All posts tagged: grief

babyloss

If your baby has just died

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If your baby has just died, I am so so sorry. There just aren’t enough words to do this loss justice but I wanted to write something I wish I had been able to read when my newborn son died 13 years ago. Everyone’s experience of loss and grief is different but if this is useful to just one grieving parent, then I’m glad I wrote it. If your baby has just died, there’s every chance you are feeling a combination of numb, shock, denial, anger, exhaustion and pain. The range of feeling can change quickly from hour to hour and its intensity might take your breath away. You might know why your baby died or it could have been completely without any warning, either way you could well be asking yourself why? why you? why your baby? Those early days and weeks can feel like the loneliest place in the world. I remember feeling like I was in a bubble, watching the world continue on as normal around me while mine had been shattered. …

Family Directory – for loss, grief and trauma

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The Family Directory is an essential guide to recommended services and practitioners for parents, along with a range of brilliant gifts and products for families. It can be difficult to know where to start if you are experiencing grief or trauma so I wanted to include recommended practitioners for support. Frankie Aitchison Psychotherapy & Counselling – support after miscarriage, stillbirth and child-loss Birth Debrief with Janine Smith – to talk through and make sense of the birth of your baby. Pregnancy after loss with Janine Smith – working with parents to manage anxiety during pregnancy, as well as to prepare for birth again Working with parents since 2002 Say hello…Instagram | Facebook Group | Linkedin

Surviving Babyloss

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In the first few days and early weeks after my son died, I wished to feel normal again. I longed, not just for the pain to ease, but just to feel like myself again. It felt like I lived in a bubble, everyone around me was living their normal lives but I was in a very lonely, isolated bubble of vulnerability and pain. I have never felt pain like it – physical pain, mental pain that affected how much I could do, how much I could cope with, how much I could enjoy, how much I could focus on. I felt like I could break at any moment – each day was about forcing myself to get out of bed, to do something rather than just wallow; to do something rather than just desperately want my baby back. There was an aching in my arms for the baby I  couldn’t hold and a physical pain in my heart as it ached for what I had lost. In those early weeks I wasn’t sure how much …

babyloss awareness

It is CHD Awareness Month – here’s my story…

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February is Congenital Heart Defect month – Here is the story of  my son Jamie… My 20-week scan during my third pregnancy did not go to plan – a potential defect with my baby’s oesophagus was highlighted and I was referred to the Fetal Medicine Unit at the RVI for a more detailed scan. They too thought there was an issue with my baby’s oesophagus but they also thought there was a problem with his heart – both would need monitoring and so my rollercoaster journey of hospital appointments and huge emotion began. Every couple of weeks I was scanned, my baby’s heart was thoroughly checked but there was no agreement on what the defect was. After one scan, it was even thought that there was no heart defect. But the next scan confirmed that something wasn’t right. The majority agreement among the brilliant team of consultants was that my baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome – the left side of his heart was not developing properly. This is a life threatening defect. I was …

Babyloss & grief

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I feel like an old hand at babyloss grief now – 13 years in and I know how to function well with my grief, I know how it can surprise me when I least expect it,  I know that I will miss my boy for the rest of my life, I know I am grateful for being on the other side of the intensity of grief and I know how to look after myself. It has taken a long time to reach this point. We all do grief differently and there is now more conversation about baby-loss on social media, which is a good thing – anything that attempts to ease the isolation of baby-loss, to create more awareness, support and conversation for grieving families has to be a good thing. However, a few life-after-baby-loss posts this year have made me think because everything on social media can be subjective and interpreted differently. These are well-intentioned, honest, supportive posts but they are a snap-shot and they often don’t convey the emotion, the desperation and the …