Remembering Rosie

At the end of December our much wanted baby passed away, six weeks before her due date. She was born on the 1st of January 2018 and we called her Rosie. She had lots of dark hair, a little button nose, long fingers and toes. She was 5 pounds, not that far off the weight Avin was when he was born. She just looked like she was asleep.

After giving birth Lauren lost a lot of blood and was taken in to surgery. She received a large blood transfusion.

As Lauren began to physically recover we spent several days together in hospital with our little Rosie next to us in a cold cot. When a doctor told us a few days before that we would be able to hold her after she was born I couldn't imagine ever wanting or being able to do it. Yet I'm so glad we had those days with her, holding her, looking at her, getting to know her. Whilst she will never be with us like we imagined she is still our child, Avin's little sister, and we have had the opportunity to create our own special memories with her.

‪We want to create some kind of mini legacy in Rosie's memory. Our heads are a bit muddled right now so we're finding it hard to pinpoint exactly what we want to do, but we know we want to donate to some of the organisations that have helped us over the past few weeks, including the labour ward who gave us really personalised, sensitive care and support during birth and afterwards, Simba who gave us a memory box for Rosie, Sands who have some amazing resources and a really good forum that I've drawn a lot of support from... We've also talked about dedicating a tree or some woodland in her name... We've created this page which will allow us to raise funds in Rosie's memory and we can then decide how to divide up any donations we receive in time. We promise that any funds we raise will be put to good use and we will keep in touch with information about where your donations go.

We recognise that it can be difficult to know what to say or do when a baby dies. Sands have a really good support resource for family and friends which you might find helpful: www.sands.org.uk/support/bereavement-support/family-and-friends‬

‪Thank you.‬

‪Lauren & Sarah x‬