The day the baby in my womb stopped moving, I was with the boys, visiting my parents. Days later, when I left the hospital and returned to my parents' house, the little blue and white knitted outfit I'd almost finished was gone, put away, out of sight.
I've never picked up my knitting needles again, and through the years and my history of stillbirths and pregnancy loss (here), I learned that most people - relatives, friends, even medical staff - don't know how to respond to pregnancy loss appropriately. They often react by putting it "out of sight."
Not so those parents who have actually been through pregnancy loss. In the days, and weeks, and months that followed the birth of our first stillborn baby, the phone was silent and not many words of comfort came. Then I received something in the mail from the US, from someone totally unconnected to me, who was herself a bereaved mother.
What came in the mail was a fat manila envelope containing the Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, Inc information and support packet which a friend of friends in the US had asked Share to send me. Share gives support to parents and professionals; their mission is to "provide families with a positive resolution to their grief." The package that came in the mail that day from over the Atlantic was a helping hand reaching out to me across an ocean of loneliness.
I've added a logo and a link to Share to my sidebar (it is not sponsorship), because I noticed from the stats that this post is getting a few hits; in case some readers are bereaved parents, I want to help them get in touch with Share.
