A heartbroken mum has shared the painful experience of losing her “perfect baby boy” at just over an hour old despite having a normal pregnancy up until 23 weeks.

Shannon Lomax from Breightmet says that she was having pains in her back on Friday 24 March but thought it was Braxton Hicks at first, until waking up the following morning and feeling as though she was having contractions.

She says that after having three children she was sure they were contractions.

At around 8.30 am on Saturday March 25 she said that her waters broke due to an unknown infection and Shannon stayed at the Royal Bolton Hospital where they gave her some antibiotics.

Shannon was due to be discharged on Monday 27 when Joshua Brian Brindle was born.

He sadly died due to extreme prematurity.

The Bolton News: Joshua Brian Brindle

Shannon said: “He had a really healthy heartbeat when he came out.

“He was born alive, and he did put up a fight for the first five minutes of his life when he was born at 2.17am

“The neonatal team worked on him afterwards, however it just wasn’t enough to save our little boy, so we had cuddles and he passed in our arms at 3.30am.

“Everything was fine throughout pregnancy.”

Shannon says that this has been the “hardest thing she has ever been through”, and that there aren’t really words that can explain what it feels like.

She did say that her children Freya, Lilly, and Oliver do keep her busy.

Shannon also says that Freya does understand but that her other two children are too young to understand.

She said: “Until you’ve lost a child of your own, I don’t think anybody truly understands how it feels. “You never expect to be leaving the hospital with a memory box and pictures instead of your baby, or planning your own child’s funeral, having to explain to the siblings that the baby brother they were expecting in a few months time now lives in heaven and won’t be coming home.”

The Bolton News: Joshua Brian Brindle and his mum Shannon Lomax

Shannon says that her and her partner Danny are still trying to process what has happened and there are days where it’s hard for her to wake up in the morning.

But she keeps going for her three beautiful children that need her.

She added: “All I can do is continue taking it one day at a time and making my way through this awful time in our life and just always keep thinking of the precious short time we got to spend with our beautiful boy.

“The small number of memories with him and my three other children give me the strength to get through it.”

The family held a funeral for Joshua last Wednesday (April 19) where there was a horse and carriage.

Shannon is now planning to raise some money to purchase a cuddle cot in Joshua’s memory, which will either be donated to the hospital or a funeral director.

Shannon added: “We were lucky enough to be able to get one through the funeral director and this meant we could bring Joshua home with us for a few days to have some precious time with him before his funeral.

“However, the funeral director said they only had one between a few of them.

“I haven’t thought of a way to raise some money yet, as you know the funeral was only a few days ago, but maybe I could set up a GoFundMe for this.”

Shannon and Danny will also remember Joshua with a memorial plaque in their back garden.

If you have a story and something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at jasmine.jackson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @JournoJasmine.