Baby Loss Week: Black women describe their experiences

British-Caribbean parents Gina and Peter Reeves, also from Romford, said they were very excited to welcome their son, Danté, in 2022.

They nicknamed him “Bacchanalist” – a Trinidadian term – because he would kick inside his mother “like he was having a party”.

“We had so many dreams of our son – this Caribbean little boy, running around,” said Mrs Reeves, 42, an office manager.

However, they lost Danté at 25 weeks and have not been able to have another baby since.

“We just didn’t feel supported as a black couple together in the hospital. We just felt very let down,” said Mrs Reeves.

She said she did not feel heard by healthcare professionals throughout her pregnancy.

“I went into hospital and I was going red,” she said.

“I was clearly in pain and I couldn’t walk, and they were looking at me, like, ‘Your skin is not pale enough to notice that you are actually going red.'”

While in labour, she felt she could not scream for fear she would be treated differently.

Mrs Reeves, who has a history of miscarriage, now helps others through Ebony Bonds.

“So many black women have gone through loss and they don’t talk about it,” she said.

“We are programmed in our minds to just carry on.”