Getting Through Mother’s Day After Losing a Baby
The advertisements start in April. The store displays, the emails asking what you would like for brunch, the little envelopes sent home from preschool with a handprint tucked insid
What to Do With the Nursery After Losing a Baby
The door to that room stays closed for a while. Maybe you walk past it a dozen times a day and never turn the handle. Maybe you sit in there at three in the morning because it is t
When Friends Disappear After Pregnancy Loss
In the first days after your baby died, your phone probably would not stop. Flowers on the porch. Meals dropped at the door. Long messages that said all the tender, clumsy things p
Returning to Work After Pregnancy Loss: Going Back Gently
There is a particular kind of dread that lives in the calendar. A return date sits there, whether it is circled in ink or just understood, and each day the world seems to expect th
Your Baby’s First Birthday After Loss: Gentle Ways to Honor the Day
The first birthday you will never get to plan is still a birthday. There is no party to arrange, no cake to keep away from small reaching hands, and still the date sits there on th
Writing a Letter to Your Baby After Loss
There is a particular quiet that settles in after everyone has gone home, after the calls slow and the meals stop arriving, when the house holds only you and the weight of what hap
Baby Showers After Loss: When the Invitation Hurts
The invitation comes and something in your chest goes tight. A friend is pregnant, or a cousin, or someone from work, and there is a date on a card and a registry link and a little
Getting Through Your Baby’s Due Date After a Loss
The due date was supposed to be a beginning. A bag half-packed by the door, a name you tried out loud when no one was listening, the long wait for a face you already loved. When th
What to Do With Baby Items After Loss
The door to that room may still be closed. Or it may be open, and you find yourself standing in the doorway, unable to look away from the crib, the folded blankets, the tiny clothe
How Many Kids Do You Have? Finding Your Answer After Loss
Someone at the pediatrician’s office asks if this is your first. A cashier at the grocery store smiles at your baby and asks, so is she your only one? A new coworker, trying
