By Euan Maxwell
Chief reporter
Lauren Patterson and her partner Fraser Maxwell welcomed wee Bennett on Friday night. Their bundle of joy weighs 7lb 5oz. Lauren – who is a hairdresser in the town – said: “It’s been a long, difficult journey to get here and I feel so incredibly grateful. “It still feels completely surreal but amazing that he’s here, in such a happy place. “He’s settling in well, and has had lots of visitors of family and friends that are just besotted with him.” [caption id="attachment_61159" align="alignnone" width="680"]
WELCOME . . . Lauren and Fraser with Bennent[/caption] Over the last nine years, Lauren has had to endure multiple heartbreaks. This includes giving birth to Taylor, Robbie and Georgia who all were born prematurely and sadly didn’t make it. During Lauren’s ordeal, she – alongside her friends and family – set up the D&G Baby Loss Awareness group. They raised over £27,000 for baby loss charity SiMBA which was put towards a Tree of Tranquillity at the Crichton Estate in the town. The memorial tree gives bereaved parents somewhere to go to remember their children. However, Lauren, 32, never gave up hope that she would finally have a child. And after hearing about Dr Nigel Simpson – known as the stitch guru from Leeds – she contacted him. “He got all my notes and basically figured out why everything was happening, he pushed for surgery on my uterus and he placed a cervical stitch when I was 12 weeks to hold the pregnancy,” she said. “He’s honestly the most amazing man and doctor I’ve met.” Even after Lauren’s joy of having little Bennett, she remains selfless as she sent a message to others who are going through baby loss and infertility, saying: “I know myself the feelings of seeing posts about people announcing pregnancies/births and how you can feel happy for them but sad for yourself. “I just wanted to comment to anyone feeling that way, that I understood and hoped my story would give someone else hope who was in the depths of either loss and/or infertility.”
