Parents hope to keep stillborn daughter’s ‘memory alive’ through decorated rocks

Lexi Peters, 30, and her 29-year-old partner Sean Chamberlain’s daughter Hallie was stillborn on November 21 2023 – a moment they said “shattered our world”.

“We went to Broomfield Hospital two days past due date and they couldn’t find a heartbeat,” Ms Peters, a deputy manager of a children’s nursery who lives in Chelmsford, Essex, told the PA news agency.

“We were there for three days and we gave birth to her three days later from the day we went into the hospital and we kept away from everyone and everything.”

She said the hospital’s maternity bereavement team – who are called The Blossom Team – have been “literally amazing” and “the best team imaginable” at helping the couple at the time and to this day, and while they were at the hospital, the pair were encouraged to place rocks in a bereavement garden at the facility.

This experience – as well as a support group session with the Essex branch of the Stillbirth and neonatal death charity (Sands) – sparked the creation of a Facebook group called Hallie’s rocks in July, to raise awareness for stillbirth and keep Hallie’s memory alive.

“We met lots of lovely couples at the Sands support group and one of them did a rock project and I really wanted to do something to try and help others going through something similar,” Ms Peters said.

“We decided to create rocks as a way to positively keep her memory alive and I thought a lot of friends and family would want to join in with that because it may be an uncomfortable thing for them to talk about, but this would be a fun and easy thing they could do.”

The couple bought a huge batch of rocks from Amazon and Ms Peters drew various things on them, including purple and pink flowers, Hallie’s name and the date of her passing and the name of the Facebook group.

Members of the group are encouraged to message Ms Peters if they would like a rock and she hopes they get found, keep being moved to new locations and those involved report back at each step so the couple can keep track of where they end up.

So far, more than 20 rocks have made their way to places including Anglesey in North Wales, Dublin in Ireland and Suffolk and have even gone global, reaching Center Parcs Le Bois aux Daims in France.

“We’ve had people saying they will take rocks to Spain and have got family going to Japan and Korea later, so we know they’re going to go far,” she added.

“We also plan on placing some rocks in a few locations which are significant to us in the coming months, like Orlando, Florida, which is me and my partner’s favourite place and there was a song (Phil Collins’ You’ll Be In My Heart) which we played at Hallie’s funeral which we associate with that place.

“There’s one place in France where we took a reveal photo to show we were pregnant with a baby girl in front of the Disney Paris castle.”

The couple’s two-year-old son Alfie has been a key part of the initiative too.

“We never could have imagined how much he would have understood as he was just over two when it all happened,” she said.

“We all got to spend some days with her after the stillbirth, so I think for him he knows Hallie and he loves the page and when rocks get found, he always says – ‘Oh look, Hallie’s rocks’.

“He’s even placed some in locations, and decorated some himself.”

She said it has “meant everything” to see people supporting the project.

“It’s a way that people can subtly still talk about Hallie and it helps us keep that chat going and all our friends and family have loved it.

“I believe this will keep going for years and years and we’re just happy to see where it goes and how many places we can get them to go to.

“It’s really lovely and we really take comfort from the two we’ve had back so far as it’s been strangers who have found them and it’s been so overwhelming to see that someone found the rock and took the time to read the story and then cared enough to help the onward journey.”