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Friday 8 August 2014

Why is is SO important.

Hello!

I have just written about Ophelia's Post Mortem results on my other blog "Stillborn - The Ophelia Diaries". Unfortunately for us and for her, the results were inconclusive.

Our story is the same for roughly a third of all parents that have experienced a stillbirth or neo-natel death, most of which could have been avoided.

"Stillbirth rates in the UK are around the same today as they were in the late 1990s. One in every 200 births ends in stillbirth, and one in every 300 babies dies within the first 4 weeks of life.

It is a common misconception that these deaths are unavoidable tragedies where something is irreversibly wrong with the baby.

In fact over 90% of babies who are stillborn have no congenital abnormality; around a third of stillbirths are unexplained (in other words perfectly formed, normal-sized babies); and a further third are also perfectly formed but growth restricted.

The current methods for screening low-risk pregnant women are virtually unchanged in recent decades and are crude in comparison with other screening tools used for Down’s syndrome for example.

One in three stillbirths happen at or near term when babies could survive if they were delivered. Why are these babies dying? And how can more of them be saved?

Research is needed to help answer these questions and prevent more babies from dying unnecessarily." SANDS

So please people give generously, after all death doesn't discriminate, this COULD happen to you!

Love

Sarah & Paul

xx

Friday 1 August 2014

Fundraising Page

After today's mini challenge we have set up the fundraising page and agreed that the first challenge will take place between 31/08-05/09/2014. The first challenge is a Scuba Dive which both Paul and I will do whilst we are on holiday (in Barbados... We deserve it!!!). We are covering the cost of the Scuba Dive so the charities will get all of your donations!


I am the bigger scaredy cat out of the two of us and the sea has always been a fear of mine, I'm even scared of the rocks in the sea so this really will be quite a big challenge for me but I am determined to  do it! 

We will let people know when the dive is planned and post some pictures afterwards. Then it will be on to the next challenge :-)

So dig deep people, these charities really are doing some amazing work and have been a lifeline to Paul and I throughout our awful experience.

We love you Ophelia, this is all for you!

Sarah & Paul - Ophelia's Mummy and Daddy

Xx

Facing Fears

 
The day I gave birth to Ophelia was one of the happiest and saddest day's of our lives, she was our love and will be missing from our lives forever.
 
We made a promise to Ophelia that we would take her soul home with us and we would live her life for her, saying yes rather than no to opportunities that come our way. We want her to experience as many things and visit as many places as possible through us, which is why we have set up this page.
 
Paul and I will be taking part in a number of challenges that force us to face our fears, things like Scuba Diving, Abseiling, Flying etc and we will be raising money for two charities that have supported us since the loss of our wonderful Ophelia - SANDS and Children are Butterflies.
 
If you have been touched by Ophelia's life and have a fear that you want to conquer, get involved!!!
 
I will be doing a mini heights challenge on Friday so I will post some information about that as soon as possible. I will also be setting up a Virgin Giving page once we have the first challenge in place.
 
Ophelia's life was cut too short, this could have been prevented if there was more research, better care and greater awareness of the risks of stillbirth and newborn death, we can help to tackle that!
 
Lots of love
 
Sarah and Paul
 
Ophelia's Mummy and Daddy!
 
xxx