Brooke Richardson

♥ Brooke Richardson ♥
Born: 1/11/05
Died: 21/9/06
Age: 10 months
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Brooke was born on 1st November 2005 at 38 weeks weighing a healthy 6lb 2oz. She was mine and my
husband Paul's second child and a beautiful little sister for our 12 year old daughter Grace.
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Grace had always asked for a baby brother or sister since she was 8 years old and as her mum i
wanted to give her that as many parents would do anything for their children. Grace's wishes
were remaining unanswered and by the time Grace was 9 years old we had given up any hope of being
able to give her the baby brother or sister that she always wanted.
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Then a week before Grace's 10th birthday i started to feel unwell. I just put this down to a
stomach bug. Then on Grace's birthday i was feeling even worse, i couldnt even bend over to
help her with her presents. The day after her birthday (23/4/05) i awoke feeling sick. Then i
realised, we still hadn't given up the chance of giving Grace a sibling. Could this be morning
sickness?
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After taking 3 pregnancy tests to be sure, i told my husband Paul the good news and to this day i
can still picture the massive smile on his face when i told him. Then there was Grace, well her
little face when i told her she was just gleaming and said "this is the best late birthday
present in the world mum!" She started preparing for her little brother or sisters birth and
even made a welcome sign.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When i was 16 weeks pregnant and went for my scan
the hospital asked me if i would like to know the sex of my baby, i knew that Grace would want a
baby sister more than a baby brother so i said no, as i wanted it to be a surprise.
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My pregnancy was very good until 38 weeks when my waters broke with just under 2 weeks to go and
when i held my little baby for the first time i had forgotton the feeling that you get when you have
a baby as it had been a long time since Grace was born. The first time Grace got to see her she came
in and said proudly "i am a big sister now" and then she asked me if it was a girl or boy
and when i told her that she had a little sister she just said one word to sum up her feelings
"GREAT"
We let Grace pick her name and she chose Brooke, what a beautiful name, i couldn't pick one
better myself
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Brooke was a fantastic little baby, and hardly ever cried, just like Grace. Grace adored her new
baby sister and was always taking her for walks to show her off and eventhough i never planned to
have another child after Grace until Grace asked me i loved Brooke and was so glad that we had her.
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Brooke was thriving then on the night of 20th September 2006 i put Brooke to bed as usual and Grace
gave her a kiss goodnight, we were not to know that this would be the last time the we saw Brooke
alive.
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When i woke on 21st september i could sense someting was not right and i will never forget the image
that i saw when i went into Brooke's room. She was just lieing there, helpless. I picked her up
and just sat down and cried and it wasnt until the paramedics had arrived (which my husband had
called) that the just said " I am so sorry... " those words will haunt me forever.
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The doctors couldn't tell me what had happened to Brooke other than the cause of her death was
"cot death"?
One happy, loving family was broken apart by a word that doctors used when they were unsure of what
really happened. We were left a heartbroken mum and dad. Grace was left without the little sister
that she always wanted and to this day we still dont know the real cause other than the simple
excuse "cot death"
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Please leave a message or light a candle for Brooke. Many thanks to those who have already done so,
either myself or my husband will be visiting your individual sites.