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This is always posted on a loss board that I frequent. I thought some here could benefit. Ashley, if you feel comfortable with it, maybe printing it out and letting your family and friends read it may let them in on what your going through, and what they shouldn't be saying. This was very comforting to me when I had my loss. Hope some of you find some comfort in it too.
What we wish you knew about pregnancy loss:
A letter from women to their friends and family
By: Elizabeth Soutter Schwarzer
When women experience the loss of a child, one of the first things they discover they have in common is a list of things they wish no one had ever said to them. The lists tend to be remarkably similar.
The comments are rarely malicious - just misguided attempts to soothe.
This list was compiled as a way of helping other people understand pregnancy loss. While generated by mothers for mothers, it may also apply similarly to the fathers who have endured this loss.
When trying to help a woman who has lost a baby, the best rule of thumb is a matter of manners: don't offer your personal opinion of her life, her choices, her prospects for children. No woman is looking to poll her acquaintances for their opinions on why it happened or how she should cope.
**Don't say, "It's God's Will." Even if we are members of the same congregation, unless you are a cleric and I am seeking your spiritual counseling, please don't presume to tell me what God wants for me. Besides, many terrible things are God's Will, that doesn't make them less terrible.
**Don't say, "It was for the best - there was probably something wrong with your baby." The fact that something was wrong with the baby is what is making me so sad. My poor baby never had a chance. Please don't try to comfort me by pointing that out.
**Don't say, "You can always have another one." This baby was never disposable. If had been given the choice between losing this child or stabbing my eye out with a fork, I would have said, "Where's the fork?" I would have died for this baby, just as you would die for your children.
**Don't say, "Be grateful for the children you have." If your mother died in a terrible wreck and you grieved, would that make you less grateful to have your father?
**Don't say, "Thank God you lost the baby before you really loved it." I loved my son or daughter. Whether I lost the baby after two weeks of pregnancy or just after birth, I loved him or her.
**Don't say, "Isn't it time you got over this and moved on?" It's not something I enjoy, being grief-stricken. I wish it had never happened. But it did and it's a part of me forever. The grief will ease on its own timeline, not mine - or yours.
**Don't say, "Now you have an angel watching over you." I didn't want her to be my angel. I wanted her to bury me in my old age.
**Don't say, "I understand how you feel." Unless you've lost a child, you really don't understand how I feel. And even if you have lost a child, everyone experiences grief differently.
**Don't tell me horror stories of your neighbor or cousin or mother who had it worse. The last thing I need to hear right now is that it is possible to have this happen six times, or that I could carry until two days before my due-date and labor 20 hours for a dead baby. These stories frighten and horrify me and leave me up at night weeping in despair. Even if they have a happy ending, do not share these stories with me.
**Don't pretend it didn't happen and don't change the subject when I bring it up. If I say, "Before the baby died" or "when I was pregnant" don't get scared. If I'm talking about it, it means I want to. Let me. Pretending it didn't happen will only make me feel utterly alone.
**Don't say, "It's not your fault." It may not have been my fault, but it was my responsibility and I failed. The fact that I never stood a chance of succeeding only makes me feel worse. This tiny little being depended upon me to bring him safely into the world and I couldn't do it. I was supposed to care for him for a lifetime, but I couldn't even give him a childhood. I am so angry at my body you just can't imagine.
**Don't say, "Well, you weren't too sure about this baby, anyway." I already feel so guilty about ever having complained about morning sickness, or a child I wasn't prepared for, or another mouth to feed that we couldn't afford. I already fear that this baby died because I didn't take the vitamins, or drank too much coffee, or had alcohol in the first few weeks when I didn't know I was pregnant. I hate myself for any minute that I had reservations about this baby. Being unsure of my pregnancy isn't the same as wanting my child to die - I never would have chosen for this to happen.
~Do say, "I am so sorry." That's enough. You don't need to be eloquent. Say it and mean it and it will matter.
~Do say, "You're going to be wonderful parents some day," or "You're wonderful parents and that baby was lucky to have you." We both need to hear that.
~Do say, "I have lighted a candle for your baby," or "I have said a prayer for your baby." Do send flowers or a kind note - every one I receive makes me feel as though my baby was loved. Don't resent it if I don't respond. Don't call more than once and don't be angry if the machine is on and I don't return your call. If we're close friends and I am not responding to your attempts to help me, please don't resent that, either. Help me by not needing anything from me for a while.
If you're my boss or my co-worker:
~Do recognize that I have suffered a death in my family - not a medical condition.
~Do recognize that in addition to the physical aftereffects I may experience, I'm going to be grieving for quite some time. Please treat me as you would any person who has endured the tragic death of a loved one - I need time and space.
Please don't bring your baby or toddler into the workplace. If your niece is pregnant, or your daughter just had a baby, please don't share that with me right now. It's not that I can't be happy for anyone else, it's that every smiling, cooing baby, every glowing new mother makes me ache so deep in my heart I can barely stand it. I may look okay to you, but there's a good chance that I'm still crying every day. It may be weeks before I can go a whole hour without thinking about it. You'll know when I'm ready - I'll be the one to say, "Did your daughter have her baby?" or, "How is that precious little boy of yours? I haven't seen him around the office in a while."
Above all, please remember that this is the worst thing that ever happened to me. The word "miscarriage" is small and easy. But my baby's death is monolithic and awful. It's going to take me a while to figure out how to live with it. Bear with me.
__________________
Linda, mommy to Nikolas & Andrew, 5 year old twin boys and Ember Rose, almost 3.
thank you for that lovely letter. im crying over here. i just lost another little joy. and im really sad right now. im only 21 and ive lost 3 little ones, even though the longest i was pregnant w. one of them was a lil over 10 weeks, the others 6 weeks, i love them so much and they can never be replaced. im really sad because the first pregnancy and the 3rd were suprises, jacky (2nd) and this one were planned, and i just feel terrible.
I cried when I read this, when I had my m/c I had a friend yell me to get over it that women lost babies every day. Needless to say that it was a long time before I could talk to her again.
Oh thanks for posting that-I just found out Weds my lil bean has stopped growing and I am waiting to miscarry-I wish I could wear a shirt w/all of that on it-I am so SICK of hearing its for the best or there was prob something wrong-I never claimed I wanted a perfect baby. I guess I am still in anger mode. Its my 5th loss. I do have children and I am reminded of that all the time, like I dont know that already.
Thanks that needs to be placed in a letter to many people I know.
It was a nice share. And people really don't understand what to say, and most of them say the wrong thing because they are wrapped up in there own minds.
I have a mother-in-law that accually thought it was nessesary to tell me the funeral home I went with was snobby, cold, and very unwelcoming.
Then she thought it was nessesary to think I was hiding information from her because I still have not heard from the patholigists' office. She thinks my Dr. is helping cover up something I did to cause my baby to die.
And even though my boyfriend is very supportive about this, he just says I shouldn't let her bother me because it is just her opinion.
wow that made me cry a lot harder than i expected it to....i'm still in that crying every day phase...thanks for posting that, I definitely will send this to my mom.
I wish everybody read that before talkin to me. I know they don't mean to hurt me, but when they say stuff like that it feels like they don't care. I wish people knew that a stillborn baby, is very much a life...idk when people ask me whats wrong if i've been crying or soemthing, and i tell them that im thinking about Natalie, they get this face, and some say, oh thats whats wrong, as if its nothing....I guess people really dont understand.
