DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional. Please consult with your doctor or midwife if you have any questions regarding this information and opinion on the use of a fetal Doppler in pregnancy. I want to address this fear-mongering article from Bustle. In the article, This New Pregnancy Trend Among Millennial Women Could Seriously Harm Unborn…
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#SuicideAwareness
#SuicideAwareness has been circulating the internet over the last year or so. I am sure it has been around much longer but recent events have caused this hashtag to spread dramatically. It’s a great hashtag and is usually preceded by someone asking to post a status that says, “Share this so others can see that…
Miscarriage and the Flu Vaccine
Several mainstream news sources, to include USA Today, have recently posted articles on miscarriage and the influenza vaccination. Newly pregnant mothers want to know, is the flu vaccine safe in pregnancy? The flu vaccine is recommended for all pregnant women and women are told there is little to no risk in receiving the vaccination during…
My Unexpected Pregnancy
When I received the positive pregnancy test, I wasn’t met with feelings of excitement and joy; rather, I experienced intense fear and anxiety. I had just been to my priest to confess that I had been having thoughts about abortion if I were to become pregnant again. Shocking, I know. If you know me, you…
I’m back!
My blog has been quiet for months. I apologize for that and will try to get it back on track. Several things have been keeping me from writing. First, I have a writer’s block. I have it very badly. Ever since I unexpectedly became pregnant last year, my mind has been blocked and was overly…
The Struggle to Go In – When Baby isn’t Moving Regularly
I specialize in pregnancy loss. I have been working with women for six years now, in differing capacities as a perinatal loss specialist and bereavement doula. In my childbirth education classes, we review fetal kick counts, fetal movements, and I share that it’s a myth that babies “run out of room” the farther along in…
The D&E for Miscarriage
When a baby dies in the second trimester of pregnancy, their death is either a miscarriage or a stillbirth. Stillbirth in the U.S. is defined as when a baby dies after 20 weeks gestation. A death before 20 weeks gestation is called a miscarriage. A second trimester miscarriage is a miscarriage between 12 completed weeks…
Pregnancy After Loss – Bargaining
When you pee on that stick and see the positive, you are elated…usually. Even in pregnancy after loss, there are moments of excitement which appear immediately upon seeing the positive test but it isn’t usually long until the worry and anxiety sets in. It’s almost as if entering pregnancy after loss means restarting the stages…
How Far Along Are You?
When a woman discovers she is pregnant, the inevitable question is immediately asked. How far along are you? I will say that we had known for weeks before we shared with a few select people and waited even longer to share with the rest of our close friends and family. Some, were kept in the…
On Birth and Death – A Doula’s Journey
I enter the small hospital room, adorned with white walls and white boards where his name is scribbled in black writing. Beneath his name is his care plan, followed by contact information for his family. Above the board is an old box TV, hanging from the wall. Fox News is on TV, one of the…