If you were to ask someone who hasn’t gone through a death of their child, which three days they would pick to remember, if that was all they could keep, I wonder what they would choose? We didn’t get a choice, which sucks. Big time. Our three days with Leo weren’t enjoying a sunshine filled day in…
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Choosing to Stop Trying for More (Living) Children
Continue...In case no one has ever said this to you, I want you to know – It’s okay to stop trying. For children. For living children. For more children. Even if you have never been able to get pregnant. Even if all of your babies died and you don’t have any living children. Even if…
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One More (Life)Time
Continue...I am painfully aware of your stillness now, And now that I’ve noticed, I can’t un-notice. It’s an overwhelming stillness… A nothingness that means everything, – that changes everything. One more time, 2 pink lines will end in heartbreak. One more time, caught off-guard, an empathetic professional has said, “I’m so sorry…” One more time,…
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How 9/11 Helped Prepare Me For Life As A Grieving Father
Continue...I could not have known on September 11, 2001 that my experience in Downtown Manhattan watching the Twin Towers fall and the subsequent weeks of disarray in the East Village would prepare me to learn the biggest lesson in the wake of my infant son Finlay’s inexplicable death at the end of labor. This lesson…
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This Often Lonely Road: On Being An Angel Dad
Continue...Child loss is a lonely world, you go through it alone or at best with your partner. You and your partner are the only ones who will get what is going on in your circumstances. You could have 100’s of family and friends but when it comes to child loss unless one of them has…
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Missed Milestones – Kindergarten Without You
Continue...Briar will be going to grade 2 this year. We’ll shop for her first day of school outfit and take the famous first day of school photos. I’ll smile because she makes me so proud, and in her mom’s eyes, she is every bit of perfect. I’ll log onto Facebook and see photos upon photos…
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Straight Talk About A Convoluted Situation: Suicide
Continue...Guest Post by William R. Newhouse. Bio: Retired engineer. Former Naval officer. Married. One natural son (died) and two stepsons. 68 years old. Eleven years ago my 19-year-old son committed suicide. The article below is something I wrote to try and educate others as to how to interact with a parent who has lost a…