Bereaved Parents
Prenatal Diagnosis As A Gift
By: Sue Hasegawa In late 2008, my youngest child, Peter, was born into this world and peacefully left it four hours later. His passing was not unexpected as he was diagnosed months prior with full Trisomy 18, where every cell in his body contained an additional chromosome, impacting every organ throughout development. Most babies with…
Read MoreThe Hardest Decision I’ve Ever Made
By: Rebecca Stockwell The scariest thing about going to my first support group was worrying that I would be told I didn’t belong because I had a termination for medical reasons. I was scared my grief wouldn’t be seen as legitimate, that I would be condemned for making what I thought was the only decision…
Read MoreTerminating A Wanted Pregnancy
By: Amy Z. What a crazy week! We spent our baby moon in San Diego visiting my husband’s family. While there, my husband felt our baby kick for first time. We came home in time to see some 4th of July Fireworks (I’m kinda a firework fanatic). After two miscarriages, a chemical pregnancy and a…
Read MoreTwo Unbelievable Options
By: Tessa Michaud In January 2011, my husband and I learned we were blessed with another pregnancy, another beautiful child. After having a miscarriage in September 2010, my doctors wanted to proceed with caution. It was a confusing time as I had wanted to celebrate with joy and excitement, yet I knew from previous experience…
Read MoreTaking Gemma’s Pain: Ending A Wanted Pregnancy
By: Megan Hofbauer I am a mother of three handsome boys and one beautiful daughter or at least I imagine she’s beautiful. When I close my eyes, I see a beautiful little girl with dark brown hair, soulful blue eyes, and olive skin but then I open my eyes and she’s gone. The reality is…
Read MoreMeeting Annie
By: Robert and Kelly Henke A couple weeks before our 20-week ultrasound, I had a gut instinct that something wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t place it, but I knew something was wrong. My husband, Robert, and our 20-month-old daughter were both at the ultrasound. Never did I expect to hear the word “Anencephaly.” It was…
Read MoreThe Date That Changes Everything
By: Kadie Tannehill I never knew how much one, single date in time could change the course of entire lifetime. May 16th, 2015 is that date for me, and something I naively thought I would never experience—it’s the day that we said hello and goodbye to our son, Jonah, in the same breath. You see,…
Read MoreCarrying Grace To Term
By: Stephanie Schoonover OUR BLESSING, OUR GRACE A few months after we married, Andy and I learned our prayers for our family had been answered. I was pregnant and we were ecstatic. Aside from afternoon fatigue my pregnancy seemed to be going smoothly until our 12 -week anatomy scan. We watched as our daughter stretched…
Read MoreDecisions Made With Love
By: Marissa Steinhoff “If we tell you to turn off the machines, will you think we are the dumbest, worst parents alive?” I remember sitting in a hospital conference room around a huge table. It was my husband and I and dozens of doctors and specialists. Tears were running down my swollen face and through…
Read MoreSupport for Every Grieving Family
By: Patti Budnik, Share Bereavement Care Manager When I started at Share, I didn’t know how amazed and inspired I would be by the families we serve. Everyone’s story is different and there is no such thing as grieving perfectly. Some of our stories are more complicated than others but all result in the loss…
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