Charlie's story...

I got diagnosed with endometriosis in November 2022, and I thought I would struggle to conceive, but to my surprise I fell pregnant in May 2023. We were so happy. 

I had a straightforward pregnancy with no complications or concerns, until I got to 39 weeks. I went in for my routine midwife appointment and she did the regular checks and asked me the normal questions, including how baby’s movements had been. I did tell her that baby boy had been a bit quiet recently, but that it wasn’t out the ordinary for him. For piece of mind she told us to go to the hospital for monitoring. 

We did just that, and after baby boy passed with flying colours, the midwife sent us home with no concerns. They reassured me that if I was worried again or his movements became inconsistent or reduced, to go back in at any time.  

During the weekend baby boy still hadn’t moved as much as I wanted, but it wasn't so bad that I became worried. Following the weekend, I went back to have more monitoring, and I truly believed everything was ok and we'd be sent home like the last time, but this time we faced heartbreak, when they told us baby boy no longer had a heartbeat. 

Me and my husband were destroyed and in disbelief. How could this have happened? We only heard his heartbeat 3 days before and he was fine? 

We were taken to the bereavement suite at our hospital where they explained to us what would happen and what to expect. We went home feeling numb and in complete shock. 

That night I went into spontaneous labour, and gave birth to our beautiful baby boy who we named Charlie Christopher Hagger, on Tuesday 9th January 2024 at 20:45pm. 

We stayed with him for 24 hours. We bathed him, changed him, read him a book and talked to him. The heartache and pain of leaving him there in that hospital room and not taking him home with us will stay with me forever. 

We’re grateful that we did get some answers as to why he passed away. He had what they call a ‘true knot’ in his umbilical cord, which became tighter as he descended into the birth canal, cutting off his blood and oxygen supply and ultimately causing his heart to stop. This only occurs in loss in less than 1% of pregnancies. 

Living life after losing Charlie, we take it day by day. We try to educate others on how to address and talk about baby loss, which breaks the fear and stigma around the topic.  Doing this for our Charlie is what drives us to keep going forward.  

Love, Charlie's mummy x