Shattering the Silence

By: Autumn Purdy On a brisk, sunny morning recently, I drove my daughter to her socially distanced ballet performance of “The Nutcracker”. This year will be different than all other years: masks on, dancing within a taped-off box, no parents or audience, and instead of enjoying a matinee showing of the annual Christmas spectacular at…

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How To Show Up For A Grieving Mother

By: Autumn Purdy Gifts come in many forms and any kind offering can make a world of difference to a woman who has experienced pregnancy loss. Gentle words and time spent sharing, handmade presents, a simple meal, a letter scrawled in imperfect handwriting, even a litany of text messages stating “I’m here for you,” will…

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An Epic Journey To Motherhood

By: Autumn Purdy The first time I miscarried, I was at the tail end of my eleventh week of pregnancy and 900 miles from home. It started with a shocking jolt, a sharp pain directly below my belly button, my skin flushing, and a wave of nausea before I felt the hot gush of blood…

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Speak The Unspeakable

By: Kayla Leibner In all walks of life, it’s important to be able to tell your story.  The elements of our story help shape us into the people we become.  We get to influence some of the plot and choose some of the characters in our life, but other times we can’t control what or…

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Love Bears All Things

By: Kayla Leibner The journey of a bereaved parent is full of misconceptions, false impressions, and understatements.  It’s uncomfortable and unthinkable.  There’s no possible way to help someone to understand unless they, too, are walking in our shoes.  At some point, we were all on the misunderstanding end of this scenario.  I know I once…

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Missing More Than Milestones

By: Kayla Leibner I often find myself wondering what life would be like if I wasn’t a bereaved mother.  I wonder how different I would be if I wasn’t on this path.  The truth is, this is my reality, and I’ll never again know life the way it was before this journey of grief began. …

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The Bittersweet Song of a Wren

By: Shirley Brosius The trill of a jenny wren still sends a pang of sadness through me. Many years ago, 45 to be exact, my youngest child, my only daughter, died a few hours after her birth. It was a chilly spring, and as I hung out laundry, a jenny wren sang from a tree.…

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Quiet Heroes

By: Jennifer Haake I spent many years in a clinical capacity in healthcare.  I don’t think anyone would ever disagree that nurses are the unsung heroes of medicine.  For a newly bereaved parent, they are often the ones to shape where the journey begins. In my case, I was laying on a stretcher getting my…

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To Be A Mother, All You Must Do Is Love

By: Casey Zenner What makes someone a Mother? This is something we recently talked about in one of the Ending a Wanted Pregnancy support groups I belong to on Facebook. When you think of the word Mother, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? It may be your own mom. It may…

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A Letter to the Newly Bereaved Mom on Mother’s Day

By: Kayla Leibner Dear Mom, I know you’re not the kind of mother you imagined you would be, but that doesn’t make you any less of a mother.  In fact, you are the strongest kind of mother.  Your baby lives in heaven instead of in your home.  You hold your baby in your heart instead…

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