Bressay woman to raise funds for SANDS after four baby losses
Chloe Irvine
A Bressay mother is raising funds for a baby loss charity after losing four babies.
Nadine Wilson, 32, is taking part in SANDS‘ (the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity) challenge of walking 100km in March.
After giving birth to a healthy son Lee Smith, who is now 12, Mrs Wilson went on to lose four of her children – between 2014 and 2017 – with the first baby Rachel living for four hours.
“My second pregnancy was the first one I had with my husband Kevin and I lost that baby at 23 weeks,” she told The Shetland Times.
“I gave birth to her and she lived for four hours, so she actually wasn’t classed as a miscarriage or a stillbirth, she was classed as a birth and then a death.”
After this devastating loss, Mrs Wilson went on to suffer two miscarriages.
During her fourth pregnancy, Mrs Wilson was forced to terminate after discovering her son, who they named Elliot, would not survive after being born.
“I had a termination for medical reasons at 23 weeks, we found out that baby wouldn’t survive after birth because he had no kidneys.”
Throughout her losses, Mrs Wilson also experienced some ignorant comments which undermined the severity of her experiences.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘oh just pull your socks up’ or, ‘you can try again, you’re still young’ and that can be really detrimental to somebody that’s just lost a baby.”
However, Mrs Wilson says the support of SANDS has been an extremely beneficial source of support as she was able to speak to others in a similar position.
“It wasn’t long after I had my first loss that Marie Manson started up the Shetland SANDS group.
“Having something in Shetland is really helpful, there’s women and men who have experienced similar things to you.
“They understand your thoughts, feelings and are really non-judgemental about it all.”
Donations to Mrs Wilson’s fundraiser can be made here.
Read the full story in this week’s Shetland Times.
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