My name is Bella, and I am the mother of a stillborn baby girl. This is my story. On the 9th October 2020 I found out I was pregnant with my first child, and I was over the moon. My dream was to always be a mumma and it came true for me.

A few weeks later when I was around 16-18 weeks pregnant, me and my family got heartbreaking news that our sweet baby girl’s left heart wasn’t developing properly, giving her around 90% chance of surviving. They could still do surgeries on her, but some babies don’t survive, so we were terrified. Around 20 weeks pregnant we found out our little girl’s lungs weren’t doing so great, now giving her a 10-20% chance of surviving. Then her lungs just got worse, so her cardiologist said they can’t do anything about it when she’s born, giving her a few hours to live, so we were very prepared, and our hearts were already shattered to pieces.

When I was 37 weeks pregnant on the 31st of May 2021 I went into labour. When I got to the hospital, they said I was 3cm dilated and they were checking on her heart now and then. A few hours later we got the most difficult news a parent never wants to hear. Our baby had no heartbeat. Everything went silent. I couldn’t move. I could barely talk. It’s like my heart died when she did. They rushed me in for an emergency c-section and at 8:25pm our angel was born into the world peacefully sleeping. Our family will never be complete without our baby girl x A moment in our arms, forever in our hearts.

Written by mother of Luka – Bella Cruickshank