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A tragic photo shows a new teen mom, Teegan Barnard, 17, holding the baby she never got to meet. Teegan was the picture of a healthy pregnancy and according to her family, so excited to be a new mother.
Now, she has left behind those she cared about the most, including her brand new son, Parker. His grandmother has taken steps to ensure that he knows just how much his mother loved him, even if she can’t tell him herself.
Teegan Barnard was a 17-year old whose mother, Abbie Hallawell, described as her best friend. She was incredibly excited to give birth to her son, Parker, and ready to take the next step of her life.
Barnard had a healthy and normal pregnancy, followed all of her doctor’s orders, and gave birth to Parker at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester. Parker is a healthy, beautiful boy – born on September 9, he weighed 9lb and 9oz. A new lucky number for the family!
But not all was well with Teegan, as the doctors soon discovered.
Sadly, Parker’s birth story isn’t as smooth as the rest of Teegan’s pregnancy. Teegan suffered an internal bleed due to complications after giving birth to Parker. Luckily, she was already in the hospital. Sadly, the doctors couldn’t do much.
The bleed caused her to go into cardiac arrest, but despite CPR being administered immediately, there was nothing they could do – she suffered brain damage from being without oxygen for so long.
Parker was passed off to Teegan’s mother, his grandmother, to care for while Teegan was closely monitored in the hospital for signs of life. Four weeks after giving birth to her much-loved baby boy, Teegan’s family chose to remove any life support.
Hallawell took the chance when she saw it and started doing something many wouldn’t think of – she laid Parker with his mother in her arms, and took photographs of the two together.
Teegan was on life support, and Parker is too young to ever remember this moment, but the smile on his face as he lays with his mother says everything.
Hallawell is collecting images of the two together, as well as pictures of Teegan, to show Parker when he grows up. She hopes he understands just how much he was loved, and how excited Teegan was for his arrival.
“She was so looking forward to being a mummy, she was so excited,” Hallawell said when asked about her daughter. “She would have been the best mummy in the world. She had so much love for him and didn’t even get to show him.”
Parker will be raised by Hallawell, along with the father, Leon Forster. At least this baby will be surrounded by love.
