When a child loses his parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his partner, they are called a widow or widower. When parents lose their child, their isn't a word to describe them.
October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance day and I just wanted to write a quick post in honour of that. While I have suffered an early miscarriage (around 5 weeks along), I don't pretend that the grief that I went through then was anything compared to what someone goes through when they have a stillborn child or lose an infant. I've had some good friends who have lost little ones, and I've also made some friends through my own pregnancy journey who lost their little ones to lethal skeletal dysplasias.
And while I haven't really gone through that pain personally, I do know is what it is like to fear for the life of the child that I was carrying. I know what it's like to be told that there is a fair chance that my baby may not survive. I know what it's like to begin to consider funeral options for a child who is not yet born. And even though now Maddy is expected to live a long life, I still carry that experience with me and I will always feel strongly for those parents who didn't have the kind of happy ending that we did.
So today I'm remembering the little ones who died all too soon, in particular the children of my friends. Even though they didn't spend long enough here with us on earth, they will not be forgotten.
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