A DUNDEE woman has today spoken of the “traumatic” experience of giving birth to a stillborn child.
Rachael Anne Clark delivered baby Trey on February 16.
However, her little boy had already passed away in the womb.
The 22-year-old Douglas resident said she still doesn’t know what happened, describing it as a “perfect pregnancy”.
She added: “I was 32 weeks’ pregnant and hadn’t been feeling well. He had started moving a lot less, so I went to the hospital and they told me he didn’t have a heartbeat — words can’t describe the feeling of being told that.
“I delivered Trey at 3.07am and we were taken to a room in Ninewells called the Tulip Room — it was like a little apartment with a Moses basket. It was very traumatic.
“After an hour, he had deteriorated so much that he looked like a different baby. It was heartbreaking and I had to ask them to take him away.”
Following Rachael’s heartbreak, she is now determined to “make things better for other people”.
She is hoping to raise funds for a cuddle cot — a cooling system that has been designed to fit within a small cot that preserves the baby’s body — to be based in Dundee so that mums can spend more time with their baby.
The Cherry Blossom Nursery School and Daisies Kindergarten early years practitioner says she doesn’t want any woman to have to go through the “devastating” experience she went through.
She says, however, that the adversity has given her the strength to try to help others.
She added: “You need to look at this from a mum’s point of view — I didn’t get to spend any time with my baby.
“I would have had more time with him. I could have dressed him up in some nice clothes and other things like that.
“The cuddle cot gives people the opportunity to spend more time with the kids.
“Since I lost Trey, so many people have got in contact with me. People you know well and you had no idea they had been through it. Everyone agrees that a cuddle cot would be a huge benefit to mums. Losing Trey was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through but I have a purpose to go on, to make things better for other people.
“Since I lost him I’ve been able to comfort other mums going through the same thing. The cuddle cot will be in memory of Trey. I didn’t get the chance to use one but other mums will.”
Rachael is being supported by Angel Wings — an organisation that helps comfort mothers who have delivered a stillborn child — and intends to have the first cuddle cot installed at Dundee’s James Ashton and Son funeral directors.
She then intends to campaign so that a cuddle cot is accessible to any mum who requests one in funeral directors and hospitals.
To support Rachael, visit gofundme.com/TreyDundee to make a donation.
