Millie Smith and Lewis Cann were overjoyed to find they would soon become parents. Millie’s intuition told her that she was actually carrying two kids, and her mother was right—especially considering the large number of twins in their family.
The scan confirmed that she was definitely having twins, but the doctors realized right away that one of the infants wouldn’t have much of a chance to survive.
They were told that one of their daughters, who was delivered at thirty weeks pregnant, had anencephaly, a deadly condition marked by abnormal brain and spinal cord development in the fetus.
They were also told that their contented little one was only going to live just a few hours or minutes.
Knowing this, her parents wanted to give her a name before they could say goodbye to one another. They decided on the name Skye.
“We were aware that Skye required a name prior to her birth,” Millie remarked.”I wanted her to be named in the few seconds or minutes that she would live, knowing that.”
“Skye meant somewhere we knew she would always be, that we could look up at the sky and remember our baby,” the speaker clarified.
“Skye died while we were holding her. The lowest point of our life was this. I’ve never experienced heartbreak quite like that. However, I am honored that she persevered for such a long period to be with us.
Skye’s parents relished her presence and admired her beauty during the brief three hours of her life.
In order to help them deal with the loss, the couple was given access to a “bereavement midwife” and a “Daisy Room,” which is a place where parents may spend time with their child both before and after death.
But after the girl left, nobody spoke of her anymore. It infuriated Millie to feel as though her baby had never existed at all.
The majority of the nurses knew what had happened, but as time went on, nobody spoke about Skye. The bereaved mother stated that after roughly four weeks, “everyone acted as though nothing had happened, meaning the families around me had no idea about our situation.”
Unaware of Millie’s loss, a mother who had recently given birth to twins on her own complimented her on her lack of twins while Callie, her second child, remained in the NICU.
“The other parents were unaware of Skye’s situation or anything that had occurred to her. The remark was more lighthearted and entirely innocent.They were not to be aware that I had two at one time.Millie went on, “But I almost broke from the comment.” They had no idea why I had sobbed as I hurried out of the room. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them what had transpired. That whole thing could have been prevented with only a sticker.
At this point, Millie had the notion to mark the incubator with a sticker that would indicate the loss of one or more of the infants in a set of multiples.
“I picked butterflies because I thought it was appropriate to honor the babies that departed, and purple because it works well for both boys and girls,” she said.
Her project has now developed into The Skye High charity, a charity that funds the purple butterfly project. Thus far, it has assisted in bringing the concept to hospitals throughout numerous countries.
There are many different gifts and accessories available in the purple butterfly goods.
“In the end, I won’t be able to stop this from happening, but it will be better if we can establish more support groups and implement measures like the stickers. It’s the most difficult thing for anyone to handle, Millie remarked.
Callie, her other daughter, is seven years old today.
