Miscarriage

A Quiet Refuge I know that I have linked to A Quiet Refuge before, but I knew that I had mentioned writing about their journal, but haven't had a chance to yet. The couple that created the Quiet Refuge cite are Russ and June Gordon. These two have experienced a full range on parenting dreams come true and nightmares. Their story is filled with expectation and dread, just like all of us who experience infertility, or just day to day life. They have had conception troubles, miscarriages, multiple births, birth defects and have dealt with child hood cancer. As a result of this all, they created their site and their memorial journal that you can purchase for your own use. Pregnancy loss and early infant dealth are often… [more]

My Many Blessings I was doing a search through technorati, trying to find some more blogs to do some reading and to get some ideas to use over here. There were about 300 or so blogs that listed some sort of infertility link. I randomly picked a few to check out. One of the first ones that I clicked on is the above blog written by Tina. Here is her blog description: This blog is dedicated to my journey through miscarriage and infertility. I am 34, happily married for almost 9 years to my high school sweetheart, with a precious almost 3 year old son. I am currently a working mommy, but I long to be home to raise him 24/7. We are on an extended TTC… [more]

I spoke with a girlfriend today that may be having a miscarriage. And what we agreed about the most is the worst part of it is the may be. It was exactly a week ago today that she told me that she was expecting. She began experiencing light bleeding on Thursday and of course with the weekend now she is in the dark about everything. She had an ultrasound on Friday, and since the techs can't say anything, she is waiting for scan to be read. Her blood draw was taken on Thursday as well, but she can't go in for the second one until Monday. Let's just say that it is going to be a rough weekend. And did I mention that it… [more]

Over at Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters they have created a poll in which you can vote on how you would like your pregnancy loss to be remembered. Here are the options: I wouldn't--it's a private thing I would want a simple email letting me know that they're thinking about me I would want a card letting me know that they remembered and they cared I would want a phone call I would want to get together with a few close friends and family to remember together So take a moment and decide which choice you would choose and then head on over to add your… [more]

Alright, articles like this really don't help the cause, but sometimes, knowlege is power, right? Miscarriage Risk Higher For Stressed Moms According to a study done by the National Institute of Health, moms who experience more stress in the first three weeks of pregnancy have higher chances of losing the pregnancy. In my own case, this news is troubling. When I am actively trying to become pregnant, pregnancy is the only thing that I can focus on. As a result of this blinders on thinking I would begin to stress about taking a pregnancy test before I had even missed my period. In a few of my pregnancies, I even knew the date that I had conceived. So, the stress was there from the… [more]

While researching new miscarriage articles throughUsaToday, I came across this link for a miscarriage and loss site called A Quiet Refuge. This site offers items that memorialize your pregnancy, infant or young child loss. They offer an album, which I am considering ordering, and a certificate that I posted the image of above. This I am ordering for sure. It has been quite a while since the loss of our first pregnancy, yet I think about the child that would have been on an almost daily basis when things are somewhat quiet around the house. So many unanswered questions that plague my mind still to this day. One of the things that I have always considered is to have some sort of… [more]

In the massage community it is an often observed rule to avoid massaging a woman that is in her first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The liability and the threat of miscarriage within these first weeks, along with nausea are long thought to have the newly pregnant woman at risk while receiving massage. This is passed on from therapist to therapist, but is actually an old wive's tale in my profession. The science just doesn't back it up. Regardless of the scientific backing for early pregnancy and massage, I always ask my clients to first ask their doctor or midwife about massage. The above rumors are also heard by the other parts of the medical community and you can't ever really know how your practitioner feels until you… [more]

I have been reading an article this week by Gretchen Voss. In the article she writes about "Walking around with a belly full of broken dreams" after finding out about her non viable pregnancy. I felt that this sentence is one of the best that I have ever read regarding pregnancy loss, and I seem to have read a lot of them. For days we didn't know if we were miscarrying or not. By the time that we got the results of a non-viable pregnancy, we were wishing for answers. Even answers that we didn't want to hear. Getting that phone call was a relief that the wondering was over. During the waiting, (which was the worst part of it) and also during the waiting for the… [more]

Celebrating the birth of my friend's twins yesterday I found myself in the grocery store in the greeting card aisle looking for the appropiate card. This brought back memories of trying to find an appropriate sympathy card for one of my other friends when she had a late term pregnancy loss a couple of years ago. I had to end up buying a blank card and writing in it myself as all of the other sympathy cards were either way too general or way too specific with nothing in between that could fit with the circumstance. I was frustrated. I found this link to La Belle Dame that offers a full line of sympathy cards for these unique situations. Their line contains four cards that each cost less… [more]

This morning I came into my office and on my desk was a very sweet ornament made for me by my aunt. My sister and mom also had one each. I will try to accurately describe what it looks like. It is a clear ornament with a small amount of gold tinsel tucked inside. I would say approximately 10 strands, just enough to get it sparkly. Also tucked inside is a very small white feather. Attached to the hook part of the ornament is a handmade tag of red construction paper. On the tag is another white cut out with decorative scissors. On the tag is then printed in a script-type font the following poem. "A feather from an Angel is on we hardly ever see But… [more]