BEREAVED parents and families are being given the chance to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week by contributing to a special tribute.
Dunfermline mum Laura Pearson, with help from the Sands charity, is creating a ribbon display to help local parents come together to remember much-loved and missed babies and raise awareness of pregnancy and baby loss.
This special week, which began yesterday (Wednesday) is represented by its blue and pink ribbon logo.
This image has been the inspiration to create Ribbon Displays up and down the UK, in every community, inviting those who have experienced loss to come together and remember their babies.
Blue, pink and white ribbons will be available for people to add to the display at the Snowdrop Baby Memorial garden within Dunfermline Crematorium and will remain in place until Tuesday.
READ MORE: Emergency services called to reports of gas leak in Newmills
Laura has been involved in helping Sands since losing her son Adam five years ago.
"I think a lot of people that I have met that have experienced baby loss feel galvanised in to raising awareness or fundraising," she said.
"It feels like you need to do something because you don't have your baby so you need to do something to bring some good to a situation which for you is something awful. You want to have made a difference.
"Our experience of losing Adam, we used the Fife suite in the Victoria Hospital for Adam's delivery. We didn't know a lot about Fife Sands at the time and realised after that suite had been opened because of fundraising for it.
"We were so grateful for that as the suite was available to us. We wanted to make sure that Adam's legacy was going to be there for people having to use the service after us."
Having organised a display last year, Laura, who is also mum to Matthew and Jack, said it was important to have somewhere where people could come together and remember their little ones.
"I felt really moved to do it last year," she explained. "I had seen on the Sands website that they have different things available but the ribbon display stood out for me. I felt it was something you could do alone or with your family.
READ MORE: Dunfermline restaurant is in the running to win a top award
"You could hang a ribbon. For me, the crem is such a beautiful place in Dunfermline. There is the nature aspect, the trees, the birds, it is so beautiful and tranquil. It has been such a haven for me and I wanted the opportunity to introduce other people to that haven as well.
"It is for anyone. A baby loss can be at any stage of the pregnancy. As soon as you see those two blue lines, you are a mum.
"All of our experiences may be entirely different but a lot of the emotions are the same. We all have this big gaping hole but we also miss out on that future. We are never going to see him in that school jumper this year."
Anyone who is unable to come to the garden but would like a ribbon added with a special name or message is able to do so by emailing dunfermlineribbondisplay@outlook.com.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here