Donations

If you would like to make a donation to the Baby Loss Awareness Campaign please follow the link below.

Thank you in advance for your generousity.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/B-loss-om

How 900 stillbirths could be prevented | Society | The Guardian

Nine hundred babies’ lives could be saved every year if the rate of stillbirths in the poorest areas of England was as low as is in the most affluent, research suggests.

Twice as many babies are stillborn in the most deprived 10% of the country as in the wealthiest, researchers write in the online journal BMJ Open. The more affluent the area, the less likely babies are to be stillborn, whether the cause is a congenital abnormality, the mother’s high blood pressure, sudden bleeding during pregnancy or even unknown causes. The only area in which there is no difference between rich and poor is once labour has started and the mother is under the care of midwife or consultant.

read full article:  How 900 stillbirths could be prevented | Society | The Guardian.

A constant reminder

I have recently decided to embark on a new business venture and have joined a children’s photography franchise.  I was excitedly discussing this with a group of friends and family last week and mentioned that I would love to be able to “donate” one of my products to a recently bereaved parent each month.  It would involve having to go to the hospital and taking hand and foot print impressions of the baby and taking some photos as a keepsake.  My brothers girlfriend asked how I would deal with seeing a “sleeping” baby.  Would it not just remind me of my losses?

Never having met my angels I wonder on a daily basis what they would have looked like, what colour eyes they would have had, what kind of personality, what colour hair… Everything reminds me of them.  Losing a baby isn’t something you ever “get over”.  You learn to live with it, but, for me at least, it isn’t something that goes away. I don’t brood on it.  I don’t have an “unhealthy” attitude towards my losses, but I do think about it.  I wear a necklace constantly of a silver bean to symbolise my babies. I must touch it 100 times a day and each time I am reminded of them.

The truth is that it never even occurred to me that going to a hospital to offer this service to bereaved parents would be a problem for me.  It would be moving, emotional, desperately sad, but something that I could handle and something I feel I want to do.  I want to offer something to comfort those parents.  Sure, it would make me think of the babies I lost, but I do that daily anyway, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to me to have a thought about them.  And anyway, it wouldn’t be about me.  It would be about the poor inconsolable parents who will never get to hear their baby cry, never watch them grow, never know what colour hair they would have had. It would be about offering them something to cherish in memory of the baby they have just lost.

I think people who haven’t lost a baby assume that eventually you get over it and don’t want to be reminded of the fact. For some parents that may be true.  We all deal with grief and bereavement in different ways.  For me though, to help bereaved parents, to campaign for Baby Loss charities and to think of my angels daily is a way to give meaning to the losses.  It’s the only way I can validate their existence and make sure that they were real.

A death that was also a birth – Salon.com

A beautifully written piece.  So emotional.

To perform the Taharah when a woman has lived out her life, has seen her children grow and have their own children, seems part of the natural logic of life. The first Taharahs I took part in were just that. This next Taharah, however, involved someone who had not lived a long life, had not lived to see her children grow, and this time, I was to be alone.

The call stunned me. I knew she was sick, but this wasn’t expected. Now the mortuary was asking, could I be the one to take care of her? I had never before performed a Taharah on a baby. My experiences with babies were of life, not of death. There was always joy, a new beginning. Here was unimaginable sadness, an ending.

As I looked at the tiny garments, it became real, and I worried about how I would react. My mind remembered my nursing training, when we were doing a rotation in the NICU and how I just couldn’t bear to be with sick babies. All I could think about were my own babies and I had cried to my instructor, “Just get me out of here!” Now I was going to be with this fragile body, with this baby who was no longer sick, but was actually gone.

Continue reading A death that was also a birth – Salon.com.

Mothers ‘to have a named midwife to birth and beyond’ in NHS reform of care for pregnant women | Mail Online

For the first time, the NHS will  be measured against how well it looks after parents who have miscarried or suffered a stillbirth or cot death. Patients will be asked to rate their care so the NHS can improve it.

via Mothers ‘to have a named midwife to birth and beyond’ in NHS reform of care for pregnant women | Mail Online.

When a Baby Dies – Making Memories

Below is an extract from a campaign page set up by a woman who is doing an amazing job at trying to raise awareness by educating health care professionals on dealing with bereaved parents.

Please Help…

Finley’s Footprints are a small company with a big aim. We wish to make significant changes to the care that bereaved parents receive world wide following the loss of their baby. Mel Scott is the founder and therapist/coach whose sad loss inspired her to begin making sure that parents are given a chance to make memories as she did.

