Putting a face on miscarriage, stillbirth and infant loss
Leah
Mom to Grace
Lost October 19, 2012
Columbia, South Carolina
My mom named me Leah, which means weary. The past few weeks have really made me feel like I am living up to the meaning of my name. I have two healthy, wonderful boys who are ages 4 and 2. My husband and I decided that we wanted to have a third child; I was praying that God would finally give me a little girl. [Read more...]
Melissa
Mom to four babies
Noah
Born still August 17, 2011
Baby #1 – lost February 2010
Baby #2 – lost September 2010
and
Baby #4 – lost July 2012
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
My husband and I got married in July 2008 and didn’t think we were quite ready yet to start trying for kids. We started trying to conceive and got frustrated because we were not getting pregnant right away. I bought an ovulation kit and the 2nd time I used it, we were pregnant in December 2009. We were so excited to see that little word on the stick: “pregnant”. At 11 weeks into the pregnancy, I began to have some spotting and went to my doctor. I was sent for blood tests on 3 days and they determined that I was losing the baby. I decided to have a D&C because I didn’t think I could emotionally handle miscarrying naturally. After the D&C we found out our little one only grew to about 7-8 weeks. The doctor just told us to keep trying and that miscarriages happened more often than we thought. [Read more...]
Rebecca
Mom to Poppy Kate
Born still December 15, 2011,
Five tiny angels, each lost at 5 weeks
April 2009, April 2010 and November 2010,
and
Heterotopic twins (one ectopic, one uterine)
Lost at 6 weeks and 11 weeks in January 2011
Melbourne, Australia
From Rebecca’s blog post: 2011…the year that, well, sucked:
It seems as though the best place to start is to get all of the terrible, awful stuff that happened last year out on the table, so you know what you’re getting into. It gives you some perspective as to where I’m coming from. Don’t get me wrong, my life is definitely not crap. I have a wonderful husband, let’s call him G, and he’s my soul mate and my strength. Not to mention the love of my life 
. We have a little boy, Xavier, who is known by many nicknames, including ‘X’, ‘Xav’, ‘Xavi’ and ‘Trouble’. He took a bit of work to get, 2 years of TTC and 6 months of the fertility drug, Clomid, before we fell pregnant with him. Xavier is now 5, and about to start school. We have a great extended family; G’s parents and my dad and his partner all live nearby, along with a couple of our siblings. Everyone else lives near enough that we see them often and we have an array of nieces and nephews (even a grand niece!) who Xav loves playing with. We have great friends and workmates, who are a big support to us and lots of fun to hang out with! [Read more...]
Ashley
Mom to Teddy
Lost November 25, 2009
and
Minka, lost June 8, 2011
West Deptford, New Jersey
My name is Ashley, I am 26 years old, and I am the mother of two Angel Babies. ♥ ♥
I found out I was pregnant with my first baby on November 4, 2009. Right from the start the doctors told me I was miscarrying, but I still held out hope. They said my baby was low in my uterus. My body was pushing it out. Something about the dates and sizes of my baby didn’t seem to match up at all. I know they say this sometimes happens, but mine were really off. But then at one appointment, the doctors called me an ‘enigma’ because my baby re-implanted itself up higher in my uterus. I heard its heart beating that day ♥ My due date was July 16th, 2010. For my next appointment, my pains were so awful I had them bring me in. The portable ultrasound machine was blurry. They asked me to come back in the morning for another ultrasound on the big machine. I did. My baby’s heart was no longer beating. [Read more...]
Vanessa
Mom to M. R. S.
Born into Heaven February 2011
and
J. Q. S.
Born into Heaven February 2012
Bowling Green, Kentucky
When I had my third child, I had only been not-pregnant for 16 months before getting pregnant with her. Unfortunately, in our humanness, we are broken people, and I was pretty resistant to having a baby so soon after having my second child. Her pregnancy was not a pleasant one, and neither was my attitude towards it. When she arrived though, and spent 7 days in the NICU, my attitude changed drastically. This sets the premise for the story of my first miscarriage. [Read more...]
