From people who contributed their experience of stillbirth

Creating artwork in Miller’s memory and naming a dot after him means the world to me. It’s a way to honor his brief but impactful life, giving him a lasting place in the universe. Each time I look at the art or think of his dot, I feel closer to him, reminded that he’ll always be a part of my life. This tribute offers comfort and a sense of connection, allowing his legacy to shine on, even in his absence.

Sharing our stories and showing the world how many babies die to stillbirth and are loved and missed by their parents will help to get the message across that these babies matter and they are our children forever like any other [living] child.

When dealing with a loss of a child it’s tough to find anyone who can relate. I find it helps me to hear other people’s experiences. It makes me feel not alone.

It is a feeling of belonging. Thanks for producing this artwork to raise awareness. I am also researching stigma around stillbirth and have emailed you.

I liked reading other parents messages. When I saw some people lost more than one child and I've been crying every day all day for my one and only baby, I am realising that I am not thankful enough to my Lord and that He will definitely help me.

Any way that we can share about stillbirth is worthwhile to get the conversation going to hopefully get more funding into research. I found this artwork comforting to hear other stories and I loved being able to share my baby boy's story in another way. Our greatest fear as bereaved parents is our baby being forgotten and this type of thing helps us to share about them and a piece of them will always exist through this.

It's a platform for expressing emotions which other people around us cannot understand.

Elke poging het taboe te doorbreken is welkom. 2 Weken na de doodgeboorte van onze Max beviel mijn jongste zusje van een zoontje. Vanaf die dag mocht er in mijn familie niet meer over ons verdriet en Max gesproken worden. Ook in de familie van mijn man was het onderwerp onbespreekbaar. Dit heeft geleid tot een totale breuk met de families. Door de fouten in het ziekenhuis tijdens/voor de bevalling heb ik een hersenbeschadiging opgelopen; mijn vertrouwen in de medische wereld heb ik daardoor onherstelbaar verloren. We geloven ook niet meer in communities, als puntje bij paaltje komt moet je het toch zelf zien te redden. : Each attempt to break the taboo is welcome. Two weeks after the stillbirth of our Max my youngest sister gave birth to a son. From that day onwards, nobody in my family was allowed to speak about our sadness and Max. Also in my husband’s family we couldn’t talk about this subject. It caused a total break with the families. Because of mistakes during the birth I incurred brain damage; this made me lose faith in the medical world irreversibly. We also don’t believe in communities anymore, when push comes to shove, you have to be able to fend for yourself.

It's not often you get to talk about your baby, and any platform to do so is helpful to processing your loss be it recent or past.

I am always speaking out regarding the taboo.

By reading other people's experiences and realising the shared themes involved enables a validation of your own feelings and sense of community. However conversly, having a unique dot, and own words expressed, with differences in what we wish to express brings the importance of our individual babies memories.

I do feel artwork can bring together lots of people, wether they’ve experienced loss or not, and encourage them to talk about baby loss. Baby loss does come with this unnecessary taboo that it’s somehow not ok to talk about it. That it’s not ok to bring up the subject or mention people’s baby’s so not to upset them. Personally I found it more upsetting not having my baby mentioned or talked about. I think the artwork can also help people feel less alone, that they’re not shut out of the world because their baby died. It may be comforting to read about people’s experiences, maybe even to find common ground with others. To find comfort, hope, answers, knowledge and understanding.

Feeling someone elsewhere has gone through the same experience and overcame it to a point of sharing brings hope. No one is to blame, no one is to be separated/secluded because of the loss. Those who aren't directly affected should try and understand the bereaved.

Its let's people see that they are not alone, and that there are other people out there going through the same things.

Bringing people together and reading other people's statements makes you realise you are not alone. People do not realise the continuous pain you suffer after a loss. Nobody talks about it but all you want to do is talk about your baby and to have your pain and baby acknowledged.

It will (help break the taboo on stillbirth) as this is a subject not talked about. I talk about my little girl born sleeping all the time. She is one of our family too and always will be. I believe I have 7 children, not just 3 and that is what I tell people. It also helps them understand who I am as a person: kind, compassionate and caring.

As a bereaved mum, I need to talk, I need to express my emotions, I have lost a child, and the excuse of friends even family members of "I didn't ask you because I don't want to hurt you" hurt me. If you don't take care of me and my child who has gone, she was here, she has existed,... let me talk about my short memories with her.

To a point. Nice to be able to add her name, another way to remember she lived and is loved alongside all the other babies

A wonderful chance to share and talk about my Ellie and her story.

Amazing project really truly amazing!

From people who visited the Each Egg a World artwork

It happens to all sorts of people

I can relate to the comments that I read having experience stillbirth five years ago with my baby Jonas. It's important that we can all be more open about stillbirth and support those families who are going through the trauma. It's essential that more research is done to help avoid little lives being lost. Thank you for your work Adinda in helping stillbirth be talked about and understood.

I was surprised at how common stillbirth is and reflected that it isn’t seen or spoken about as part of many people’s lives. It made me think about health inequalities and how women’s health is more broadly still taboo.

My first understanding of baby loss was when I was a child and my mum cried. She was 39 weeks pregnant and was told her babies heart had stopped beating. I remember sobbing for her, for her baby and for the big brother who would never never meet his younger sibling. Again, when I was in my 20s a colleague went on maternity leave, but without a baby to cradle in her arms and again I sobbed for her. Neither time did I speak to the women about this loss, I only projected my feelings onto them. Flash forward to my first pregnancy loss (at 14 weeks) and I felt a pain I didn’t know it was possible to live through…suddenly I had an idea and I remembered those women and I remembered weeping for them, and I knew my pain was not the same. This artwork is beautiful and perfect and important. Parents left with a gaping space in their arms and hearts deserves place to express that. Well done.

Today, 10 years after the stillbirth of my dear niece, I am reminded of the importance of breaking the taboo on this subject. I experience much love for her, even though I never got to see her alive in this life. I hope someday all people experiencing stillbirth will be able to share this great grief freely, and that they feel understood and supported. Thank you, dear sister, for speaking up!

I once worked closely with three young women who were all expecting their first child at roughly the same time. Two gave birth to a healthy baby, a son and daughter respectively. The third suffered a stillbirth. It was very difficult to know what to say in the circumstances - the joy of two women and the devastation of the third. She left the company, moved away and eventually had a healthy child. Life moved on. The need to say anything seemed to have been overtaken by events. I think through this artwork and the testimonies of others I now understand what she was going through and have a better idea of what I could have/should have said.

Stillbirth is still taboo. A lonely place to be because our community turns away and people don't want to talk about the fact that babies sometimes die.

So many people going through the same heartache.

It was very moving and made me realise the importance of breaking the taboo in order that people can share their experiences. I hope that Each Egg a World raises awareness and helps to bring support to those that have experienced this terrible loss.

It's beautiful to read how much love people feel for their babies but so sad they had to lose them. It's also made me aware of how important it is to let people talk about their baby and to actively ask questions about them rather than ignore the issue.

This is painful to get an insight to but important for everyone to understand. Thank you to everyone that shared their stories.

The artist should be proud to have provided a forum for such powerful human experiences, which still functions aesthetically. It will be intriguing to see the transformation in the work as statements accrue, with more and more detail at greater zoom levels. The art object here has true potential social impact.

The human spirit in the face of such great pain and loss is in powerful evidence throughout the contributed statements. No matter the distance in time, the memory cannot be escaped, and the artwork can only help a wider understanding of the grief and love of bereaved parents in a society which still suffers over and over again.

Tenemos que dar visibilidad. - We have to give visibility.