Sarah writes: "Back in July we were looking forward immensely to the birth of our first child, Sunday 21st July and another lovely sunny day and only 2 weeks and 2 days to go before our baby was due. We went on our last trip to Mothercare before our baby was born for yet more baby and maternity products.

Monday 22nd July at a routine 38 week antenatal check-up with one of the community midwives here at Ilkley thought there was something wrong with our baby, and asked one of the other midwives for a second opinion.

On examination she decided to carry out an ultrasound scan on a very small portable machine. This is when our lives began a whole new direction… the scan showed that there was a dark area in the scull which shouldn’t be there.

Baby Sophie

We were referred immediately to Airedale and the Anti Natal Unit for further assessment where it was confirmed that there was an abnormality in our baby’s skull, this was in fact showing as a 7cm cyst in the left hemisphere.

This was as much information their machines were capable of giving us and we were given an appointment for Thursday 25th July at the Fetal Assessment Unit at LGI.

After an agonising few days Thursday 25th July arrived and so did we at LGI… We were taken into a room where there was a scan machine which seemed to be capable of investigating so much… we were then shown into another room where we were asked to wait while they compiled the results.

We both admit now that we knew what was coming and didn’t really want to hear it.

We were told that they were ever so sorry… but our baby’s brain had suffered so much damage from the cyst that the prognosis was very clear… our baby was going to die.

Our feelings at this point are indescribable.

After many discussions with the team at LGI we came to a heartbreaking decision to let our baby sleep forever. We feel she died in a familiar and comfortable environment without pain and distress.

Our baby was then delivered the following day at Airedale General Hospital Sophie was delivered by C Section, which would have been the inevitable method of delivery due to her head being so swollen. As soon as she was delivered they held her up and announced 'it’s a girl'. She was then handed straight to us all warm and so beautiful and perfect. The delivery experience was in every way what we’d asked for and more… it was still a fantastic and emotional experience.

26th July 2002 at 11.32am we had a beautiful baby girl - Sophie Rae Robinson, - 7lb 3oz and we spent the next 24 hours with her and they were the most memorable 24 hours we have ever had.

We agreed for a post mortum, which actually showed that Sophie had suffered a cyst on the left side of her brain known now as an Arachnoid cyst. This cyst was very deep within the brain tissue and would have been completely inoperable. There would have been nothing we could have done. It was inevitable from the start that this would be the outcome.

We are so proud to have given birth to such a beautiful baby girl, just very sad we couldn’t keep her.

Due to our circumstances we used the family room, on the Labour Ward at Airedale General Hospital which you can both stay in together. This was an absolute godsend and we like many others who have had to use it I’m sure are very grateful of those who have made the room possible.

The staff there were very supportive and showed all three of us the respect we so rightfully deserved. Even when they bathed and dressed Sophie they were talking to her. I can’t fault anything at all, the only thing I would wish to change from this experience is to not have lost my baby – this nobody could have prevented or changed.

We managed to raise £460 for the Family Room at the hospital through family and friends donating at Sophie’s funeral service which we and the Labour Ward are very grateful of – we have taken it to the hospital along with some suggestions to what they could spend the money on due to us probably being the longest residents the room has had – due to the C-section recovery time.

The hospital is very well prepared for stillbirth and they had taken hand and footprints and a lock of hair as well as numerous photos. These we will treasure forever.

Sophie's poem

Coming home was one of the many terrible experiences we have had to deal with - we came home empty handed to the empty cot, the empty nursery, now known as Sophie’s room until we are blessed with new life to fill it.The immediate feeling is of empty arms. They ache from wanting to cradle your newborn baby and there is nothing there.

10 weeks on and we are joining together with a group of other women who have lost babies during pregnancy, at birth or soon after to pioneer a national Babyloss Day on October 15th.

The aim is to give bereaved parents a way of remembering their children who may have only lived briefly but were dearly loved. The day is the first to be held in the UK and runs alongside pregnancy and infant loss awareness month in the United States.

All over the world at 7pm people will light candles. It will be like a wave of light for all the babies that are lost.

We are selling Babyloss ribbon pins. Money raised will go towards national charities helping bereaved parents.

The day is for anyone who has lost a baby, at whatever stage of development and however long the baby lived inside them because the deep feelings of sadness and emptiness can be just the same.

Whether they suffered a miscarriage, failed IVF, stillbirth or neonatal death it is still the loss of a baby and the loss of hopes and dreams for the future.

Parents who lose babies have similar feelings to anybody who experiences the death of someone they love. They may need to do all the things that bereaved people do - crying, talking, finding ways of remembering, saying goodbye.

In our society we don't talk about death. And we certainly don't talk about the death of babies. It really is taboo. People don't know how to deal with it.

People are frightened of upsetting you. But those tears are there anyway and it is good to get them out.

We want to play a part in raising awareness of baby loss so that people can grieve freely and openly without embarrassment or fear.

Since Sophie was born sleeping 10 weeks ago all we’ve wanted to do is talk about her and have found great comfort from many websites including www.babyloss.com, an on-line support group. As well as the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society (Sands) based at Airedale General Hospital.

Babyloss ribbon pins are available from www.babyloss.com, pregnancy assessment clinics, maternity units and support groups across the country, for a suggested donation of £1. All profits will be split equally between the Miscarriage Association, Sands, Antenatal Results and Choices, Ectopic Pregnancy Trust and the Babyloss Fund."