If We Only Knew: The Quest to Conquer Preeclampsia is a YouTube video that describes the dangers of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a condition during pregnancy that is caused by high blood pressure. Please share this video with every mother you know…
Thanks for sharing Mia!
When Stephanie Cole’s daughter died of unknown causes one week after her due date, it shook her to her very core and set her on a journey into the depths of grief. Stephanie faced her loss head-on, using creative expression as a tool to navigate her way through the intensity of her emotions, and allowing herself to grieve honestly and on her own terms. In her new book, Still: a collection of honest artwork and writings from the heart of a grieving mother, Stephanie invites us in for an intimate look at that first dark year without her daughter.
Stephanie has always had a love of writing, but never really considered becoming an author. Even as Still was being created, she didn’t feel as though she was writing a book. Stephanie explains, “I write as a way to release all of the overwhelming emotions of grief from my body. Before Still. was a book it was my journal, my canvas. It was a way for me to express the unspeakable.” Read more…
The Sweet Pea Project was created by Stephanie Cole after the death of her daughter Madeline, as a way to honor her memory and reach out to other bereaved parents.
The Sweet Pea Project offers comfort, support and gentle guidance to families who have experienced the death of a baby. Sweet Pea Project Blankets have been donated to hospitals across the country and a new Book Donation Project was launched in June 2010 after the release of Stephanie’s book, Still.
Wander through the various pages of this website and you will find a large library of resources including links to websites, support groups and books that other parents have found helpful. On the Sweet Pea Babies page you will find a special place to remember our children. There is also an online gallery that features artwork and writings from all over the world, created by the parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles of the little ones who are so deeply loved and missed.
If you or someone you love has experienced the death of a baby, please visit our For Bereaved Families page.
Just found these statistics online and thought the rest of HOPE would like to know the numbers. More statistics can be found online at the American Pregnancy Association’s website.
Mending Invisible Wings is a book written by Mary Burgess, a doula whose first birth she attended was for a dear friend. Her friend’s labor was wonderful but the birth, tragic.
Below is a poem dedicated to those who have lost a baby during pregnancy. The poem can be found in Mary’s book Mending Invisible Wings.
A Birth Healing Blessing
Blessed sister, beautiful one with broken wings.
Your journey is a difficult one
that no mother should have to endure.
Your path is steep, rocky and slippery
and your tender heart is in need of gentle healing.
Breathe deeply and know that you are loved.
You are not alone,
though at times, you will feel like a
desolate island of grief
untouchable
distant.
Close your eyes.
Seek the wisdom of women who have walked this well-worn path before you,
before,
and before,
and before you yourself were born.
These beautiful ones
with eyes like yours
have shared your pain, and
weathered the storms of loss.
You are not alone (breathe in)
You will go on (breathe out)
Your wings will mend (breathe in)
You are loved (breathe out).
Many times at our HOPE meetings we are asked how to explain the death of a baby or the death of a loved one to our living children. The following article written by Jay Johnson from the Grief Digest Magazine explains how to do just that…
It breaks our hearts, it troubles our minds, it rattles our souls; seeing children we love devastated, weeping, sorrow-filled. We want to fix it and we can‘t. “I can’t just go out and buy a new daddy. I could always do that with broken Barbies. I can’t put a BAND-AID on it. I can’t kiss it and make it stop hurting. I can’t even tell her it will be all right. All I can do is hold her and help her cry.” (Mom in Seattle)
Everyone who devotes their lives to grieving children agrees there are least four tasks of grieving children. In a way, they apply to all of us, for when we grieve we are indeed like children.
1. Recognize the reality of the death
Probably the single most important thing you can do to help the children in your family is to be honest. When her mother shot herself when Margo was four, the children were told their mother went on vacation. Her clothes and belongings were gone; she had just disappeared. The next year when their father told the children they were going on vacation, he couldn’t figure out why they were terrified. Children deserve to know the truth. Use the real words: “dead” and “died.” Explain what happened. If the death was violent, the children will find out what happened sooner or later and it‘s best if they find out from you or some other loving family member. Secrets can hurt. Welcome their questions. Getting honest answers helps them grieve in healthy ways. Read more…
Hello HOPE! The Rindy’s Hope blog/website NOW accepts comments to our posts.
For those non-Facebook users, you can come to our website and leave a comment for all to see on the individual posts that we publish. Facebook users, you know the drill.
We welcome your comments. It’s a great way to stay in touch with our members. Our moderator will read all comments and approve them for publishing.
Directions: Under the title of each post, click the “No Comments” or “Comments” link. Enter your name, email address, and comment. Click submit. It’s that easy.
Any questions please email the moderator. Click here.
Happy commenting!
Exhale: A Literary Magazine just published their spring edition online. The focus of the spring edition is experiences on the roller coaster of infertility and life after babyloss. Exhale is a unique quarterly literary magazine written for and by ordinary people who have faced extraordinary obstacles to getting (or staying) knocked up, or who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death. Founded in 2008 by Monica LeMoine, Exhale has become a space for creative expression. We seek out the gritty humor and complexities of discovering that producing a child isn’t as easy as our society would have us believe. Without succumbing to the belief that a person’s self-worth and happiness are defined reproductive achievement, we recognize and validate the vast array of perspectives and emotions associated with pregnancy/infant loss and infertility issues.
An excerpt from their Spring edition:
Sharing My Fears on Grief’s Roller Coaster By Kristin Binder: I like to think that I had no idea. I like to think that it was not until hearing the words, “something is very, very wrong with your baby,” that my ticket onto this ride had been torn, and my fate had been sealed. Now, having spent over two years replaying every detail of my daughter’s birth, and subsequent death, over in my mind, I have come to realize that even before I knew what was happening, I was already on the loading platform, waiting for my car to arrive..
The excerpt below came from the Tears Foundation’s Facebook Page. It’s the pick-me-up we all need with the New England cold and snow.
Spring is right around the corner – believe it or not! Sometimes when we are in the “winter” of our grief – where it’s cold, dark and gloomy, it’s hard to realize that “spring” will ever exist again. But in time & with healing, spring does appear.
Hang in there, HOPE friends!
Welcome to Angie’s STL Tees.
Represent your lost loved one with this T-shirt. It has one of Angie’s favorite poems about a lost loved one.
The design is approx. 10 in x 5 in. Back design is approx. 5 in x 3 in. T-shirts can be personalized with your child’s name.
T-shirts sizes available: 12 months – 5 XL. Some sizes will have limited colors. Toddler and youth sizes run small so you may want to order a size up.