Kelly
Mom to Angel Baby
Lost January 11, 2010
Franklin, NC
My husband and I were married for just over two years when we decided it was time to start a family. I had just finished graduate school and had been ready for a baby for a while by that point. We were pleasantly surprised when we got pregnant on our first try in November of 2009. At first everything seemed okay, but I really wasn’t having any pregnancy symptoms, other than the need to pee all the time. At my first prenatal appointment the midwife confirmed that I was indeed pregnant, but it was a “weak positive” on the test. I was only about 4.5 to 5 weeks along at the time and was set up for an ultrasound about a week later. [Read more...]
Elizabeth
Mom to Bean Bunny
Lost on February 24, 2012
Decatur, Illinois
My husband and I found out January 7, 2012 that we were expecting our first child. We were so excited and happy.
After my first doctors appointment we learned that my gestational sac was empty and our baby had stopped developing very early on. We waited two weeks for another doctor since the first showed no sympathy, not even a simple “sorry”. So after seeing the second doctor who was much kinder, he informed us that the sac was still empty and now starting to collapse. We had been grieving already for the past two weeks and decided to do a d&c the next morning with the new doctor. I would have been one day short of 11 weeks. I miss my baby so much and it hurts when people think that because the sac was empty that there never was a baby, because there was they just didn’t make it past a couple of weeks. I grieve for my first child and dream of him or her playing in a field of daffodils (my favorite flower) in Heaven.
[Read more...]
Lacie
Mom to Angel Baby
Lost February 24, 2012 (EDD September 14, 2012)
Fort Carson, Colorado
My husband and I were so excited to try for our second baby. When I got pregnant on R&R, we were ecstatic. In five more months, we would be half way to meeting our new baby and done with our first deployment. I woke up the morning after I turned 11 weeks to find my underwear soaked with a bloody discharge. Worried, I called the doctor who made an appointment later that day to come in, saying not to worry and that it was probably just spotting.
Traci
Mom to Victoria Elizabeth
Lost at 6 Weeks, D & C at 11 Weeks
Archer Nicholas
June 29th, 2004 – July 8th, 2004
Thatch, Lost at 4 Weeks
and Ella Mae, Lost at 8 Weeks
Sylva, North Carolina
It was my 38th birthday. My husband and I were on a mini vacation in Las Vegas, and I got pregnant for the first time ever. When I found out I was beyond thrilled! I had recently started seeking adoption information because I thought I couldn’t conceive. [Read more...]
Sharon
Mom to Trisomy 13 Baby – September 2010
and Baby Miscarried March 2011
Montvale, New Jersey
I was 39 had been TTC for almost a year. I finally went to the fertility clinic and spent a lot of money on tests that were not covered by my medical insurance just to find out that I had an FSH of 18 and was perimenopausal. I had diminished ovarian reserve. I could take Clomid and to help me ovulate. I took it and got pregnant the very first cycle on it. [Read more...]
Jessica
Early Twin Miscarriage at 11 weeks
January 2nd, 2011
and “Spock” – Miscarried at 14 weeks
August 4th, 2011
Virginia Beach, Virginia
My story begins in March 2010 when my husband and I started trying to conceive. We are in our twenties and like any young, military couple, we wanted to start our family a little earlier than most. A long seven months later, we discovered we were pregnant! At just 5 weeks, we made multiple ER visits due to bleeding and spotting and discovered there was not just one but TWO gestational sacs. Shocked and in disbelief, my husband and I started telling all our family and friends. Although my hormones were still increasing, it was still too early to see any heartbeats. [Read more...]
Emily
Mom to Charlie
Miscarried at 11 Weeks
Burnsville, Minnesota
Charlie’s story starts back in March of this year. I had been going baby crazy and everyone seemed to be pregnant to the point where it was driving me crazy. So my husband (Mike) and I sat down and had a heart to heart about when it would be the best time to add to our family and set a deadline for us to start trying regardless if we had accomplished everything on our list or not. We had decided to give ourselves at least a year. [Read more...]
Veronica
Mom to Willow
June 21st, 2011
Sparks, Nevada
My name is Veronica and I’m 23 years old. I live in Sparks, Nevada and attending school to become a medical assistant. I was nowhere near ready to have a baby. My boyfriend had been teasing me that I was pregnant and I thought it was finally getting in my head. My appetite changed and I was having minor cramps and nausea. My period wasn’t due yet, but to ease my mind I decided to take a pregnancy test. I was expecting it to come back negative. I was very shocked and surprised when I saw two pink lines. [Read more...]
