When Millie Smith and Lewis Cann learned they would soon become parents, they were ecstatic. Given that their family had a history of twins, Millie had a gut feeling that she was carrying two children, and her mother’s intuition wasn’t mistaken.
Although the scan confirmed that she was definitely carrying twins, doctors could already predict that one of the infants wouldn’t live.
One of their children was diagnosed with anencephaly, a disorder that is fatal and affects the development of the baby’s brain and spinal cord (the fetal nervous system), when Millie gave birth to her at 30 weeks of pregnancy.
Additionally, they were informed that their newborn child had just minutes or hours to live.
Her parents wanted to give her a name before saying their final goodbyes since they knew this. They decided on Skye.
Before Skye was even born, “we knew she needed a name,” Millie remarked.”I wanted to name her during that time because I knew she would only survive for seconds or minutes,” the man said.
She outlined the significance of the name “Skye,” saying it stood for “somewhere we knew she would always be, that we could look up at the sky and remember our baby.”
“Skye died while she was in our arms. The hardest time of our life was right now. I have never before experienced such heartbreak. However, I am proud of her for persevering in her fight to spend time with us.
Skye was only alive for three hours, during which her parents admired her beauty and relished having her in their lives.
After she passed away, the couple received support from a “bereavement midwife” and access to a “Daisy Room,” a place where parents can be with their infant before and after death.
However, after the girl left, no one made any more mention of her. The fact that Millie felt as though her child had never even existed infuriated her.
The majority of the nurses were aware of what had occurred, but as time went on, conversations regarding Skye dried up. The folks around me were unaware of our condition after four weeks since everyone continued to act as if nothing had happened, the distraught mother recalled.
Unaware of Millie’s loss, a mother who had recently given birth to twins on her own told Millie how fortunate she was not to have twins while her second child, Callie, was still in the NICU.
“None of the other parents had any knowledge about Skye or what had happened. The remark was made in good fun and with total innocence.They were not informed that I once owned two.But the comment almost broke me, said Millie. They couldn’t understand why I broke down and fled the room in tears. I lacked the courage to tell them what had occurred. The whole thing could have been averted with a simple sticker.
At this point, Millie had the bright idea to label the incubator with a sticker indicating that one or more of the multiples had died.
She stated, “I chose butterflies because I thought it was appropriate to honor the babies who flew away, and the color purple since it is appropriate for both boys and girls.
Today, her project has developed into The Skye High charity, a charity that helps the purple butterfly movement. So far, has helped spread the idea to hospitals in many other nations.
Numerous presents and accessories are included in the purple butterfly item.
“In the end, I won’t be able to stop this from happening, but the more support groups we can form and measures like the stickers we can implement, the better. It’s the most difficult situation anyone can be in, Millie added.
Callie, her other child, is now seven years old.
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