Oct 15th: National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day

This month is unbelievably hard on many families. It is the month when breast cancer awareness is pushed with pink ribbons and pink fountains. This is something that is near to my heart. I have lost several loved ones to this horrific disease. One who was just a few years older than me and left behind a husband and her young children. It runs in my family, and is something that I will have to inform my children about getting checks and making it a priority.


This month is also when awareness is brought about to those who suffer from SPD (sensory processing disorder). Again, this is near to my heart. My son has already been diagnosed and the case manager and therapist are fairly certain that my daughter will be as well. I am dreading the call to our county health department to have a psychiatrist brought in since she is just barely too old for Early Intervention. She missed the follow-up and and now that she is over 2, she does not meet their criteria. Life with my special needs children is NOT easy and leaves me wishing for a tall glass of wine most evenings. I love them to death and we are learning together as a family how to help them handle the "real" world with the least amount of stress.

However, this month is also Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month and today is the actual awareness day. I wish I could say that I never went through the pain of miscarrying, but that isn't the case. I went through it more than once and the pain leaves a void. It does not matter whether that loss occurs at 5 weeks, or if the child is still born. The loss is very real and very painful. Today I have been reflecting on my losses and remembering family members and friends who have lost children at birth, shortly after, and then years after. My heart breaks with every story I hear. Before you judge someone for the grief they are feeling, and whether they should just "get over it" ... take a minute to think about carrying a living being inside you and then having it ripped from your dreams. I am not just a statistic ... I am a mother, I am a fighter, and I still miss my babies. Visit Faces of Loss to see others who are just like me, read their stories, feel their pain.

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