A New Book

A new resource for bereaved parents has just come out in the last week. I have been wanting to write about it here for a long time, but wanted to wait until it had been officially published.

It is a collection of essays written by a group of 26 people who have lost a child, some in pregnancy, some in infancy, and some later in life.  It was written to give those that are new in their grief some hope for the future. Each essay was written to describe one aspect of life in the first year after loss.

I found out about this book when there was a call for essays to be submitted in an online group that I am a part of. The editor of the book was specifically asking for essays from fathers. I forwarded the information on to Dave. He decided to write one and out of several hundred entries, his essay was accepted to be part of the book and one of only two from the perspective of a father.

The book is now available. We are eagerly awaiting its arrival at our house, hopefully in the next couple of days.

PAIL Awareness

October is Pregnancy and infant loss (PAIL) month. In particular, October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness day. As the 15th approaches there are lots of walks and remembrance ceremonies in the loss community all over the world. Ours at the hospital is today.

You might not know of anyone who lost a pregnancy or baby, but you probably know someone who has lost a child at some age. Take time to remember them this week. Write a note to the family, give them a call, go with them to an event, do something to help them see that other people remember their child too. It will mean the world to them.

I plan on writing a note this week to a couple in our grief group. They just lost their son at 26. He might have been an adult, but he was still their son.

A Loss is a Loss

There seems to be a hierarchy in the loss community. There are those that lost a child through an early miscarriage and then there are those that have lost a child after 20 some weeks. It seems to me that the two groups are not seen as equal. The miscarriages seem to be treated as lesser. I feel that is not right. All of them have lost a child or children. They are all hurting because of it. Losing a child is painful. A loss is a loss whether at 1 day, or 9 months, or 26 years.

For those who have had a miscarriage, people around them might not know what they are going through. They might not have told anyone about the pregnancy before the baby was gone. Their families may not even know. I would think that would be a very hard place to be. I, at least, know that nearly everyone around me knows about Nathaniel so if I am sad or can't handle a situation people might know why.

If you have lost a child, I am sorry. I might not understand exactly what you are going through, and you might not understand my situation, but ultimately we are the same. We are both a parent to a child who is not here with us. We don't need to compare our stories to know that we have both lost something that we can't get back. My situation is not better or worse than yours. We are both in pain.

The Secret Club

I am part of a club. An exclusive club. One that no one knows about until they have to join it.

This club is wonderful, but no one really wants to be a part of it and we really never want it to get any bigger. We like everyone too much to want them in our club. We would not wish what we have gone through, the death of a baby or babies, on our worst enemies.

I have met so many wonderful women through the loss community. Most I met online and have not met in person, but we have an instant connection. We understand where the others are and what they are feeling when most of those around us don't.

I noticed this at the Stillbirth Summit. Usually talking to new people is really hard for me. There it wasn't. Everyone there had a similar story. We could talk about our babies without feeling judged or trying to hold back the tears.

When we first got to the conference there were two sessions going on at the same time. Dave went to one, I went to the other. The woman I sat next to needed something hard to write on and I had Abby's book in my purse so I gave it to her to use. After we were done with the session she gave it back to me and asked about it. I told her how I had written it for Abby and she told me that she had a 6 year old and had just lost her second child last year. We talked about how hard it is to be a parent to our other children when you are grieving and how hard it is to have to tell them over and over again that their baby brother or sister is not ever coming home. I felt like we were instant friends though we might never see each other again. I felt this way with every single person that I met while we were there.