An Ayrshire primary school teacher is gearing up to run the London Marathon in honour of her stillborn daughter.
Lynsey Hopper, from Prestwick, will pound the pavements in memory of little Eva, who was born sleeping in February 2018, when she was 35 weeks pregnant.
The 38-year-old, who is also mum to Rosa, 3, and Ada, 18 months, will coin it in for SANDS (the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society) to give back to the charity for the support they gave Lynsey, husband Grahame and their loves ones during their tough time.
Lynsey, a principle teacher at Alloway Primary, has been sharing Eva’s story and documenting her training journey on Instagram in a bid to raise awareness and break down barriers of speaking openly about baby loss.
She told Ayrshire Live: “It’s still one of those ‘taboo’ subjects, but I do feel fortunate that we are living in a day and age where all these ‘taboo’ subjects are beginning to be talked about.
“We have always spoken about Eva and haven’t allowed people to be uncomfortable by the situation.
“I would just love to see that in the future; that anybody impacted by any kind of baby loss can just talk about it freely without worrying."
Lynsey, who has only ever ran up to 5k before taking on October's marathon fundraiser, said her pregnancy with Eva was ‘straight forward’ up until 33 weeks, when she attended hospital with movement concerns.
“I unfortunately just got someone on a wrong day who told me that if I had to go up for the same issue again, I’d be put on a red pathway,” she said.
“It wasn’t meant to sound like a good thing. It made me feel really stressed and anxious and I didn’t want to go back up there again."
Lynsey had a midwife appointment at 35 weeks where she again flagged concerns about movement but was told that she had a ‘very happy baby’, according to the heartbeat.
She said: “If I could go back and talk to myself, I would just scream, ‘a heartbeat doesn’t actually mean anything, if your movement pattern has changed you need to seek professional advice’.
“It was just a few days after that that I actually did go up to the hospital and, sadly, we found out that she had passed.
“It was very hard to take it all in. There’s very few tears, you’re in a complete state of shock."
Lynsey was sent home and booked in for an induction two days later, but went into labour naturally the following evening.
“The Monday will probably go down as the worst days of our lives,” she reflected.
“You’re at home, you know that your baby doesn’t have a heartbeat anymore but I’m still very visibly pregnant. That was tough.
“Eva was born in the early hours of Tuesday morning. She was perfect. She just looked like a baby who was sleeping.
“When I was in labour your head is still telling you that it might just be a mistake."
Lynsey is fundraising for SANDS, which is at the forefront of supporting research to increase knowledge, improve care and to reduce perinatal mortality.
She said: “Through SANDS we were able to get our memory box the day we left hospital which is horrific – you leave hospital with a memory box instead of your baby.
“But it’s so important to have it and for all the little things like scan pictures, hand and foot prints, a lock of her hair.
“SANDS also have a helpline you can call, a Facebook group, a bereavement support app and they have loads of information, not only to support the parents but also grandparents, friends and the workplace.”
You can donate at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lynsey-hopper
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