Amelia, 6, and Zoe, 4, were besotted with their newest family member months before her arrival, their sisterly bond already sealed.

All was running smoothly in Nicole Souris's pregnancy and she and husband Paul were organised and ready to meet their third daughter.

So when a routine scan at 38 weeks prior to a scheduled induction revealed Lani's heart had stopped beating, the family's world slipped into darkness.

"We had no warning, nothing obvious was wrong, there was just no heartbeat," Mrs Souris said.

Mr Souris describes the weeks following Lani's death as being like a nightmare where sleep was the only reprieve.

At a time when she should have been sleep deprived from newborn night wakings, Mrs Souris said she was instead in a haze of grief and shock.

"We lived and were functioning but it was almost like we were looking at ourselves doing things, we were going through the motions," she said.

"To have to plan a funeral for your child is just something you would never, ever think you would have to do."

The couple found comfort in speaking to other families who had suffered the loss of a child and Mrs Souris describes support group Illawarra Parents of Baby Angels as her "life saver".

"To know that someone else is having the same feelings and emotions makes you feel less strange, they know what you're going through," she said.

On Sunday at 2pm, the Souris family will attend a Christmas reflection and remembrance ceremony for bereaved parents at Wollongong's Botanic Garden.

Hosted by Illawarra Parents of Baby Angels, the event will give families a chance to celebrate and honour a lost baby or child.

This will be the family's second Christmas since losing their daughter.

Each year there will be a present under the Christmas tree from Lani for her big sisters and a special ornament will hang in the tree in her memory.

"We will miss our beautiful little angel for the rest of our lives and we think about her and honour her every day," Mrs Souris said.