#grievingmother

[danilovesivars]

What now?

Time doesn’t make sense. The days are long and draining and yet I’m doing nothing.  It used to be filled with you. It took you forever to eat your meals (although I guess it’s because it was hard for you to do the work when your brain couldn’t get the messages through).  The house is quiet. You aren’t banging on your pots and pans in the play kitchen or throwing crayons off your table. Containers of play doh just sit there now. Not that you cared as much for the play doh as it was taking the lids on and off the containers. I went out with Miss Kelly, and Miss Amanda and Miss Cat yesterday then saw my friend Michelle. I cried to all of them.  Then I came home and felt lost again. There was still so much of the day left. I felt exhausted and sore all over my body. I took a nap. Napping isn’t right anymore either because I napped with you. If my hair was still in a pony, you’d reach your little hand under my neck and pull my hair towards you. So I made sure to put my hair down yesterday. I can’t even keep track of what day of the week it is. Nothing is comforting. I can’t figure out what to watch on TV. I could do some work but I can’t think up anything creative and it seems like too much mental effort. Reading is hard I’m too easily distracted by the silence. Since when does that make sense? I can’t even find a Twenty One Pilots song that helps. In some ways I guess that’s an okay thing because I would never wish this pain on anyone and to write something that would explain this you’d have to experience it. Which means I have to be the one to write it. And let me tell you Charlie, Mommy is not the writer Tyler Joseph is. I wish I could be. Music has often been a comfort to me. Now I’m pulling songs from Frozen because I don’t know where else to look.  You received a lot of Easter gifts - some stuffies and blankets and chocolates. Losing you on Easter Monday meant you never got to use them. You were like Mommy and were addicted to chocolate. We have so much chocolate now because you had to start every meal with a small piece. Weirdly enough though Mommy has lost interest in chocolate. I’ve had some but it doesn’t taste the same anymore.  I try to talk to you like you are here. I’d love to hear your voice though. You are supposed to be whole in Heaven now so in theory you may even be able to talk. You certainly understood what was being said to you. You did have some words at one point. If in Heaven those lesions are gone from your brain are you chatting up your grandmother? What does it sound like when you talk? I wish we knew Charlie. I wish we knew what you were going through so we could reduce the suffering a little bit. Everyone says it may be better that we didn’t. You experienced a lot - A Blue Jays game, Wonderland, Santa’s Village, Sauble Beach, Daycare - things we probably would have been too afraid to take you to if we knew. But I don’t forget your tired eyes and your sighs. I know now why and I wish I could have helped you through those moments. At least we think we know why. We are still awaiting the genetic testing to confirm it was Leigh’s. I don’t know how I’d feel if they came back still not sure of what it was. Today I’ve tried to do stuff. Daddy got me a new grief journal. Plus I had one I got another day. I tried to look at Disney Cruises. A little getaway. We had hoped to take you to Disney so I thought a cruise might be a nice alternative. I sent out more GoFundMe Thank you’s and but I couldn’t finish anything I set out to do. Somehow after trying all those things it was still only 2 something. That’s when we’d normally be napping. Riley then called home. She almost made it through the whole day. I don’t blame her I can’t get myself to do anything so why should I expect her to? Daddy described this as feeling almost like you’ve lost a limb. Mainly because you always were clinging to Daddy’s shoulder so he quite literally felt like he lost a limb. But I went on to agree because I was thinking something similar. When you lose a limb (modern technology aside) it doesn’t grow back. You can stitch up the area and it will heal up but the actual limb is gone forever. How you move forward in life is completely different. You have to learn to adapt without it. And most of your limbs are pretty important in your daily life. You don’t NEED them to be alive but they are important to your functioning.When they are gone you still can feel pains from where they were. You can still feel your brain try to use them and function as you did.  So we are still here. Trying to continue without an important piece of our family. Moving forward and learning to adapt but trying to accept that you won’t be coming back. We still feel the pain of losing you. We still anticipate seeing you in the hallway when we open the bathroom door, or pulling yourself up to stand by the couch when we are watching TV. I still think I hear your voice when you wake up from a nap then remember you aren't there.  I just don’t know what to do now.  

[gnarlyscarsgnarlystories]

[m-yat]

How To Deal with Grief Over Losing a Pregnancy

Although it is not widely known, about one in four confirmed pregnancies end in miscarriage. Pregnancy loss is a difficult but necessary topic to discuss. If you, or someone you know, experienced pregnancy loss, you know it is one of the hardest things that can happen. It is normal to feel shock, grief, depression, guilt, anger, and a sense of failure and vulnerability when you lose a pregnancy.

The days following your pregnancy loss are incredibly painful and sad. It does not matter whether this is the first, second, or tenth pregnancy. It is always difficult.

Many women who went through a recent pregnancy loss find it extremely difficult to communicate it to family and friends. Often it is a feeling of guilt, of failure, that paralyzes and increases the fear.

While I do not intend to tell you what to do, and every person is different, I have a few suggestions that have helped other women and family members:

Some mothers who lose their pregnancy are able to move through this loss freely, while others feel deep despair at this loss. There are no “shoulds” in this. There is no right way to feel. If you feel strong and grounded and ready to move forward after a miscarriage that is totally valid. If you feel deep loss and grief then that, too, is appropriate. No one can tell you how you should feel, except you.

What happened is not your fault! It can happen to anybody. Most likely it was not the food you ate, the medication you took, or whatever you did. Most pregnancy losses have no known cause and even the world’s top medical experts would not be able to tell you why it happened.