Elizabeth
Angel November 2005 – 5 Weeks
Angel July 2006 – 6 Weeks
Angel September 2010 – 11 Weeks
Angel June 2011 – 5 Weeks
Waukesha, WI
2005 was a big year for me, I met the man who would become my husband and in October we found out we were expecting. We had not planned it, but we were both thrilled. Of course, I told everyone, family, friends, co-workers right away. A couple of weeks later, in the morning as I was brushing my teeth I noticed I was bleeding. I panicked, and called my doctor, who was really nonchalant. He told me if I was having a miscarriage there was nothing he could do, and to just rest with my feet up. It would be like having a bad period. My husband took me to the emergency room. [Read more...]
Jo
Mom to 4 angles due to miscarriage
July 2000 (7wks), October 2001 (11 1/2 weeks), August 2003 (5 weeks), August 2007 (6weeks)
Kayla
Missed Miscarriage
May, 2011
Rancho Cordova, CA
My name is Kayla Bosley and my Husband Eric and I eric met in 2005. I don’t know what I would do without Eric and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be his wife. From the time we met we knew that we wanted to have children. We got married in June of 2009 and we started trying right away to have children. Getting pregnant was not as easy as we envisioned it to be; so we started trying every fertility monitor that was available. When I still wasn’t pregnant in June of 2010 I went to the doctor. She started by giving me routine blood tests and tested many different levels. Fortunately all of my blood work came back fine in regards to getting pregnant and we just had to be patient. Unfortunately, the doctor found that my liver enzymes were 3 times higher than normal. After many tests and switching doctors multiple times in September of 2010; a CT scan revealed a tumor in my pancreas. The tumor was removed September 13, 2010 with the Whipple Procedure. The pathology report showed that my tumor was called a Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor…Cancer!!!
Heather
Mom to Liberty John, Lost at 10 weeks in November 2004
Elijah Lee, Lost at 6 weeks in September 2007
Eden Sky, Lost at 5 weeks in August 2010
and Journey Peace, Lost at 11 weeks in May 2011
Lakeville, Minnesota
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my babies I could never hold here on earth. No pictures, no foot prints, no lock of hair to hold onto. Even when my body would physically heal, my heart would still ache with emptiness. My baby left my body but never made it to my arms … such a strange sad thing to come to terms with. [Read more...]
I somehow knew I was pregnant the day after I conceived. Something felt faintly tingly inside my abdomen and “off” to me, and I remember commenting about it to a coworker at the restaurant where I worked. I tried to put it out of my mind and waited until the first possible cycle day where I could test for pregnancy. I bought a pregnancy test and, optimistically, a box of condoms. I took the test in the store bathroom and shook as I leaned against the stall wall reading the positive result. That evening, I drove to my boyfriend’s house to tell him our news. I was in tears and remember driving past a church with this phrase displayed on its sign: “Hangeth in there.”
Katie
Angel #1 Stillborn at 20 weeks on November 18th, 2009
Angel #2 Late miscarriage at 14 weeks on October 14th, 2010
Angel#3 Late Miscarriage at 15 weeks on March, 25 2011
Draper, Utah
November 15, 2009…That was the last day of my life that I could truly say I’ve been given an easy hand at life with only minor mishaps and nothing really bad has ever happened to me.
My husband and I met for the official ultrasound the morning of November 16th, so excited to know the gender of our baby. Wondering if our streak of same gender luck was going to change. Honestly, I didn’t really care all that much. The ultrasound tech started looking at the baby and said, “I’d like to see some movement here,” and she shook her ultrasound wand, shaking my tummy. Very quickly she moved to the heart. I just stared at the screen with a blank look on my face. I knew exactly what I was seeing…the absence of a heartbeat. I was too numb to even cry, but in retrospect, I was at least grateful the ultrasound tech was upfront with us and told us straight out the baby was no longer alive. My husband and I were truly in shock and were advised to check into Labor and Delivery that evening to get labor underway. [Read more...]
|
