While we're come on in leaps and bounds when it comes to talking about pregnancy loss, an element of taboo still abounds.
That's why mum-of-three Erin Hunt felt she couldn’t share the story of her stillborn child Jackson. She didn't want to make friends or family uncomfortable.
For that reason, it’s only when she’s by herself that she pores over photos of her little boy, who was stillborn at five months in late 2014.
“Even though he wasn’t born, he was still in my tummy, but you feel like you have to put it away, put that grief away,” she told Kidspot.
“Some people have seen the photos of Jackson, some don’t ever want to see the photo. People wonder did he look like a baby? He looked completely like a baby, just tiny.”
He was beautiful and he was hers, and that’s why Erin was pleased when she discovered custom child portraits by One Sonny Day. She decided to use the artwork as a way to remember the little face of her lost son.
“It looks just like him. It’s something I can look at and people can look at, without it being confronting. It’s not nice to say, but an image of a dead baby is quite confronting to have showing in the house,” she said.
“This is a way to acknowledge him. I don’t have to hide it, it’s not his photo, or his urn. It’s an artistic drawing. I love seeing them every morning.”
While the portraits are a great way to honour Jackson’s memory, Erin also uses the images to talk about him with her other children, Caleb and Darcy.
“My husband and I made the decision early on to talk about Jackson,” she said.
“Because even though he never got to live, he is a huge part of our lives, losing him really shook us.”
“We made the decision to talk about him openly. Caleb has asked, he knows, he asks about the picture, it’s a cute way to approach the topic.
