A Day to Remember our Babies

"When a child loses a parent, they are called an orphan.  When a spouse loses his or her partner, they are called a widow or widower.  When parents lose a child, there isn't a word to describe them."

Tomorrow, October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day.  It is a day of rememberance for pregnancy loss, as well as miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, or the death of a newborn.  If you read my blog regularly, you will know that I have suffered the loss of 2 babies.  I lost my son Parker at 36 weeks due to an umbilical cord accident and I miscarried "new baby" 6 months later (mother's day weekend 2009) at 8 weeks.  There are no words to describe the pain and guilt a mother can feel when it comes to losing a child.  I can't speak for all mothers, but I can write about my experience.  Not only did I desperately want these babies, but the guilt I felt at knowing that they died inside of me was heart wrenching.  As a mother, my job is/was to protect my children...to keep them safe.  I felt like a failure.  I felt like even though I know that there was nothing I could do, I should have been able to prevent it.  I also felt like I should have somehow known.  I even wondered if I lacked the mother's intuition gene.  I can only assume I am not alone in feeling this way.  So many women experience pregnancy loss every year (see statistics below).  Please take a moment to remember these families and these babies.  I can assure you, their famillies will never forget.

• 600,000 women experience pregnancy loss through miscarriage
• 64,000 women experience pregnancy loss through ectopic pregnancy
• 26,000 women experience pregnancy loss through stillbirth