Yesterday, October 15th, was Infant And Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day. I wish I would have written about it before now so that I could have raised more awareness thru my blog, but I did use my Facebook page and I talked about it in the hopes that people would join me in paying tribute to all of the pregnancies and infants lost. At 8pm last night, I took part in a candle lighting with hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of other people who wanted to remember and/or honor their angel babies, and also people who just wanted to show support for their loved ones. I thought I would be sad when I lit my candle next to my little teddy bear. I kind of even hesitated for a second. But, I lit the candle, closed my eyes for a second, and then I felt a little smile come across my face. It was a bittersweet moment. Yes, it was a little sad, but in that moment, I didn't feel alone in my loss. I knew that all across the country and maybe even in other parts of the world people were doing the same thing. We were all coming together and we all understood. There is no grief like infertility, miscarriage, or losing your baby. I was part of a Facebook group and we all posted our pictures and messages. Here is my candle for my 5 babies that live in my heart and for all of the other people who have experienced loss. And this is my "burden bear" that my good friend Sara gave me to help me with my grief. There have been many moments I have squeezed this bear as close to me as I could and just cried thinking of the babies that should be here with us. This little teddy bear and poem have helped my healing process so much, I hope Sara knows the difference it has made.
October is a month of awareness for so many causes and one of those is Infertility Awareness. Please don't be afraid to talk about it, to educate yourselves or others, to reach out and support someone you know who is suffering through infertility, or to ask for support if you are the one struggling.
If you need resources, information, or education you can visit
www.resolve.org, The National Infertility Association.
You can also check out this website
http://www.secretinfertility.com/. It is the website of a woman, and author, who is an infertiliy advocate I recently connected with. Her name is Fran Meadows. You can check out her story, blog and even connect with her on Facebook. Yesterday, she did something amazing and thoughtful. She recognized anyone who emailed her their info, by releasing a virtual butterfly on her Facebook page, to honor and remember all the pregnancies and babies lost and the families who miss them every day.