You need time to heal. Grieving is normal and you have the right to be sad. Even if it feels like your sadness will never heal, it will. Many women who lose their babies become suddenly afraid of losing everything else, be it their sanity, other relationships important to them, their faith in the world, or any hope for the future. Many, many women who go through this loss feel a deep need to grab onto other things in their life for fear of losing those, too. If this is happening to you, let those close to you know.

Some moms find it useful to keep a journal. Writing down your thoughts and feelings might be an effective outlet for your pain. You might also write letters, notes or poems to the baby or about the baby.

Take time off from work, even if you feel physically fine. Taking a break from your regular routine will help you emotionally.

[felitaslove]

Who can relate to this?!?!?! 💙 #felitaslove #paintopurpose #grief #griefsupport #griefjourney #griefisreal  #lifeafterdeath #grievingdaughter #grievingson #grievingchild #childloss #miscarriage #grievingmother #grievingfather #widow #widower #coloncancerawareness #cancersucks https://www.instagram.com/p/BxnTmQnFunf/?igshid=oipyvs6xt29f

[thegoodmum]

Grieving through motherhood

So this morning I woke up in a great mood, I had enough sleep and unlike yesterday I didn’t wake up with Willow’s feet on my face (that’s her name by the way, my child) and so I decided to sing hotline bling to my daughter to wake her up, nothing like Drake in the morning am I right? But not all mornings are this pleasant, not all mornings does my daughter get to hear me sing hotline bling. Only a couple of nights ago I had woke up crying, too early to wake Willow up. I had woken up crying because I had had a dream about my dog, whom had passed away earlier this year. I woke up covered in my own tears, sobbing, missing him and grieving. I thought the process of grief was over, but like all things it takes time. And I should know, this wasn’t my first time going through grief. 

It’s not my first time going through grief as a mother either, that was when Willow was five weeks old and I found out about my (now ex) husbands affair. I spent four days crying in a ball unable to parent. I had shoved Willow off to my mother for four days unable to look at her, I mean she shared his DNA. I was horrified. But grieving as an individual and grieving as a mother are two different things, and that’s what I’m trying to get at. Those four days, as a new mum I grieved as an individual not as a mother and finally something switched, maybe  it was the way she looked at me, maybe I was tired of crying or maybe I just realised that I had to act differently, that I was in charge of another human being, she wasn’t my mothers baby, she was mine.

Grieving as a mother, for me anyway, I’m not writing some sort of handbook, this is just my honest personal experience means crying at night, in the shower and maybe through a movie but not all the time in front of my baby. It meant showing her love and not letting her feel my grief. It meant dressing up and taking her out, letting people visit her, it meant nurturing her even though I felt like a broken robot on the inside. It meant dreaming, forcing myself to provide for her and our future. 

So how did I get over it? Well firstly I gave myself time, and my ex was a total ass so that helped too. Secondly, funnily enough I watched Gilmore Girls, a friend recommended it to me and it helped me get out of a funk, it gave me an aspiration, to be just as cool as Lorelei Gilmore, but hopefully a little more mature and thirdly I saw a psychologist and took anti depressants, for around nine months. People might think it is a taboo to mention but they can go screw themselves. It gave me an outlet, someone to talk to who wasn’t involved in my drama and also calmed me down. Eventually it all passes, the grieve of my marriage breaking up has passed me by. The grief of losing my beloved pet is still with me, but this time I know how to handle myself, this time I didn’t go four days without Willow but held her close and remembered how much I love her, how getting through this is essential for her, but anyway this is getting way too sad, I’ll try writing about something a little lighter next time. Maybe I should listen to some Drake again. 

[melaniemurphymyer]

I got back to my main writing project today after more than a month away from it. My mind and heart had been focused so strongly on Caety's birthday the past few weeks that I couldn't do much else, which was okay with me. I'm grateful for the people who honored her birthday with us and made it a special time. 💗 It felt good to get back to writing today, which happens to be my birthday. My son Stephen gave me a beautiful card with beautiful words, and I propped it up on some notebooks in my #writingspace to encourage my heart as I wrote. 💗 In my writing I'm still sorting through the day Caety died. Sometimes I Google medical information to help me understand more of what was happening. In my research today I came across a doctor named Richard Sheff, who has written a book called Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind The Veil. The book looks really interesting so I added it to my #readinglist. 📚 . #writerslifeigjune #notebooks #wereadyoujune @thisisthereadinglist #writing #writersofinstagram #amwriting #writingcommunity #writinglife #grief #griefwriting #grievingmother #grieving #childloss #livingwithloss #motherhood #motherson #morkiearya #morkiesofinstagram

[sweetangel-abbysue-blog]

She’s in the sun, the wind, the rain, She’s in the air you breathe, in every breath you take. She sings a song of hope and cheer, There’s no more pain, there’s no more fear You’ll see her in the clouds above and hear her whisper words of love. You’ll be together before long, Until then listen for her song.

[felitaslove]

We should never assume someone else’s current situation or state of mind. A seemingly happy person might actually be going through a really difficult time that we know nothing about. Think about how you felt or would feel if you were the one going through a rough patch and kindness or empathy was not bestowed upon you. Be kind. Dont assume. Dont judge. 💙 #felitaslove #paintopurpose #grief #griefisuniversal #griefisreal #griefempowerment #lifeafterdeath #grievingdaughter #grievingson #grievingchild #childloss #miscarriage #grievingmother #grievingfather #widow #widower #coloncancerawareness #coloncancersucks https://www.instagram.com/p/BzGJqwvldLS/?igshid=4pwzlw4kxc5e