Madelaine Vasile: 'ENCOURAGE CONVERSATION'

THE LOSS OF TWO BABIES HAS INSPIRED THIS SYDNEY MUM TO SUPPORT OTHERS

- Jodie Wolf

While last month was International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, Madelaine Vasile, 31, is on a year-round mission to raise awareness and funds for The Pink Elephants Support Network, which offers support to people who've experienced early pregnancy loss. Madelaine set up the Heaven's Nursery Project to help her in this mission and to provide a space for grieving families to share their stories.

The project was founded after Madelaine and her husband, Joey, experienced two miscarriages earlier this year, one at seven weeks in February and another at 10 weeks in August. "I was struggling to find something to turn my pain into something positive," Madelaine, from Sydney, tells WHO. She decided to share her story on social media. "The amount of people who reached out and who opened up to me about their stories, it hit me that while miscarriage is still really quite a taboo topic, those affected do want to speak about it."

Miscarriage affected Madelaine and Joey profoundly. After trying for their second baby for six months - the couple have a 2-year-old daughter - they conceived again, but Madelaine says she didn't feel "100 per cent pregnant" and kept wanting to take pregnancy tests to be sure. At around seven weeks, she started "spotting". Despite her levels of the pregnancy hormone hCG rising, Madelaine decided to have an ultrasound.