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Babies Life Lost Just After Birth

In 1982, I celebrated my 18th birthday. I had been with my boyfriend since I was 14 and we had never taken things that "one step further". After the party, one thing led to another and as a result I found I was pregnant. We decided that we would keep the baby, there was never any question of that. All was going well until about a week before the baby was due.

I was walking home from a friend's house and a van "undertook" a car, or so I am told. The van which was never traced hit me and the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital an hour or so later in full labour.

Six hours after the van hit me, on 13th July 1983, my first son was born. There was no cry when he came into the world, just a room full of silence. We called him Robert William and he would have been known as Robbie. I held him and so did my boyfriend and for a long time life had no meaning for me.

A week later, we were at the crematorium for our son's funeral. Instead of celebrating new life, we were mourning loss. I had never heard of SANDS then but a friend put me in touch with them in 1991. I went to a celebration service to remember my son held in Guildford Cathedral. What overwhelmed me was to see the number of families whose lives have been affected by the tragedy of losing a baby and the positive way that SANDS works alongside offering support from befrienders and doing all they can to help us pick up the pieces and start living again.    

 You can contact SANDS at www.uk-sands.org

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Miscarriage