Hope Blooms: Surviving Miscarriage Together

For Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month we are resharing the special story of Kathryn Wales and her sweet daughter Theodora. This episode originally ran September 20, 2022. -------Kathryn joins us to share her story of the death of her dear Theodora at 16 weeks gestation. While miscarriages most commonly occur during the first trimester of pregnancy, any pregnancy loss before 20 weeks is considered a miscarriage. Kathryn's story details the experience and grief of a second trimester miscarriage. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

For a long time myths and misconceptions have haunted women suffering miscarriage. In this episode Emily and Maria tackle some these frustrating lies that pollute the miscarriage conversation.  People Have Misconceptions About Miscarriage, And That Can HurtMiscarriage Resource Packet Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

For Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month we encourage you to think about gentleness as you care for your heart and remember your little one. Wherever you are in your grief journey, this episode serves as a good reminder to care for yourself where you are. We are republishing this episode from December 20, 2022 to help us through Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month and into the holidays. ------We are quick to prescribe gentleness in times of grief, but do we even know what that means? Has the command to be 'gentle with yourself' become just one more thing to do in a time of helplessness? How do we understand gentleness in a way that allows for healing and restoration. Emily and Maria start the conversation digging in to what 'being gentle with yourself' might look like, especially as we prepare for the Holidays. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Emily and Maria talk abou how Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness (PAIL) Month has grown over the years. They also offer ways to remember our children and care for our hearts and bodies during this time.Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Emily miscarried 9 years ago. Her mother, Linda, thought her daughter's experience and care might be different than her own loss nearly 30 years earlier. But it wasn't. Emily was stuck with the same hushed culture and confusion surrounding miscarriage. There was a lack of educational resources and limited community support not much different than her own loss decades before. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Working through the trauma of miscarriage can take its toll on a relationship. Each person might experience grief differently, have different needs, or even different expectations. Emily and Maria talk about some of these challenges and look for ways to love, care, and support each other following early pregnancy loss. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

The frontlines of miscarriage care are diverse. While medical professionals are an integral part of this, they are not the only ones faced with serving women and families after loss. Due to the nature of miscarriage and prenatal care, some women aren't even in the care of a doctor yet at the time of their loss. This leaves other caregivers with the challenge of providing emotional, physical, and spiritual support. Some women turn to their church community, but are these churches ready to help? Pastor Everett Henes joins Emily and Maria to talk about some ways the he and the Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church has responded to needs in his congregation. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

The U.K. Government recently reviewed an independent report concerning was to improve care following early pregnancy loss. As a couple of Americans looking on, Emily and Maria take this episode to respond to the recommendations. Maybe there really is a better way?So many of our stories talk about painful interactions with medical professionals, being under prepared to manage the physical experience, and difficultly processing the emotional and physical toll. These recommendations tackle these problems head on dignifying the woman, the fetus, and the whole family. Everyone would do well to take the advice laid out in this review: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-independent-pregnancy-loss-review/government-response-to-the-independent-pregnancy-loss-review-care-and-support-when-baby-loss-occurs-before-24-weeks-gestationFind us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Early pregnancy loss brings grief to the whole family. Often parents, in the midst of their own grief, are also left to guide their living children through the loss of a sibling.  Later on families might face the difficulty of sharing their previous losses with children born after their miscarriage. Either way, talking about life and death with children might feel overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. In this episode Maria and Emily share resources that helped them navigate these conversations with their own children. For more information visit:After Miscarriage: How to Talk to Your Children About Pregnancy LossTalking to Children About Baby LossFind us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Starting with one bereavement basket in 2007 Forget-Me-Not Baskets has served Northeast Ohio and beyond for over 15 years. Since then they have given away thousands of baskets to families experiencing miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss. Emily and Maria are joined by Sara Ringle to talk about the changing culture of pregnancy loss, moms serving moms, and ways we can reach people better. Learn more about Forget-Me-Not Baskets: https://forgetmenotbaskets.com/Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Only a few weeks into her first pregnancy, Haley Naida was surprised to discover she was experiencing a Missed Miscarriage. The following days, weeks, months, and years brought grief and confusion as she and her husband muddled through the spiritual, emotional, and physical suffering. But they also experienced great hope and healing through the gift of friendship. Haley's wisdom and grace shines through as she calls for doctors, women, the church, and our whole community, to step up and take care of those experiencing this loss. Learn more about missed miscarriage and other types of pregnancy loss: EPLA Resources Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

