As many of you may know our precious daughter Grace, who was born at full term suffered extensive complications during the later stage of labour. As a result her heart stopped beating, she was revived but very sadly died 9 hours after birth. Never ever did we think that we wouldn't have been bringing our daughter home, after all everything was ready and waiting for her, nobody talks about this sort of thing happening, so of course it was a massive shock, especially as it had been a straightforward pregnancy. Most find this too traumatic to even imagine, but for us it was reality, the most devastating and unbearable reality. When we left the maternity unit we were given a telephone number for a charity called PETALS  (Pregnancy Expectations Trauma and Loss Society) and within 2 weeks we were seeing one of their counsellors. Our counsellor supported us with our extremely complex and challenging emotions and was able to support us through everything that comes with such a traumatic experience, from planning Graces funeral through to what would have been her first Christmas and birthday. We are able to talk freely about our emotions and always felt safe doing so, something that we weren't always able to do in the 'real world'.

During our time with our counsellor we had to travel to Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge in order to access this well needed service. However more recently Petals and some amazing supporters have been working hard to make this service available at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, which will be starting the week of our walk, which also ties in with Baby Loss Awareness week. We wanted to not only celebrate Petals expanding to Harlow but to also give something back and to support there vital work. We will therefore be walking from Petals at Addenbrookes to the new Petals at PAH and we will be doing this in Graces memory. The walk is 34 miles and will take approximately 12 hours so we had better find some comfortable shoes! Please do support us and the amazing work of Petals if you are able to do so. Your money will help to support families like us who's world's have been torn apart through the loss of a precious baby, during or after birth.