SHE was Hull's first baby to make her way into the world in 2014. But there was none of the celebration normally associated for the first baby of a new year, as Ruby Louise Randle was stillborn.
Now, her grieving parents Rachel Hopper and Steve Randle have battled through their grief to raise almost £5,000 for research into the causes of stillbirth and to help Hull group Sands, which was set up to help families who lose their babies.
Rachel, 29, said: "I just wanted everyone to remember Ruby and to know her name.
"Parents are extremely protective of their children and when someone has lost a child, the only thing you can be protective of is their memory."
Rachel, 29, and Steve, 33, were overjoyed when they discovered they were expecting their first child.
Rachel felt her baby move on Christmas Day but she realised on Boxing Day that she had not felt her kick so they went to Hull Women and Children's Hospital to be checked on December 27.
It was then, after the midwife could not find a heartbeat and the doctor was called in to perform a scan, they discovered their baby had died.
Rachel said: "It was devastating. We had a normal, healthy baby and we just weren't expecting anything like this."
Their lives torn apart, the couple went back to their home in west Hull to break the news to their devastated families.
They went back to the hospital on New Year's Eve to be induced and Ruby Louise was born at 1.18am, the first baby to be born in Hull in 2014. She weighed 4lbs.
Her parents spent the next two days with her in the bereavement suite at the maternity hospital.
The couple organised a fundraising event at One Stop Golf in National Avenue, west Hull, in September and raised £4,379.
They donated almost £2,000 to Count The Kicks charity, which works on research, and £2,401 split between the national group of Sands and the Hull branch.
Charity's training to help bereaved parents get best careTHE money raised in memory of Ruby Louise Randle will help fund the work of Hull Sands.
The charity is working with Hull Women and Children's Hospital to provide specialist training to ensure bereaved parents are given the best possible care.
It is also working with the midwifery team in refurbishing the second bereavement room on the labour ward at Hull Women and Children Hospital.
Eszti Pontone, treasurer of Hull Sands, said: "Our charity is funded entirely through donations and therefore each one of them makes a huge difference.
"It enables us to continue supporting bereaved families as well as working with professionals to improve the quality of care they provide.
"The donation in Ruby's memory is such an amazing amount.
"It really will make such a tangible difference locally having this kind of amount given to us.
"We are just so very grateful."
About 17 babies die every day in the UK and one in every 200 births ends in stillbirth.
About a third of stillbirths are unexplained.
One in three stillbirths happen at or near term when babies could survive if they were delivered.
One in every 300 babies born will die within the first four weeks.
Hull Sands meet on the first Wednesday of every month at 7.30pm in the Captain's Room, Victoria Dock Village Hall, HU9 1TL.
Visit hull-sands.org.uk for more details.
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