A mother has shared a heartbreaking photograph marking the day her stillborn baby would have started big school.
Joelle Skinner, a blogger from Queensland, lost her unborn baby Zayli at 41 weeks in 2013, when doctors found she no longer had a heartbeat.
When her other four children went back to school in January, the 37-year-old mother posted a touching tribute to her baby born sleeping.
‘The day is finally here, the day I have been dreading for the last five years. Today would be Zayli’s first day of school 💔’ Joelle wrote in a Facebook post.
‘I’m empty, I’m broken, her absence is just so felt right now. I just dropped off the other kids for their first day. I tried not to look, but I saw them, the little Preppies and their anxious parents all ready for their first day. And Zayli wasn’t there where she should be.’
The photo of her four kids Isi, 13, Eden, 11, Jyrah 10 and seven-year-old Amali, dressed in uniform, stood next to a hat on the ground which was captioned ‘prep’.
‘I’m struggling to see through my tears as I type this. Please, school parents taking your kids for their first day today, please appreciate what you have, hold onto them that little bit tighter,’ she added.
‘And to all the little preppies starting today, I wish you well, I hope you love your teachers and find some wonderful friends.
Signed, grieving Mumma of the most beautiful preppie who will be missing from your class.’