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Couple performs funeral for 14-month-old miscarried baby

The couple, from Stoke Newington, North London believed that though the child had not been born alive, the age it got to before the unfortunate failure meant that it was almost a fully formed human, and deserved a proper send off.

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It was that feeling that made 36-year-old Brenda Gabriel and her 38-year-old partner, Bradlee West organise a whole funeral ceremony for a 14-month-old baby the latter had miscarried.

According to The Sun, Halo by Beyoncé and Diamonds by Rihanna were played on the day in the memory of the miscarried baby the parents chose to name Skylar.

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They carried the tiny body of Skylar into the chapel in a 30cm long white casket for further ceremonial performances.

Brenda, mother of three said: “A baby is a baby.

“At 14 weeks, she would have been roughly the size of a lemon, and her body and limbs would have formed.”

She explained that “According to the law, parents can’t be given a birth certificate if their baby is born dead before 24 weeks, so there is no documentation that acknowledges the loss of our baby.

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“But we think Skylar was a real child by that stage, not just a blood clot, and deserved a proper send off.

“We had decided to name her Skylar Grace Gabriel-West, a name I always loved and which means ‘eternal life’.”

The service, as reported by The Sun, was held at the Downs Crematorium in Brighton on November 29, and featured songs picked by the parents to tell the story of their baby’s life.

Brenda narrated how she felt on the day she had to say goodbye to her baby and get her cremated.

“I couldn’t believe that, from discovering I was pregnant in August to having my baby cremated, had taken just three months,” she said, adding that “It had been an emotional rollercoaster, going from surprise, to delight and then heartbreak in such a short space of time.”

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