This is our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY EPISODE  and we want to honor this achievement with you. Be sure to listen for opportunities to give us your feedback and receive some special EPLA swag! On June 7, 2022 we launched Hope Blooms: Surviving Miscarriage Together with our first episode: The Changing Culture of Pregnancy Loss: An Interview with Nancy Kingma, Part 1. Over the last year we have kept the conversation going by featuring parents, nurses, doctors, and other professionals who are dedicated to caring for families who have experienced miscarriage. It has been a privilege and an honor to share this space with our guests and listeners. As we look toward the next year we want to hear from you and we want to share with you. This episode is full of prompts to enter special giveaways. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Kathy Petersen joins Maria and Emily to talk about her prespective as a Labor and Delivery Nurse and a loss mom herself. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Well here it comes again: Mother's Day is on the horizon. And did you know there is a Bereaved Mother's Day too? Do we need two holidays? Does it help? Does it hurt? What should you do on Mother's Day? How should you feel? We don't have the answers to all of these questions, but we are here to say: Dear miscarriage mamas, You are a real mother. You carried life inside of you. You deserve a day. You deserve to smile, to cry, to grieve, to laugh - however your motherhood makes you feel at this moment. In this episode Emily and Maria talk about these approaching holidays and give some ideas for how to survive Mother's Day and Bereaved Mother's Day after experiencing early pregnancy loss. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Grieving a miscarriage is complicated. The life lost was real. The grief is real. But there feels like there is so little to hold onto. Maybe an ultrasound, a pregnancy test, some early baby presents. But there are no pictures, no birthdays, no conversations, or stories. How do we remember little ones we never met living? Emily and Maria talk about what it means to remember and give some examples of rituals and practices that have helped them and others over the years. Encouraging Loved Ones After A Miscarriage Why We Remember Our Miscarried Children Remembering Our Children Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Emily had an idea: She wanted to provide relief for medical bills incurred due to miscarriage. This was really the seed that planted what would become EPLA, but we still don't do it. In this episode Maria and Emily discuss the early days of EPLA, the vision of medical bill relief, and our hopes for what is on the horizon! Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

"I didn't want the claim that she was happy to mean I wasn't allowed to be sad." Jordan Wales shares his story of losing Theodora and how he cared for his wife Kathryn and worked through his grief in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Maria and Emily explain the two miscarriage care kits offered by EPLA. This episode is a great opportunity to understand what is in each kit and why. For more information about miscarriage care kits visit our website: https://www.miscarriagecare.com/blog/epla-service-miscarriage-care-kitsTo request a kit for yourself or a loved one email us at miscarriagecare@gmail.com. Please indicate which kit is needed and a name and address for the recipient. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Poetry lends itself to a deep expression of feelings and is often able of capturing the most painful parts of the human experience. This week we are joined by Dr. Elizabeth Fredericks, Assistant Professor of English at Hillsdale College to look at three Irish poems on early pregnancy loss. We hope that these guided readings through these poems will touch and soothe your heart as only poetry can.  -----Poems read and discussed:  Sinead Morrissey, “Stitches,” originally published in Between Here and There (Carcanet, 2002), reprinted in Parallax & Selected Poems (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2013)Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, “Miscarriage Abroad,” Northern Lights (Gallery Press, 2018)Michael Longley, “Miscarriage,” published in An Exploded View: Poems 1968-1972 (Gollancz, 1973) (out of print) Others mentioned:Paul Muldoon, “The Stoic,” Moy Sand and Gravel (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2002)Doireann Ní Ghríofa, “Waking,” Clasp (Dedalus Press, 2015) We also talked about Eavan Boland; poems like “Night Feed” are in her Collected Poems (Norton, 2005). Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.

Working through grief after pregnancy loss can be really challenging. Ben and Heidi pick up where we left off in our previous episode discussing their own path through grief and working through that grief within their marriage. Find us any time: Hope Blooms Blog FacebookInstagram: @earlypregnancylossassociationTwitter: @miscarriagecareEmail: Miscarriagecare@gmail.com P.O. Box 179 Hillsdale, MI 49242To request a miscarriage care kit please email miscarriagecare@gmail.com with your information. Care kits are distributed at no cost throughout the United States.