Next week is baby loss week, I know a post has already been put up in TTC...

but next week is baby loss rememberance week and there's a thingy in rememberence encouraging people to light a candle on the 15th in rememberence of their lost babies. I've C&P'd from another site, the info (link on request if you want...i don't want to promote another forum here and this site has a forum attched)

Baby Loss Awareness Week (9 – 15 October 2007) brings together five UK organisations in a campaign to increase public awareness of all forms of pregnancy and neonatal loss and to work towards breaking the taboo of silence surrounding such loss.

The facts:
More than one in five confirmed pregnancies ends in miscarriage – an estimated 250,000 in the UK each year.
Every day in the UK 17 babies are stillborn or die within their first month of life, almost 6,500 babies dying every year.
Each year in the UK over 32,000 women are admitted to hospital with a suspected ectopic pregnancy. On average, around 5 women each year, still die of the condition.
More than 35,000 women annually in the UK are told, as a result of antenatal screening, there is a risk their unborn child may have a serious abnormality. 2,000 women face the sadness and pain of ending a much wanted pregnancy after the diagnosis of a serious abnormality.

Groups of bereaved parents around the UK will be organising various events as part of the awareness week. The week will culminate on Monday the 15th October with the International Wave of Light when people around the world light candles at 7pm their time in memory of all babies that have died. During the week there will be events across the UK including: Bristol, Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, Southampton, St. Austell, Worthing and Wrexham.

Tragically pregnancy loss happens to too many women and men in the UK and their loss is often compounded by the culture of silence that surrounds all types of pregnancy loss. This prevents them discussing in frank and open terms what is happening to them physically and emotionally. This leaves the parents, their families and friends unprepared to cope with the actual event and its aftermath.

These issues are often not raised for fear of alarming prospective parents, and due to a widespread perception that it is a rather distasteful subject for open discussion. Friends and family, all too often, fail to provide the continuing support the grieving parents need because they are unable to understand that for the parents, the missing baby is exactly that.

Whether the baby lived outside the womb for a short time, or never drew breath – the impact felt by the parents is no less devastating. The holes these babies leave behind in the fabric of their parents’ lives never truly disappear.

Marion Currie, Baby Loss Awareness spokesperson: “So many parents suffer in isolated silence, struggling to come to terms with their anguish and grief and feeling that they have nowhere to turn. These families need to know that they are not alone, and that pregnancy loss is not a taboo subject. Support groups founded and run by parents are available across the UK to help families through the tragedy of losing their baby. We need to make communities aware that help is available and to increase its accessibility.”

The Awareness Week provides an opportunity for all the baby loss support groups to reach as many people as possible; to raise awareness of the services available to families; and to highlight the crucial role that information and support play when a baby dies. Blue and pink ribbon pins will be worn as an acknowledgement. These are available for a small donation, which will support the vital work of these organisations.

On Sunday October 15th, Baby Loss Awareness Day, we would like to invite you to take part in “The Wave of Light”. Simply light a candle at dusk and join us in remembering all our babies lost in pregnancy, during or shortly after birth. This can be done individually or in a group, at home or in a communal space. Wherever
you do this, you will be joining a global wave of light in memory of all the babies that lit up our lives for such a short time.

Baby Loss Awareness ribbon pins are available online from www.babyloss-awareness.org and by post, for a suggested donation of £1 per ribbon pin. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Baby Loss Awareness Campaign PO Box 13703, MUSSELBURGH. Midlothian. EH21 6WX. Please make cheques/postal orders (crossed) payable to 'Baby Loss Awareness'. All proceeds will be used to fund future Baby Loss Awareness campaigns; any surplus will be split equally between the five organisations involved.


There's a bit more telling about the organisations