adopted Josh a couple of months before,” she said.

“I was a stay-at-home mum with a husband that worked away a lot. To help him not miss out on so much of his baby boy, I started making weekly videos for him and family and friends who we had moved away from, which I was putting on Youtube.

“To my surprise more and more people started watching and enjoying our family.

It was a little community in itself.”

After sharing stories about her experience with infertility and adoption, she was sponsored by Channel Mum.

“It started just with diaries about family life,” she said.

“I wanted to keep them very honest, it’s not saying everything about parenting is perfect.

“Then I started to pipe up about fertility and adoption.

“I think that’s what drew attention to the videos as they aren’t subjects we really talk about widely in public.”

Jules first found out she would not be able to have children naturally when she was just 15 due to an autoimmune disease, and she and her husband agreed to apply to adopt after her first round of IVF failed.

“We knew we could try another round of IVF but it didn’t feel right for us, especially when there were so many children out there wanting parents,” she said.

“We applied on New Years Eve and it took about two years before Josh finally arrived.

“There was about a year of assessments and visits from social workers.”

To view Jules’ Channel Mum video on adoption, visit youtu.be/PKCWt4PJDJk.

To watch Jules’ weekly Youtube video diaries, visit youtu.be/KsNqQUcdPDI.