A BEREAVED mum who gave birth to her stillborn son nearly 15 years ago has channelled her grief from the tragic situation into creating something positive for other families.
Cathy Milburn enlisted the help of children from her church's youth programme to turn three wedding dresses into 14 gowns for babies born sleeping or pass away soon after birth.
The 45-year-old, who previously helped to set up Great Western Hospital's Forget Me Not Bereavement Suite with Swindon Sands group, donated the gowns to the hospital's maternity ward.
She worked with ten girls from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints every week to transform the dresses into baby-sized gowns.
Cathy donated her own wedding dress and said: "Having been through that process as a family, I just thought what a beautiful way to honour these other babies and thought it was quite fitting.
"You never get over it but you learn to live with it. I've taken Adam along with me hence why I'm doing things like creating baby gowns and setting up Swindon Sands support group in 2008.
"I was 31 weeks pregnant when I realised something wasn't right because I couldn't feel Adam moving.
"I was told there was no heartbeat on New Year's Eve and then on January 2, I had to give birth.
"It was absolutely horrendous, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
"We didn't have an outfit for Adam so we had to run to Mothercare and find something. It would have been lovely to have this selection of gowns or something to choose from.
"Mothercare is the last place you want to be when you find out you won't be taking your baby home.
"I wanted the dresses to stay locally because I'm familiar with the midwives up there and the services they do."
Adam has shaped Cathy's life in multifaceted ways. She used to work as a wedding co-ordinator but she changed career paths to form her own business selling personalised bereavement jewellery.
Heart in their Hand is a jewellery project which specialises in heart keyrings. The heart can pop out of the keyring and be placed into a loved one's hand while the keyring goes home with the family.
Providing a physical connection to a lost family member after they've gone was the motivation behind Cathy's project.
Kathryn Owen, Midwifery Matron, said: “We are so grateful to Cathy Milburn the young women of the Jesus Christ Church of latter-day Saints in Stratton for their incredibly kind and thoughtful donation.
“The loss of a baby is a traumatic and unimaginable for most of us, but these gowns will bring comfort that is so important for families and their babies.
“It’s really special that they are made from wedding dresses and we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has made and donated a gown.”
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