Winsford mum helping others who have suffered baby loss

Giorgia Lovell, a care assistant, said she found talking about the subject bluntly was so much more healthy for her mental well-being, than keeping things bottled up inside.

Back in 2018, Giorgia was pregnant with her first child when her waters broke at just 15 weeks - a condition known as PPROM pregnancy.

An acronym for Pre-term Pre-labour Rupture Of Membranes, the condition occurs when waters break before 36 weeks and is very rare, happening in just two per cent of pregnancies.

Just 23, and working at a children's nursery at the time, she told the Guardian: "I'd read a leaflet about it a few weeks before and it wasn't even something I was aware could happen to people.

"I had no warning, no pain and I was just 15 weeks in.

"I was at work at the nursery and I just stood up off a chair and my waters went.

"It wasn't until I got to the hospital and described what had happened to me did I know what it was.

"I was told I'd probably go into labour within 72 hours but I didn't.

"I carried my daughter for 23 weeks until she was stillborn."

Baby Roman is now 11 weeks old

Giorgia, who is now 26, was told at the time the only option available for her was to terminate the pregnancy, however, after finding an organisation called Little Heart Beats online, she was given support and hope that her daughter could actually survive.

"Loads of women are told when their waters go that termination is the only option," she added.

"I received advised from hundreds of women, from all around the world, who had gone through what I had, and they told me my baby had a chance.

"I told the hospital I wanted to carry on with the pregnancy and I was due to go to the Liverpool Women's Hospital to view their neo-natal unit, but I delivered her a few days before.

"I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't give her that chance.

"I was still going every week for growth scans but because there was no fluid around her, it was difficult, but there was still a heartbeat just a couple of days before being told it had stopped."

After giving birth to daughter Darla, who is described as having curly hair, Giorgia said how difficult it was, but that she felt lucky to have at least given her the chance.

"It was really really hard because you have no other choice but to deliver," she said.

"We made the decision to carry on and we met our daughter and seen her curly hair and although our situation didn't have a good outcome, so many women are having babies that survive this condition that isn't spoken about.

"A lot of women don't even know it exists."

Giorgia and her partner Kev and baby Roman

Despite suffering from post traumatic stress following the tragic loss, Giorgia and partner Kev have recently welcomed a beautiful boy called Roman into the world, and she now wants to help other women going through the same problems she did.

"Until you've had three miscarriages, you're not looked at to see why it might be happening," she said.

"I've had Roman, who's 11 weeks old now and he's fine, fit and well, but I had struggled to bond with my bump due to PTSD.

"I just want to try and help remove the stigma from baby loss.

"It makes you feel so alienated, because even people close to you can't seem to look at you in the face.

"I just prefer brutal, honest questions, because I think it helps to be able to talk about these things."

More information about PPROM pregnancy and the support on offer can be found at little-heartbeats.org.uk.