Sponsored by:

My Plea:

I am absolutely honoured to make the shortlist of Awareness Advocate!

I’d like to start by telling you about Hope, Angel & Little Baby who left their parents the legacy that inspired me, their mother to start the charitable organisation known as Little Baby & Co.

I suffered the loss of Hope & Angel to early miscarriage nearly 13 years ago.  With my first miscarriage I was bleeding very heavily and went to the hospital to have an ultrasound scan which confirmed my womb was empty. That along with the echoing and haunting words of the sonographer who, casually throwing back her head and looking at my youngest son (still a baby at the time) curtly asked “you are not upset are you?” meant I left confused and sobbing, not knowing what to expect. I named my baby Hope and she is loved and missed daily.  In my confusion I believed that a miscarriage was just blood.

When my second miscarriage begun I did not want to be treated badly by medical staff after my previous traumatic experience, so I did not go to hospital. I passed some blood and clots at home. I named my baby Angel and she is equally loved and missed.  I thought silent inwards grief was just how things were!

Then along came Little Baby in September 2011.

Although I was very late for my mensural cycle I did not know I was pregnant until I was crippled with pain, went too the loo and felt something large pass which I caught in some tissue. I almost fainted when I saw the most beautiful and perfectly formed tiny baby who, guessing from information on the internet, was around 8 weeks in gestation. Although I was faced with a visual sight of my baby’s body I still took a pregnancy test which showed as positive. Then the reality kicked in. I couldn’t flush this baby away but wanted to give him dignity. I instinctively put him into water as I noticed his tiny fragile body sticking to the tissue paper, and somehow knew that the water would protect him! I found a teal coloured jewellery box, which had a velvet pouch inside, and poured the water containing Little Baby through the pouch knowing it would sadly filter out the water but keep him safe inside. I placed the pouch into the box alongside a silver bead which she had 3 of….one was for baby, one was for me and one was for Little Baby’s Dad. I then buried the teal box in a plant pot with Spring/Summer flowering bulbs on top as that is when the due date would have been.
Surprisingly although I grieved, my mental health didn’t suffer this time because I knew my baby had been shown love, respect and DIGNITY which allowed me some closure. It was important to say goodbye.

From this foundation of personal experience I knew I must help others suffering similar heartache and set up the Little Baby & Co. The name captures my babies names: Little Baby, then ‘& Co’ as a nod to Hope & Angel. Three sibling babies together forever remembered.

Though initially a keepsake project which focused on giving out silver “baby feet” charms with scatter crystals presented inside a beautiful organza bag with a specially written poem to other Mums & Dads who were suffering, it soon took on a flow of its own and before we knew it we were designing and developing specialist techniques to cater for babies of a tiny and fragile gestation. For more information about Little Baby & Co please visit our website https://littlebabyandco.com

One of the most important things to mention is the “Early Miscarriage Awareness Day” movement we are encouraging to be celebrated on 9th November. Each year we ask people around the world to light a candle at 7pm for every single baby born sleeping regardless of gestation. Much like the more widely known Wave of Light which occurs annually on the 15th October. However, on this special day, we take time to do everything we can to create awareness for early miscarriage and we encourage people to remember those babies whose womb lives were oh so short, but oh so precious.
It is growing with popularity with every year that passes and I can only hope that means people are slowly starting to to be more aware and hopefully more sympathetic around what has previously been a very taboo subject

This video is based upon one of our recent sad experiences and whilst you might think it is strange that we are focusing on a mistake we have made, we are hoping to highlight just how horrendous miscarriage is for those who are going through it and the ripples of heart ache left in it’s wake!
*Viewer discretion advised*

If you have voted for me as your Awareness Advocate I would like to thank you and also ask you to take a moment to vote for Little Baby & Co in the UK Support Organisation Category too!

What Others Have Said

“The only thing I had to prove my baby’s existence was a pregnancy test and my heart had shattered! I went into depression and felt I couldn’t express my grief to anyone again so I spent many nights crying alone and just learnt to “accept” that my baby did not matter! Until recently, when I discovered Early Miscarriage Awareness Day. Thank you for showing that my baby’s memory is important.”