Covid-19, I think, has had some similar influences on bereaved parents as the loss of our babies. The influences are most definitely not in any way as profound as the loss of our children, but there are some similarities, nonetheless.
Here are some of the similarities that I can see:
Covid-19 can come to anyone’s door regardless of their financial situation, their religion, or their culture.
Covid-19 reminds us of how precious our own health is and that of our family.
Covid-19 gives us perspective about what is most important to us in this life.
Covid-19 forces us to cocoon ourselves around the ones that we love.
Covid-19 makes us think about things differently and behave in different long-lasting ways.
Covid-19 makes us feel the world has changed and we see things from a different point of view.
Covid-19 brings about grief for the changes in our lives such as loss of our jobs, loss of our connections and our freedoms.
Covid-19 had the power to make the world stop and think.
Covid-19 makes us feel overcome with fear and anxiety sometimes.
Covid-19 reminds us that there is always hope and that it will not always be this hard.
Covid-19 makes us realise that we are not as disconnected and isolated as we initially thought, as we turn to things like technology to reconnect with people and services that will support us.
Covid-19 will bring out kindness in world as people reach out to help each other in many wonderful, creative, and novel ways.
Covid-19 is something that we will survive.
Like baby loss, Covid-19 is our “wake-up” call. It is our awakening.
Niamh Connolly-Coyne is mother to three daughters Alice and twins Emma and Mia. Mia passed away a few weeks before she was born. She had a heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Niamh lives in Ireland. She set up an awareness / advocacy group for bereaved parents who have experienced loss in a multiple pregnancy called Peas in a Pod: loss in a multiple pregnancy @peasinapodireland. Niamh hopes also to create more awareness and inclusion of the needs of parents who have lost a baby from a multiple pregnancy through campaign and lobbying work.
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