While this Sunday is a deserved day of celebration for mums everywhere, for some it’s a day tinged with sadness.
It’s with this in mind that Hannah Pontillo has created cards for mums whose children were stillborn.
It’s a grief she knows all to well. Her son Dexy was stillborn at 36 weeks in 2017.
“Afterwards people forgot I was a mother,” Hannah, from East Sussex, told The Mirror.
“But I hadn’t stopped being one just because my baby died.”
She got in touch with greetings card company Thortful at Father’s Day last year after struggling to find an appropriate card for her husband Phil.
“Every card I looked at mentioned in one way or another something about growing up, tying shoelaces, playing and looking after your child,” she said.
“It is extremely hard when you have never done any of that with your own son.”
Thortful agreed that families like theirs should be included in special days and helped Hannah to create the cards.
The profits will go to Kicks Count, a UK stillbirth charity.
“We are unspoken about (stillbirths), and it needs to change,” she continued.
“I am a mum. Like all mums, I went through pregnancy. I got an aching back and swollen feet. I gave birth. I have a son – you just can’t see him.
“It is time we broke the silence. Being asked to help design a range of cards for bereaved mothers like myself has been an honour.”
Happily, last year brought joy for Hannah and Phil as they welcomed son River in December.
You can view the range of cards here.
