My name is Corrina Gething and I am 20 years old. I moved to Wales in 2005 to begin a nursing course at Cardiff University, however during this time I fell pregnant and moved into Penarth with my boyfriend, John Coombes. The pregnancy was a particularly bad one, which forced me to take a gap year away from nursing due to ill health. It also eventually resulted in the miscarriage of my baby boy, John Andrew, at 20 weeks on the 21st November 2006 at the University Hospital of Wales.

After I had delivered my child I was asked a series of long and hard questions about what I would like to be done with my son. The midwifery staff were all extremely kind and made a booklet for my partner and I, which contained a hospital tag, a picture of my son, his handprints and footprints. I was also given a sheet of paper that said that my son was an unviable foetus that had miscarried at 20 weeks.

This horrified my partner and I and both are families and it is this point I wish to address to you in this letter. My son what a perfect little baby with fingers and toes and a beautiful face I feel that it is unjust for anyone to have the right to say that my child did not exist. If I had lost my baby 4 weeks later he would have been classed as a stillbirth, birth is what I gave to my son. My son lived and died and I for one feel that a loss of a child is something that nothing can prepare you for and no one can ever fully recover from but I feel that the acknowledgement that the child you loved lived can at least make you feel less angry at the world. Babies under 24 weeks in rare cases are surviving and living their lives this is why I feel that my child and all the other children who have been lost deserve a birth and a death certificate to acknowledge and legalise their existence.

I am now wishing to begin a petition to get the governement to review how they handle women after miscarriages, I personally think that women who wanted their babies and gave birth after 18 weeks should get a birth and death certificate to acknowledge their childs existance in this world. A miscarriage is hard enough without being told that your baby wasn't baby but rather and unviable foetus.

Please reply with your viewpoints on here or to corrina1986@yahoo.co.uk

Many Thanks

hi
im so sorry for what youve had to go through, i have recently had a miscarriage and have found it really difficult to come to terms with it but reading your story has made me realise that although i am suffering my own sad loss, i am still lucky enough to not have had to go through your experience. a friend of my mums went through the same thing as you and had to give birth to her miscarried son, she too felt that the birth and death should have been recorded so that her babys excistence was acknowledged. im sure there are plenty of people that would agree, so dont give up, i think you should do everything you can to get the government to change their view!!!

I cant even begin to imagine what you and your husband have been through and are still going through. I have a colleague at work who has gone through exactly the same thing and in her & my eyes she is and will always be a Mum to that baby that so say was unviable.

Good luck for the future and best wishes to you both

Rach
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