Three mums who have experienced baby loss have bravely spoken about the impact it has had on them and how Medway charity Abigail’s Footsteps provided, in some cases, life-saving support.

Molly Hope, Sarah Conroy and Dein Oakey have shared their stories in the second episode of podcast series A Journey with Abigail’s Footsteps to mark this year’s Baby Loss Awareness Week.

Molly lives on the Isle of Sheppey and her son Blake died in 2017 just half an hour after being born.

Thanks to an Abi cold cot at Medway Maritime Hospital, Molly and her family were able to spend precious time with Blake.

Molly shares how those memories are still so important now: “The pictures, I go through them all the time. At first it was very hard to flick through them and to have that reminder - it just brought everything to the surface as if it had just happened.

“Now, they’re a comfort - I go to them all the time”.

Sarah’s son Kit died in 2021 following an emergency caesarean after she suffered a major bleed at 34 weeks pregnant. After moving to Sevenoaks, she sought counselling through Abigail’s Footsteps.

Sarah speaks about the importance of remembering her first-born child and saying his name: “It’s my way of parenting - he was my child and every other parent who has a living child gets to talk about their child every day.

“I’m always willing to talk about Kit, he is my first child and I’m very proud of him as my first child and I love hearing his name”.

Dein also lives on the Isle of Sheppey and her son Archie was born asleep at 36 weeks after a scan revealed no heartbeat. She was able to spend time in the Abigail’s bereavement suite at Medway Maritime Hospital.

She turned to Abigail’s Footsteps for counselling a year after losing Archie and speaks about the impact of talking to counsellor Naomi Marston: “She saved my life, I don’t know if I’d be here today if it wasn’t for her to be honest.

“I’m very open about Archie - he’s my firstborn son and I will always talk about him because I just feel like if I didn’t talk about him it’s like he was never there - and he was there.”

Also in this episode, Abigail’s ambassador and bereavement midwife Samantha Collinge discusses the government commissioned pregnancy loss review which she led alongside another expert.

It has made dozens of recommendations and aims to improve services for parents, siblings and wider family.

The final guest on this episode is Amneet Graham who set up Willow’s Rainbow Box charity after suffering a miscarriage in 2017. She explains how it aims to support parents having another baby following a loss.

A Journey with Abigail’s Footsteps is an IM Listening production.