The new parent Scot and Claire Barlow were cradling with a tiny baby girl in their arms and posing for numerous photographs.
The professional shoot by Victoria Doyle is heart touching and it was booked in advance by the couple for the baby Ariana. The photographer specializes in baby photography and portraits.
This is the only photoshoot that will be kept by the Barlows of Warwickshire with their daughter Ariana Hope. Those were the precious and heart breaking moments as the couple end the precious 37 hours with the baby.
Scot told- ‘Claire was scared to hold her as, after we lost Ariana, she was placed in a cuddle cot (or a cold cot) beside the bed, so she just looked like she was sleeping. To hold her would make it real that she was gone.’
The photographer Victoria managed to encourage the parents to hold Ariana for the last time and the last photographs were extremely beautiful.
Ariana lost her life due to medical ailment Trisomy 18 of which the parents were aware. Scot and Claire are going to light a candle today for Ariana who lost her life because of chromosome condition.
This heartbreaking story with photographs was shared by Mirror Online and illustrated the striking impression that their daughter made on them and the legacy with which she left.
What is Trisomy 18?
At the anomaly of 20 week the parents were told about their daughter having Trisomy 18. It was noticed that she had only one kidney and a hole in heart. Due to high risk of miscarriage, Amniocentesis was declined.
For closer testing in the later stage of pregnancy, the couple was referred to Birmingham’s Women’s Hospital. Trisomy 18 case happen one out of 6000 pregnancies in United Kingdom. Henceforth most of the babies are either miscarried or stillborn.
When the obstetrician pointed about the symptoms of Trisomy 18 in Ariana, the parents did complete research on that. After the research, the couple decided to continue the pregnancy
One and A Half Day- That Was It!
31 October, 2014 was the day when Scot and Claire met their daughter for first time. Despite of the odds, Ariana survived the birth with the weight of 4 lbs 5.5 oz. When the couple saw Ariana that was an overwhelming moment and they were happy that she could make it to life. That moment just replaced the fear with joy and excitement regardless of her condition.
The baby was taken into a Special Care Baby Unit on respiratory ventilator for 12 hours. At this time Trisomy 18 was confirmed. The maternity staff at George Eliot Hospital made the moments precious by facilitating the Barlows to spend the maximum time with their baby.
The couple is full of praise for the staff as the statements came out uttering-
‘They were truly amazing and made us feel so loved and looked after.’
‘That first night was spent with us and Claire’s mother taking turns holding her and making sure she was still breathing as we did not think she would survive the night’.
‘When she did, we were so excited and started to discuss preparing to take her home, and we were shown how to feed and change her.’
‘Being able to make those memories with her was so precious.’
‘Unfortunately, her oxygen levels in her blood decreased and she went to sleep at 11.30pm on November 1st.’
‘We were obviously devastated as we had almost started to believe we could take her home and spend some time as a family at home.’
The Photo shoot
After the news of 20 week they hired a professional photographer Victoria.‘We had been excited to have our first baby and wanted to capture the start of our family.’ ‘Once we lost Ariana, we e-mailed her and informed her that we would be unable to attend the photo shoot due to bereavement.’ “Completely out of the blue, she e-mailed back with her sympathies, and informed us that she too had lost her first child to Trisomy 18.” Scot and Claire were driven off by the empathy and kindness of Victoria. Scot told- ‘she said she would come and see us that day free of charge and even offered to refund the deposit for the original photo shoot.’
‘We declined as we wanted her to save something for the photographers she took, which now adorn our walls, phones and windowsills.’
‘Without the pictures of Victoria they would have only rushed dim light pictures from phone. They said that Ariana was tactful and helped us to capture the beautiful pictures in sad circumstances.’
‘She was even happy to take photos of Ariana with her aunties, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents with her, providing us all with invaluable memories.’
‘Victoria has remained in contact with us ever since.’
With brief and everlasting impression left by Ariana, Barlows have started a charity in her name. With the charity foundation they anticipated that the parents with poorly babies will get the fantastic support as they got.
