Women say rainbow baby completes family

Two women who lost babies during pregnancy have described how going on to have another child was "a gift".

Joanne Edwards, 39, and Sarah Jackson, 32, have shared how having a rainbow baby, a baby born after a miscarriage or stillbirth, was so "precious".

Ms Edwards from Blackburn, who now has two boys, said the birth of her first son Toby "brought that sparkle back in my eyes".

"He brought me back to being more of a whole person. He's a gift," she said.

Sarah Jackson said eight-week-old Olive has "completed" her family

Ms Edwards, who lost her son Luke in late pregnancy almost 10 years ago, described it as a "devastating" time.

"I quite often tell Toby he's my little hero because he'll never realise that in some ways he saved me," she said.

And she encourages Toby, now seven, and Jacob, five, to regularly talk about their older brother.

"The boys just talk about Luke all the time," Ms Edwards said.

Toby, seven, and Jacob, five said they love their brother Luke who "can fly because he has wings"

"When they first started school back in September this year, they spoke about Luke and what they thought he was doing and they said that they thought he was going to school in heaven and he was walking with his friends that day.

"I love hearing them talk about Luke but then you just get that pang in your heart as well," she said.

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Sarah Jackson, from Stockport, who lost a baby in an ectopic pregnancy described how her "rainbow baby" Olive has "completed" her family, although she said her pregnancy was the hardest thing she had ever been through.

"You don't know what each day's going to bring, you don't know if she's going to be safe," she said.

Ms Jackson said she was overwhelmed when her daughter Olive was born

"You don't know what's round the corner, which is hard because it's the unknown.

"She just seems so much more precious, she seems so much more delicate and it's so amazing that something so good has come after such a rubbish time," she said.

"After all the heartache and you don't know what's going to come at the end of it."

Ms Jackson, who has two boys aged nine and four, said eight-week-old Olive has "completed" the family.

"Not only have I been given this baby I thought wouldn't ever be here, I've been given a girl. It was just so overwhelming. She's just great, we just love her."