Our next project is to create a professional e learning package for midwives, doctors and funeral care staff to help them to understand what helps parents and why. We need to raise $5000 to cover the cost of this project. If this project does not happen, parents will remain burdened with the guilt and regret of not having memories to treasure, parents will remain upset by the unfortunate comments and actions of staff who are not confident in caring for the bereaved.

We are turning to you to help us with financial contributions. In exchange we are offering acknowledgement within the credits, a memorial butterfly to remember your lost loved one, or a story or advert page within the e learning.

Your contribution will help us continue to change maternity services around the world, bringing awareness to this taboo subject.

Our Story

Do you have children? Could you imagine going a day without seeing their smile, watching them play? Every day, in the UK alone 17 families wake up to find this is their reality. Every single day 17 families hear the words “I am sorry there is no heart beat, or I am sorry your baby will not survive”. The care that these families receive after a loss is critical to help them to heal.

We are appealing for your contributions, in order to create an e learning package for professionals working in this field.

Sadly this happened to us. My family was one of 17 heartbroken families created on August 2nd 2009.

On August 2nd 2009 our son Finley John was born. Sadly he never woke up. We will never know the colour of his eyes, we will never know if he snores, we will never know his first word or see him take his first steps.

But we consider ourselves lucky. We were “allowed” to spend three days with our son. We got to bathe him, dress him, have him blessed, get to know his little fingers and toes. Many moments were videoed or photographed. We created memories in those three days that have to last us a lifetimes.

We were this lucky because the staff that cared for us understood. They understood how important it is to see your baby after they die, how important it is to hold them, and care for them. And they were skilled in communicating this – so we also understood that this one shot, this time, this was the only chance that we had. Just over two weeks later we said goodbye forever. There were no more moments, no more memories.

The idea for this campaign comes from the work that I chose to do to support other parents in our situation. Sadly many parents do not get to make these memories, yet they could. Staff ranging from midwives, care assistants, health visitors, social workers, doctors through to funeral directors and chaplaincy staff all have a part to play in supporting staff to make memories.

This requires them to have knowledge, skills, time and compassion.

It is our intention to supply e learning packages, to make professional quality training (accredited by the royal college of midwives) available worldwide, in an accessible, inspirational format.

The package will be written by myself. I am an occupational therapist with 10 years experience working in a mental health setting. I am also a trained teacher, life coach and writer.

The content will be enhanced by contributions from obstetricians, psychologists, grief experts, mortuary staff and midwifery staff. The package will be designed and programmed by an experienced creative team.

The package will contain different media and reach people via different learning styles. It will be heavily researched and referenced with medical quality references.

We need your help. You can:

Share this campaign amongst your networks.

Contribute financially yourself.

Offer your professional expertise and time to make another contribution.

The Impact

This campaign is necessary. It will have a wide reaching effect. It will raise awareness worldwide about pregnancy loss, baby loss, and healing methods. It will be beneficial to different staff groups such as midwives, doulas, care assistants, doctors, funeral staff. It will have a direct impact on parents who have experienced a loss, as the care they will receive will be improved. It will help to ensure equality of care after loss on a national and international scale.

If this campaign does not happen, parents will continue to receive poor quality care in many areas. They will not get the chance to create memories with their children, they will continue to carry regret and guilt with them for more than 20 years, gradually destroying them and their hopes.

What We Need & What You Get

We need to get $5000 dollars to complete this series of e learning packages. This money will be used to pay for

The design, creation and programming of the template

The time it takes to write the content

The fees of the experts

The fee to accredit it with the professional bodies.

Marketing the project in its developmental stages.

Hosting the package online.

Maintenance of the packages

Marketing, and trademarking the final product

If our goal is not reached we will proceed with the project, get what we can completed while we seek more funding.

For more information and to donate please visit: http://igg.me/p/73816?a=567392

 

Maria Pridmore: After 16 tries, I finally got the baby I wanted | Metro.co.uk

Such a wonderful story.  I’m so pleased for them.  An amazing couple to have found the strength to keep trying after such tragedy and so much loss.

 

After 16 tries, I finally got the baby I wanted. Mother Maria Pridmore who suffered 14 miscarriages, a stillbirth and the death of her baby son spoke of her joy after giving birth to a girl.

Full story:  Maria Pridmore: After 16 tries, I finally got the baby I wanted | Metro.co.uk.

Sponsor needed

We are currently looking for a sponsor for this year’s concert in aid of the Baby Loss Awareness Campaign.  If you are interested or know someone who might be, please follow this link: 
http://www.uksponsorship.com/a1584.htm