Bury St Edmunds woman raises awareness of baby loss in young parents
Kira Large was in her early twenties when she lost her second child Olivia at 36 weeks pregnant
A mother from Bury St Edmunds is working to raise more awareness of losing a child at any stage in a pregnancy.
Kira Large was 35 weeks pregnant when one day she noticed her baby hadn't moved much throughout the day.
She went to the hospital with her husband and two year old son, when they learnt the heartbeat of their baby had stopped.
"The world stopped"
Kira told us what it was like the moment she heard the news: "The world stopped, I couldn't breath I couldn't think. I honestly thought that it wasn't real."
The hospital then planned for Kira to deliver her baby a few days later, making her exactly 36 weeks old.
She told us she was grateful to have that time to be able to process the news: "We didn't find out what we were having, so we didn't know if this baby was a girl or a boy so they (the hospital) didn't have a name.
"They were able to put us in for a scan to find out what we were having and that was when we chose the name Olivia.
"...It was just really bizarre just walking around pregnant and when actually in fact you're not carrying a living baby your baby is dead."
"She was perfect"
Olivia was Kira and her husband's second child.
They've since had two 'rainbow babies' but says giving birth to Oliva was the easiest delivery out of them all.
She told us what Oliva was like: "She was perfect, she was six pound two.
"She was warm which, it sounds silly, I was not expecting.
"I remember the midwife handing her to me and I looked at my Mum and said she's warm. I kissed her head and she was warm.
"She was perfect, she looked identical to her brother when he was born."
Kira praised the care she and her family were given at the hospital and from the West Suffolk SANDS group after losing their daughter.
She also told us she found that some of the hardest moments were with her son as he asked questions:
"It was really hard, I think more so with having a little one because he was asking me all these question.
"Quite often he would sleep on my bump and I found that quiet triggering in those few days because I was just so sad and it wasn't just us losing a child it was him losing a sibling."
"They are the hard questions"
These questions continued when Kira fell pregnant with her next two children, Niamh and Noah: "They would ask questions such as 'would this baby die?' That was always really difficult.
"It's the questions that follow: 'why did Olivia die? Is it going to happen to Niamh? Is it going to happen to Noah?'
"They are the hard questions because we try and be honest and just say 'we don't know'."
She told us she was "naive" that something like this could happen so late into a pregnancy.
After complications in her first pregnancy she was happy to get the 'all clear' at 12-weeks: "I dont think I was sat down and told you need to keep an eye on movements throughout your pregnancy because it can happen at any stage and for us, we were full term.
"It's not somethig I would think that their heart beat just stops. It wasnt a seed planted in my head to be aware of."
Kira told us that Olivia continues to be in their family's life, with her children picking flowers for their sister as well as celebrating her birthday,