On Saturday 26th March 2011 I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 2:35am at Furness General hospital in Barrow. Baby Mia weighed a healthy 7lbs.6ozs, she had lots of dark hair (just like her mummy), a cute little button nose and pretty little mouth, she looked just perfect.
 
On Friday 25th March 2011, the day before Mia was born, I hadn't felt any movements for a few hours and alerted my midwife. At 39 weeks and a perfectly normal pregnancy, me and my husband David were given the terrible news that our baby had died. The doctors, to date, haven't been able to give us any reason why this happened, just days before my actual due date. I was induced and our precious daughter was born sleeping. A sister for our 2 year old son Jack, a neice for our brothers and sisters and a grandaughter for our parents. So many people have been affected by this tragedy and as two healthy individuals aged 25 and 27 it just doesn't seem to make sense... "this sort of thing doesn't happen to us." Well sadly it does, it happens to many families across the UK every single day.
 
17 babies per day are stillborn, or die soon after birth, thats 6,200 per year in the UK alone. This is a shocking statistic and among the highest in the developing world. The figure is 10 times the amount of cot deaths and more than the number of people killed on the roads, yet stillbirth seems to remain taboo in today's society. By creating this page we aim, not only to raise money for the cause, but to raise awareness.
 
Whilst at hospital we were informed of SANDS, a national charity established by bereaved parents in 1981. They rely completely on donations, THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT FUNDING.

There are 3 core aims, to: 
- Support anyone affected by the death of a baby
- To work in partnership with health professionals to improve the quality of care and services offered to bereaved families
- To promote research and changes in practice that could help to reduce the loss of babies' lives
 
Myself and David, our family and friends have all been completely heart broken at the loss of Mia and appreciate all of your support however you choose to show it. We thank you for taking the time to visit this page and any donation to go towards SANDS to possibily prevent or help others going through this, will be hugely appreciated.

There is no word……………………………….
A woman who loses her husband is called a widow.
A man who loses his wife is called a widower.
A child who loses its parents is called an orphan.
There is no word to describe a parent who loses a child, for there is no word to describe the pain.

If you would like to learn more about SANDS please visit www.uk-sands.org

Thank you for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page

David and Charlie

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