Jean’s Stocking Fundraiser

Turning Fear into Hope for Mothers & Babies Around the World

Mine and Jean's story

In 2025, I became pregnant with my second child Jean Mary Belford. My husband and I had just bought our dream house, gotten married in February and were excited to be starting a new chapter as a family of 4.

The week of our wedding, I experienced cramping and bleeding so presented to the emergency department. We hadn't had a dating scan so had no confirmation of how far along the pregnancy was but had done the preliminary blood tests. The emergency department found a heart beat but said I may be experiencing a miscarriage. As a precaution they took my blood so it was on record should I present at a later date and need a blood transfusion. 

Everything was fine but the blood test showed I had antibodies. It was dumb luck we found out about the antibodies and we were referred to a Fetal Medicine Unit (FMU) as a high risk pregnancy.

From then Jean received fortnightly scans of her middle cerebral artery (MCA). The MCA scans assess for fetal anaemia. We were assured this was caught early and as we were being scanned fortnightly, we would be able to act quickly if anything happened. 

Time passed and we kept on track with our fortnightly scans and we got to enjoy our little Jeanie baby. She was a party girl! Jean would wriggle around while my husband and daughter would watch her. My older daughter enjoyed poking my belly to see Jean poke back. Jean would often wake me up in the middle of the night and I'd have to rub my belly to get her to go to back to sleep. This was similar to her older sister who still, at 13, likes her back tickled to fall asleep. 

On 29 July 2025, my husband and I presented to the Maternal Assessment Unit (MAU) of the Hospital as I noticed decreased movement. We received an ECG and were sent home as Jean showed "reassuring features". I was assured she was a big healthy baby. We then attended our ordinary appointment and were told Jean was showing signs of fetal anaemia. Again, out of sheer dumb luck, we were seen 2 days later and a decision was made for Jean to be born 4 days later. However, after noticing further decreased movement we attended the Hospital again and Jean was born via c-section within 2 hours of us arriving. As soon as she was taken from my body, she was taken from the room to the NICU.

Jean received a double exchange transfusion 4 hours after birth. During this exchange transfusion Jean experienced a cardiac episode for a period of 9 minutes. Within 12 hours after my c-section, I jumped out of bed and was wheeled to the NICU to see my party girl receiving the end of the her CPR. We were told Jean was recovering and while it was precarious, they had seen other cases where a baby bounced back. 

I felt like if I just felt positive thoughts about her, Jean would come home. Jean was so beautiful. She was 51.5cm and 2.94kgs (or 6lb7oz for our American friends). I read to Jean, prayed over her, sat with her in silence, put cream on her feet and tickled her like I knew she loved. I still had not held Jean and I did not sleep for 3 days from the Saturday night before she was born to 2nd day of her life. I eventually had to be sedated because while my body knew I had to be awake, my brain was failing me.

On the 3rd day of Jean's life I received a call from the NICU and ran up two flights of stairs to her. They had noticed a decrease in her brain activity but wanted an MRI to confirm it. That night, Jean was baptised.

On the 4th day of Jean's life, my husband and I sat in the room and prayed but the MRI confirmed our worse fears. The cardiac episode Jean had during the exchange transfusion caused a massive brain injury she could not recover from. 

On the 5th day of Jean's life, I held her in my arms and while I had my eyes closed because I couldn't watch I felt as her little lungs took their last breaths. The sound I heard myself make when Jean took her last breath is not a sound I have ever heard myself make before and it's a sound I hope I never hear again. 

I have come to realise it's the sound of a mother's heart breaking. 

How Allo Hope has helped our Family and Families like ours

I wish I had found Allo Hope earlier. Allo Hope has been guiding our family through our grief ever since they found us. They have also been an extraordinary source of information and support as we learn what happened to Jean but also as we get closer to starting our next journey.

Your donation today helps:

• Put a support booklet in the hands of a newly diagnosed mother so she can advocate for her baby

• Fund a blood-type test or Rh immunoglobulin dose for a mother in a low resource country.

• Connect a family with a maternal–fetal specialist experienced in HDFN.

• Advance research and education to prevent stillbirths and infant deaths caused by alloimmunization and HDFN.

Thank you for helping us honour Jean and for standing with families facing HDFN around the world. Your generosity brings education, treatment, and hope to those who need it most.