Losing my daughter has changed the way I think. I don’t just mean my perspective on life has changed, I mean the actual cognitive process of thinking. I have grief brain. Grief brain is what happens to your exhausted mind after the loss of a loved one. I’m not sure how much scientific evidence there…
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My Child Has Died, But Her Name Lives On
Continue...Before she was born, I knew our daughter would be Dorothy. From the very first time that her name graced my lips, I knew it would be the name that I wanted to speak forever. In high school, I used to doodle my name with the surname of my celebrity crush so I could look…
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Child Loss Is Hard — But Why Is It So Hard?
Continue...Child loss is hard. We know this. It’s a universal understanding that losing a child is one of the most difficult experiences a person will endure, but still, a question arises. Why is this so hard? I’ve heard this question about grief and child loss asked again and again. I’ve been asked by those who…
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Miscarriage And Immigrant Women: The Compassion Is Missing
Continue...The first time I miscarried, I was in my home. There was tea, there was Netflix, there was someone taking care of me and, still, it was agony. No amount of creature comforts could make miscarriage easier, so it sickens me to think that there are women experiencing a miscarriage in detention centers where there…
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Life After Loss: The Anxiety Didn’t Go Away
Continue...It was during my 16-week appointment that my midwife shared her concern about my anxiety. “You seem extremely anxious about this pregnancy,” she observed as she put away the Doppler. I admitted that I was. I told her that I dealt with generalized anxiety disorder and I had since adolescence, but I quickly reassured her…
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Dads Grieve Too – And They Need Other Grieving Dads
Continue...Dads grieve too. The women in our loss community say it often and we say it with such passion. Dads grieve too. However, right after we finish that statement the discomfort settles in. A question inevitably arises: Yes, dads grieve but how do we support them in their grief? There’s a lot we, as…
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To The Nurses Who Brought Me Back Into Life
Continue...Thank you for saving me. Your skills and your knowledge saved me from following my daughter into death, but it was your compassion that guided me back towards life. The humanity you demonstrated is what brought me back into life; you made it possible to think about living after death. For this, I owe you…