A MUM who tragically miscarried her baby at just ten weeks into her pregnancy says she is determined to change how women are supported - by using her own heartbreaking experiences to help.

When Sam Naughton, from Penistone, attended hospital after experiencing bleeding early in pregnancy, she was reassured that miscarriage was unlikely.

But when she later attended a scan with her husband, Ben, the room fell quiet before anyone spoke and moments later, they were told Willow’s heart had stopped.

“It’s impossible to describe that moment - you walk in clinging to reassurance and suddenly everything changes,” Sam, 44, said.

“Miscarriage is still so often spoken about in clinical terms, but emotionally, it’s a bereavement.

“My baby had died yet I was surrounded by phrases that tried to make it smaller.

“That stays with you.”

Sam says what followed was a ‘profound sense of loss’ that was often minimised by the language used around miscarriage.

In the days and weeks that followed, Sam was grieving while continuing to care for her daughter Ruby, now 14, and returning to every day life.

When Sam became pregnant again shortly afterwards, relief was replaced by overwhelming anxiety.

In search of reassurance, Sam attended multiple scans, but found many of the environments intensified her distress rather than easing it.

“The world carried on as normal - I still had to show up, to function, to keep going,” she added.

“Inside, I felt completely broken as it was grief, but it was quiet grief.

“I didn’t trust my body anymore - I was terrified to go to the bathroom in case I saw blood.

“I counted down to every scan, holding my breath, never able to relax.

“So many of the spaces I went into were built purely around celebration.

“I remember sitting in waiting rooms filled with teddy bears that played recorded heartbeats, plaster casts of newborn feet being made at reception - everything around you focussed on joy and new life.

“I kept thinking how devastating it would be to receive bad news and then have to walk back through all of that, carrying your fear or grief past other people’s happiness.”

When her son Alby was born safely in 2022, Sam felt immense relief, but also a growing sense that her experiences had exposed a gap in how women are supported through fertility, pregnancy and loss.

Not long after his birth, Sam made the decision to leave her career and channel her energy into creating the support she wished had existed for her.

In early 2024, she opened Cocoon, a fertility and women’s wellbeing clinic, designed to support women through every stage of their reproductive journey.

It now provides fertility support, pregnancy and wellbeing scans, midwifery care, counselling, acupuncture and practical workshops, all delivered in a calm, considered environment intended to reduce stress and anxiety.

Alongside its clinical services, Cocoon offers completely free talking therapy for women who have experienced baby loss, pregnancy anxiety or fertility-related trauma.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about how many women were quietly struggling - women dealing with loss, fertility challenges or pregnancy anxiety, but feeling they had to minimise their feelings or cope alone.

“I wanted to create a place that felt human, somewhere women don’t feel rushed, dismissed or expected to put on a brave face.

“We were clear from the outset that emotional support had to be part of what we offer.

“Grief doesn’t discriminate, and access to care shouldn’t either.”

Sam has carefully built a multidisciplinary team of midwives, therapists and practitioners and says she is deeply grateful to work alongside a team who combine clinical expertise with genuine compassion.

“Technical knowledge matters but empathy matters just as much,” she added.

“I’m so grateful to work with a team who truly understand how vulnerable these moments can be.

“I can’t change what happened to us but if I can help even one woman feel heard and supported during an incredibly difficult time, then something meaningful has come from it.”