Every year, actress Kym Marsh celebrates the birthday of her son Archie, who died in 2009 after being born just 21 weeks into her pregnancy.
She held her son and organised a funeral for him. Now, her family remembers him at Christmas, and her 13-year-old daughter, born after his death, knows all about him.
But Marsh had no official government certificate of his loss.
Now, she can apply for one as part of an expanded programme for parents in England who lost a baby during pregnancy.
Every year in the UK, an estimated 250,000 pregnancies end through miscarriage before 24 weeks, a loss experienced by about one in five women.
“These certificates mean so much. It makes your baby not just a statistic,” Marsh told Breakfast.
“He mattered to all of us, and for us to not get anything that recognised he was here was absolutely heartbreaking, because he was a little person and he was our little person.”
“We’re so delighted,” she said about the certificates. “This is a huge win for all of us.”
The government launched the certificate programme in February for parents who experienced baby loss since September 2018, so the system would not be overwhelmed.
It has now opened up to more parents, external. Parents can obtain a certificate in memory of their baby if the pregnancy ended before 24 weeks. They can also obtain it for pregnancies that ended before 28 weeks prior to 1 October 1992.
Women and campaigners told the how much the certificates matter to millions of people who have suffered what can often be a hidden loss.
Charley Day received one of the more than 50,000 certificates issued since February after her son Rory died 11 weeks into her pregnancy in July.
She told Breakfast the piece of paper has “changed the whole grieving process”.
“For us, that’s just really been incredible – that our baby’s life has recognition,” she said.
