February marked one of the happiest times in our lives - we found out we were having a baby! Words cannot describe the pure excitement, joy and love we already had for this new little bundle. Weeks and months of planning, preparing, buying, decorating, dreaming and counting down were halted as quickly as they had began.

As you may or may not be aware, we have very recently suffered an immense loss. On Friday 6th September, precisely 34 weeks and 1 day into our pregnancy journey, we discovered that our much loved baby’s heartbeat could not be found. We were ushered through the maternity ward of screaming babies to a private room where it was confirmed by several medical professionals that sadly there would be no happy outcome for us. After three painful days of waiting for labour to begin, and hearing other women deliver healthy crying babies further along the corridor, our beautiful baby girl arrived, sleeping, during the evening of Monday 9th September.

Our little dolly, Jessica Rose, was perfect in every way and looked so peaceful, content and calm as we held her in our arms. The following three days we were able to spend time with our baby daughter through the use of an Abi Cold Cot. An Abi Cot allows bereaved parents time to spend with baby to create precious memories before they say goodbye forever.

During our time at Basildon Hospital, we learned that stillbirths are much more common than we ever imagined - 1 in 225 births, 9 a day across the UK, with perhaps two families suffering per week at our hospital alone. Though the circumstances were devastating, we were lucky that the hospital could provide us with means to keep our sleeping baby with us, allowing us time to spend with Jessica, hold her, love her and make special and irreplaceable memories.

We realised that had another family suffered this during the same week as we did, the cot would have needed to be shared to allow both families precious time with their babies. This time is priceless and we do not know how we could have been without that opportunity.

We feel that, given how many families this unfortunately happens to, one cot could sadly not be enough for one hospital. We also discovered, whilst getting our precious time, that it is not common practice for hospitals to provide these cots or have a separate bereavement suite. The cot used by us had been donated a few years earlier by another family who sadly had a similar experience in another hospital. They, like us, felt it was vital for hospitals to have at least one cot for families to use should they need one.

We would really like to donate another one to Basildon Hospital in loving memory of our darling dolly, Jessica. The cots are solely available through ‘Abigail’s Footsteps’ charity organisation (Registered Charity No.: 1149005) and cost between £2000-£2500. Any extra funds raised will go towards additional equipment for the Basildon Hospital Bereavement Suite.

We believe that, with your support, this is a very manageable amount of money to raise for something that is truly priceless - time. We just hope that it is something that none of you, or those close to you, will ever need to use.

Thank you all in advance for your generous donations, kind thoughts, love and support.

Charlotte and Simon xxx

’We held you in our arms for only a moment but we will hold you in our hearts forever!’

- An Abi Cold Cot -