A Chatham couple who experienced the tragic loss of their own daughter a year ago is hoping to raise enough money to purchase a cooling device for the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance that will allow parents to spend a little more time with their stillborn children.
Andrew Foster and his wife Jennifer were over the moon about the upcoming birth of their second daughter, Claire Rebekah Rose. However, at 38 weeks pregnant, Jennifer went for one of her last routine check-ups when the couple received devastating news.
"We were so excited, everything was going normally," said Andrew. "My wife went for her last [doctor] visit... and he couldn't find a heartbeat. She went for an extensive ultrasound at the hospital and still couldn't find a heartbeat."
After delivery in November 2019, it was determined that Claire had a blood clot in her umbilical cord.
"Earth-shaking doesn't even cover it," said Andrew. "After the pain of either a C-section or delivery, you're only allowed to hold onto the child for a couple of hours before you have to surrender the body back to the hospital for processing. It's not nearly enough time."
According to Andrew, it took lots of support from family, friends, and the couple's other young daughter, Ella, to help them cope with losing Claire. He said it was during their time in the hospital that the couple learned about a CuddleCot.
According to Statistics Canada, there were 3,061 stillbirths across the country in 2018. The CuddleCot is used in hospital maternity wards to help cool a stillborn baby's body, preserving it for a day or two longer and allowing grieving parents more time to say goodbye.
"As a means of distracting ourselves further, my wife started going into research for this and realized that they're not part of the regular tools for the hospital," Andrew explained. "They have to be donated. After talking it over, we decided we were going to try and do a GoFundMe for the Chatham hospital so anybody else that has this happen to them, they have more time to say goodbye."
As they mark the first anniversary of Claire's birth, the Foster family is continuing their healing journey. They're hoping bringing a CuddleCot to the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance can help other local families who find themselves dealing with a similar tragedy while also honouring Claire's memory.
"My daughter, we talk about Claire all the time," said Andrew. "She kind of fluctuates between thinking that she can go visit her sister when she wants or pretend sister, that type of thing, she's adjusting. Myself, it hurts to think about, obviously, but I do all the time... My wife has been having the hardest of it, which is obvious. But, for our daughter, for me, for our family, she tries her best to stay in the here and now."
A link to the Foster family's GoFundMe can be found by clicking here.