My Sister's Baby Shower - AFE Fundraiser

Most of the pictures I’ve been doing at the moment are taken by a heavily pregnant Goldfields Girl. She’s super busy being pregnant and fabulous, and her kitchen is also being renovated (among other parts of the house). I threw her a baby shower with the help of a few people, to celebrate the anticipated arrival of her home-grown bundle.

We suggested a dress code to the guests of pastels and light, bright colours. My sister loaned me the outfit I’m wearing, and then ended up wearing almost the same colours as me. As my sister and brother-in-law are enjoying buying all their new baby stuff themselves, they aren’t keen on presents. So to give people the chance to do something heartfelt for them, we invited them to put the money they might have spent of a gift towards a charity close to our hearts.

We lost our sister and her unborn son due to an Amniotic Fluid Embolism when she went into labour in 2006. At the time, we’d never heard of AFE before. Not many people have, even though it’s the number one cause of maternal death in Australia. 1 in 40,000 women will experience an AFE during childbirth. There is only one Foundation in the world focused on research and support for survivors and families of victims, called the AFE Foundation. We don’t know what causes an AFE. We don’t know how to prevent it. Donations to the Foundation directly assist in medical research and survivor support programs, something my family have benefited from. If you want to know a little more about AFE, you can read about it (trigger warning for those that new my sister) here. If you wish to make a donation to the AFE Foundation, you can do so here.

Here is a little video I put together on the day. A big thank you to Gemma and her mum Sue from Blanc Boutique and cafe. The venue doesn’t normally do events like this, but they did so because of the fundraising purpose of the event.