Honoring Your Child
Navigating an Impossible Grief
By: Karen Struzik As I contemplate on many of the events that occurred 23 years ago when we lost our son to stillbirth, I find that I would want to go back and tell my 31-year-old self several things to help her navigate this impossible grief. I would also like to tell you this: You…
Read MoreImpossible Beauty
By: Autumn Purdy I haven’t been pregnant for almost 11 years. My youngest son, who will turn 10 soon, begs for a newborn sibling at certain intervals, and I tell him repeatedly, “Someone has to be the baby of the family, and that special someone is you.” And I leave my response lighthearted, hugging him…
Read MoreFinding Peace in the New Year
By: Rose Carlson The holidays are over, and you may be breathing a huge sigh of relief that you made it through those stressful days. Hopefully, they weren’t as bad as you might have imagined they would be. Now it is a new year, a fresh start, and you may be dreading that as well.…
Read MoreTraditions Always Include the Baby
By: Marie Kriedman Our family has many holiday traditions – visits with Santa, writing letters on Christmas Eve, setting out cookies with milk, sprinkling reindeer food on the front lawn, seeing holiday lights, visiting with friends, and so much more. On Christmas morning our brood wakes up to a tree with flashing red and green…
Read MorePotholes of Grief
By: Rose Carlson One of the painful things about grief is there are a multitude of situations that can trigger heavy feelings that you don’t know what to do with, even months and years after your loss. Triggers can come from out of nowhere, and you do not always know what your triggers will be…
Read MoreHow to Help your Grieving Child
By: Rose Carlson Children are often called the forgotten grievers, yet they often feel deep sadness and fear when their baby sibling dies. Depending on their age, they have limited understanding of death and what it means, but they can be quite intuitive and at the very least, they are aware that something is different…
Read MoreAwareness is needed to reach more moms and Dads
By: Marie Kriedman I never knew there was a Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. In my mind, October was a month of crisp fall air, pumpkin spice overload, colorful leaves, and pink breast cancer ribbons, before beelining into Halloween. I am now very familiar with the pink and blue ribbon that represents a baby…
Read MoreShe is Still a Part of Our Family
By: Marie Kriedman In the immediate days following the miscarriage of our daughter, my husband and I were in a minefield of grief. We were in shock, still trying to understand how our life had taken such a turn, and we felt deeply overwhelmed. We needed a breather from caring for our children, so we…
Read MoreYour Baby is So Much More than Gone
By: Amanda Crews After Carson died, my world turned to ruins. Everything we had planned for was gone. It didn’t matter that we installed the car seat a week prior or that his nursery was 100% ready. It didn’t matter that every piece of clothing was washed and ready to be worn. We wouldn’t wait…
Read MoreDear Bereaved Parent:
By: Robyn Busekrus I wish this weren’t your reality. Losing a child is something we should not have to experience. If I had a magic wand, I would wish for a different reality for myself and for you. Something unexpected happened and it is trying. Acceptance is understanding that what we have experienced is not…
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