I am taking part in the 60 Miles in June Challenge for Tommy's because I want to help prevent the heartbreak of pregnancy and baby loss.

In March of 2021, we had just moved into a bigger house and decided we were ready to add to our little family and began trying for baby number 2. To our surprise, we conceived right away within our first month of trying unfortunately our joy only lasted a week before I began to miscarry for the first time.

It took another year before we would fall pregnant again, this time we paid for a private early reassurance scan when I should have been about 7 weeks. Unfortunately at this scan we found that baby was only measuring 5 weeks and 4 days, they tried to tell us we could just have our dates wrong, but I knew in that moment it was happening again. Later that day I did begin to miscarry, as if my body just needed to to be told what had happened before it could let go.

6 months later, we concieved again. This time we waited longer before again, paying to have a private early reassurance scan. We made it to about 10/11 weeks, so hopeful that this time, this was it. Alas it wasn't to be, again baby was only measuring under 6 weeks, and I began to miscarry within the next day or so. This time I had excessive bleeding and spent 2 nights in hospital.

At this point we were referred on to the recurrent miscarriage clinic, who tested me and could find nothing wrong. But were so kind, so reassuring, that the chances were, we had just been so unlucky and would go on to have a healthy pregnancy again.

We took a break at this point, scared after the trauma of our most recent loss. We decided not to wait around any more and planned our wedding and got married, beginning our planning after our loss in January 2023, we tied the knot in October 2023.

Our first cycle after the wedding, we decided to try again, and this is when we finally conceived our rainbow baby, Iris, named after the Greek Goddess of the rainbow 🌈

This horribly painful chapter of our life has now closed, though the grief will always stay with us despite having our rainbow. We'll always wonder why, and what if?

I'm doing this fundraiser for every person out there who has experienced baby loss, whether they have their rainbow or not. And to hopefully help more people get their rainbows 🌈

Tommy's is the UK's leading pregnancy charity funding vital medical research into miscarriage, preterm birth and stillbirth.

1 in 2 adults say that they or someone they know have experienced pregnancy or baby loss. I myself, have experienced pregnancy loss 3 times.

Please sponsor me and you too can help end the heartbreak and devastation of baby loss.

Thank you.