We sadly lost our baby boy in December last year (Marley James). It was picked up on a scan that Marley had a heart defect & sadly there wasn’t anything they could do to save him. We had to make the terrible decision to end the pregnancy & I gave birth to him in hospital at nearly 6 months pregnant.

The whole process from finding out the tragic news to delivering Marley in hospital was heart-breaking and very traumatic. However, one thing that gave us some comfort was that we got to stay with Marley in hospital for 2 days. This is because he was in what they call a Cooling Cot. The cot is basically like a freezer so it preserves the babies’ bodies so you can stay with them & they aren’t taken away from you straight away. This meant so much to us, I can’t imagine how awful it would have been for them to have taken him off us straight away. We will cherish the moments we got to spend with him in our hearts forever.

The Cooling cots are funded by a charity called Abigail’s Footsteps. Each hospital should have 2 cooling cots for circumstances like ours. The Cots are £2800 each and are funded solely though the charity.

We are going to start fundraising by doing various activities to try and fund another Cooling Cot for families like ourselves who have to deal with such sad situation.

Thanks for all your support.

Emma & Niall

xxx

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The Abi Cooling Cot is a refrigerated unit that allows families to spend more time with their deceased baby than would otherwise be possible. The cooling cot helps parents to bond with their baby and aids the grieving process. The cooling cot is supplied by Abigail's Footsteps in partnership with The Bond Group . We have delivered cots to over 100 hospitals and hospices in the UK and Ireland so far. It is our mission to encourage all bereavement suites in hospitals to have at least two cooling cots."