Welcome to Pregnancy Loss Week 2010. The goal of this week is to serve women in the process of healing after pregnancy loss and to provide information to all of whom have been touched by it. Part of this end will be accomplished through a blog carnival. We received several entries through the open call for submissions and so will be showing them as we go through the week. The first set of entries was featured here on the topic of mothering after a loss and how the experience of pregnancy changed as a result of the loss.

Women who experience pregnancy loss often characterize it as a feeling of lost innocence. The idea that a pregnancy automatically results in a baby at end of the day is gone forever.

Samantha's Story

Today’s blog entries come under the umbrella of how losses were memorialized as well as how it was experienced by the grandparents.

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Brooke at Solitary Insanity talks about finding a meaningful way to remember her 11 week loss in A Necklace for Lemon. ˝I fell in love with the lemon necklace because it’s such a simple piece – that for me – carries significant meaning…˝

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Molly at Tiny Footprints on my Heart describes the details of the ceremony that accompanied the burial of her Noah in Noah’s Box/Ceremony. ˝I wanted to share some pictures of the box we buried Noah in and write a little bit about the ceremony we had for him the day he was born/buried.˝

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Amanda tackles how the loss effected her mothering as well as how she memorialized the tragedy in this two part Q&A. ˝Even though we move on with our lives, the loss of that baby will always leave an empty space.  We may go an to have more children, but none will ever replace the one who was lost.˝

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April at My Feminine Mind wrote an open letter to the baby that she won’t get to know in A Letter to My Child. ˝Your dad and I wanted you to come to us so much. When we learned that you were growing inside me we were happy and we told everyone we know. Even though no one knew you and no one could see you, everyone was happy to learn of your existence.˝

Not all of the submissions for the blog carnival were written prose. Some came to us in the form of poetry. The following section features those entries.

Cassandra wrote a poem entitled Mommy’s Promise.

Stacy wrote two poems about the loss of her newborn, Anthony: Please Don’t Tell Them You Only Held Me For 10 Seconds and Anthony’s Birth.

And finally, the grandparent’s perspective was offered up by Cecelia who talks about the loss of her first grandchild in A Grandmother’s Perspective. She describes the pain of loosing both a grandchild and also seeing her daughter in such pain. ˝As her mom, I felt pretty helpless.  I tried to minister to them both by being there,holding hands, doing a little cooking,cleaning,washing,  but I couldn’t really help the emotional part enough to make a difference at that time. She told me that I did help, so maybe it was being there with them.˝

***Pregnancy Loss Week 2010***

Monday: Pregnancy Loss, Mothering and the Next Baby

Tuesday: The Birth of Sybella Eve

Wednesday: Remembering the Losses and Extended Family

Thursday: The Doodles

Friday: Pregnancy Loss and Trying Again and Pregnancy Loss-inspired Art