In April 2014 my baby girl was born prematurely at 23 weeks and 2 days, we gave her 'hope' as her middle name but despite best efforts by the medical team she died 6 hours after birth.
A difficult and dark year continued but in April 2015 I found out I was pregnant again, filled with fear and sadness I was terrified this pregnancy would go wrong again but I knew I had to try and keep these feelings under control. I read about The Giving Keys and at the start of May 2015 I purchased my first giving key necklace from our local stockists, the 'Hope' necklace.
The necklace was so important to me and helped me try and focus on the positives during the challenging 9 months. In November 2015 I became the proudest happiest woman in the world as I became mummy to a beautiful healthy baby boy!
14 days later one of my best friends came to meet him and I instantly knew what I had to do, she had been trying for a baby for over 7 years, including upsetting failed IVF attempts. I wanted her to have 'hope' and immediately offered the necklace to her, she was overwhelmed with the gesture and happily accepted.
The 'pay it forward' worked as in March 2016 I was over the moon to find out she was pregnant. Now with my boy at 6 months old and my friend at 20 weeks pregnant we are both in very happy places and can't believe the power of the keys and a bit of 'hope'.
-Natalie
