We are aiming to raise £1000 for Spring support by what would have been Ralphie's first birthday 07.01.2018 💙👼🏽

On November 14th 2016 we excitedly headed off for our first scan. We were told Our baby was showing signs of abnormalities, after having the nipt test and a further scan it was confirmed our beautiful baby boy had Trisomy 18 otherwise known as Edwards syndrome.

 We were devastated and beyond heartbroken but determined to carry on with our pregnancy and hope he would be one of the lucky 10% .  He was a very wanted and very long awaited for baby and his diagnosis made no difference to us. Over the next eight weeks I researched his condition and found lots of people living with T18. We were starting to feel positive and hopeful that he'd go full term and we could get him any help he needed. 

On January 4th 2017 we went for our anomaly scan with the consultant and found that our baby had gained his Angel wings at 19 weeks.  His hernia had caused pressure on his little heart and he'd just gone to sleep over night as he'd been active the evening before.   

The thought of delivering my sleeping baby terrified me but thanks to the amazing support we received from the midwives at st Mary's maternity unit poole it made a very heartbreaking situation almost bareable.  The cuddle cots provided  by spring support meant we were able to spend two nights with Ralphie making memories, taking pictures and getting hand and foot prints. I hope that no one i know will ever need to use a cuddle cot or acess the support of bereavement midwives as losing a child is a feeling of heartbreak so great i could never have imagined it. However this is happening to people everyday and i hope by raising some money we can ensure these services continue to support parents along side our amazing NHS.

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