FOR Baby Loss Awareness Week (BLAW) a Hampshire charity has organised various events for everyone to attend to raise both money and awareness.
The Forget-Me-Not Fund charity group, which is linked to Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Winchester hospital and Andover Maternity Unit, is organising these events during BLAW week between October 9 and October 15 as it celebrates its 20 year anniversary.
The events, including a memorial service, a coffee morning and raffle is to raise awareness of baby loss, and the serious impact it has on families. As well as raise money for the Forget-Me-Not Fund to ensure their work helping bereaved parents in North Hampshire continues.
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Laura Mackie, the lead bereavement midwife at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has spent the last few years making the Butterfly Suites at both Basingstoke and Winchester hospitals a home from home to make the painful experience of giving birth to a baby who has died or is not expected to survive, as calm as possible.
Laura, along with a bereaved family whose baby was born at Basingstoke hospital, also started a support group in April 2019 which meets in person once a month and is supported by three Facebook groups (one for bereaved parents, one for bereaved parents who are expecting again and one for parenting after loss).
The Flutterbyes support group for bereaved parents currently has 160 members who have all lost a child from 16 weeks onwards of pregnancy, or in the first 28 days of life.
Kirsty Whitver, a volunteer at the Forget-Me-Not Fund, personally found out her baby had no heartbeat at her 17-week midwife appointment. Two days later, she returned to Basingstoke hospital to deliver her daughter Alex. The Flutterbyes support group helped her process the loss of her daughter and supported Kirsty through her rainbow pregnancy and all the anxiety which came with it.
She said that even three years on, the group offered her a tremendous amount of support, and that she doesn't believe she would be able to talk about her daughter, with others if it wasn’t for the support group and Laura’s support.
Various families have been supported by the Forget-Me-Not Fund charity. Including Lucy, a mother who lost her first baby at 22 weeks following a diagnosis of severe congenital defects. She was supported throughout this traumatic process by bereavement midwives, the Flutterbyes community and activities provided by the charity group.
The Forget-Me-Not Fund has organised the following public events during BLAW week:
- Service of rememberance at Winchester Cathedral on October 11 at 7pm
- Coffee and bake sale at Basingstoke hospital on October 13 from 10am to 2pm
- Coffee morning at Newbury Town Hall on October 15 from 10am to 12pm
- Global wave of light event at Guildhall, Winchester on October 15 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm
To donate to the Forget me Not Fund justgiving.com/fundraising/forgetmenotfund
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