Ireland's 17th memorial stone for babies lost before, during and after birth unveiled in Wicklow
The stone, at Bray's Springfield Cemetery, is now the 17th such stone in the country, and was over a year in the works for Beth Walsh, who secured funding from The Miscarriage Association of Ireland.
The association is aware that some babies lost through miscarriage have their own resting place in a family plot or grave, but there are some babies who only get to share in women's lives very briefly, and they have no lasting marker, or no resting place at all.
Countless numbers of parents have reached out to the association expressing their wish to have a permanent feature to commemorate their baby, a peaceful place to visit, where they could spend some quiet time in reflection and to remember.
For Beth, Bray's Springfield Cemetery couldn't have provided a more beautiful setting for the memorial stone that she unveiled on Wednesday, April 30, high up in the grounds with its backdrop of the Sugarloaf Mountain.
Fr Michael O'Kelly was there on a day blessed with sunshine, to give a blessing of his own and to share a few thoughtful words to remember all the women who, like Beth, have experienced loss but feel there is no place there for them to grieve.
Also present at the unveiling were Beth's husband, Arturo Zindel and little baby Sebastian, along with Springfield Cemetery registrar Tony McNerney and caretaker Kevin Cullinan.
Remarking on the 'beautiful space' that Tony and Kevin had provided, Beth hoped that it will now serve as a place for women to feel a 'little bit less alone in their experience', if they have gone through a miscarriage.
'I had two losses over the last few years, and I remember speaking to a doctor, in Holles Street, and they told me that for the majority of women that lose babies, they don't have a place that they can go to grieve,' Beth said.
"I just started to research ways that you could remember babies that you've lost and came across the initiative from the Miscarriage Association of Ireland. So the association sponsored the stone, but the request comes from the community. There is one in Greystones, so I asked them if we could get one placed here. And I got permission from Wicklow County Council to get it placed.
'Unless you've gone through it, I don't think you really understand how lonely the experience can be,' she said, of her own loss.
'I just thought this is something that would be great for the community. It's a place where all women can go, to feel a little bit less alone in their experience. Also, I think it's really important for women, especially women, to have a place to be able to grieve their loss. Because oftentimes people will will go through that loss and, you know, they have nothing to show for it afterwards. So this is a place where they can feel united in their loss with other people, I guess. Because I think it's not spoken about enough and I think women can be forgotten.'
At the ceremony, Beth read a poem that she had chosen for the occasion, by Donna Ashworth, called Love Came First, because 'it just reminds me of the experience of losing a baby'.
The closing line is: 'Remember. Grief came to you my friend, because love came first.'
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