Nottinghamshire Live has teamed up with Nottinghamshire SANDS throughout Baby Loss Awareness Week (October 9 to 15) to bring you the stories of people who have suffered baby loss. Some of them have never spoken publicly about their grief before.
A Mansfield mum-of-two has spoken about the heartbreak of going through a miscarriage.
Gemma Morris, 37, who works in HR, had two miscarriages which she has decided to speak about in the hope of helping others.
Mrs Morris and her husband Paul, had their first child Poppy in 2015.
In 2017 the couple were full of joy when they found out they had fallen pregnant again.
However, Mrs Morris had a 'missed miscarriage' - where the baby has died or not developed, but has not been physically miscarried.
She said: "I went for my 12 week scan and I was told the baby had stopped growing at five weeks.
"Your body doesn't know what has happened so you carry on thinking you're pregnant. It was heartbreaking."
Later on that year, Mrs Morris fell pregnant again. She had her 12 week scan in early 2018 and was told everything was fine.
She said: "Everything was going ok but then I started getting very light spotting at around 15 weeks. I didn't think too much of it as it was so light.
"I then went for my next scan and I was told there was no heartbeat. I had to go into hospital for what is called medical management.
"The labour was basically induced and I had to go through with the labour."
In May 2019, Mrs Morris gave birth to their second child Olivia who is now four months old.
She said: "I was worrying and waiting for something to go wrong throughout the whole pregnancy.
"I think the hardest part for me was the fact that after you have one child everyone asks you when you are having a second.
"They don't know what you are going through and it can feel so cruel.
"People just assume if you have a child and you give birth with no problems then you won't have any problems when you try again.
"This isn't always the case and I just want people to be more aware. I also think it is important to know that miscarriages can affect people in different ways and whether it is early on or towards the end it can be just as devastating for both."
Baby loss awareness week runs from October 9 - 15 to raise awareness about pregnancy and baby death in the UK. Throughout the week bereaved parents unite and share their experiences.
You can join in Baby Loss Awareness Week's Wave of Light by lighting a candle at 7pm on October 15 and sharing it on social media with #waveoflight and #BLAW2019.
