Baby Loss Awareness Week 9th-15th October
Taking place 9th-15th October every year, Baby Loss Awareness Week aims to raise awareness about pregnancy and baby loss in the UK. Stigma and silence often mean families feel isolated in their grief.
Now in its 21st year, the week ends with the global “Wave of Light” on Friday, which also coincides with International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Families are invited to light a candle to remember all babies who died too soon.
There is also the virtual Wave of Light on social media, which you can participate in by taking a photo of a candle and uploading it to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, using #WaveOfLight at 7pm.
It has been documented that in the UK, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss, but conversations around the heart-breaking frequent experiences are few and far between.
If you have lost a baby, you may have heard one or all the following mistaken beliefs:
Be thankful you have other children.
You need to be strong.
Pain or grief is the price of love.
You need to let grief run its course.
You will never be happy again after the loss of a baby.
The pain of losing a baby cannot be described in words. It doesn’t matter if the baby is still young, or still in the womb – they’re a part of us and the pain of losing that extraordinary person is incomprehensibly heart-breaking. The loss of a baby creates a ripple effect that can touch the lives of relatives, friends, and the larger community.
Sharing my story of loss and grief took many years. There was nothing more tragic than losing a baby for me, more so losing many babies. This led me to want to help others. I wrote a book, Tears of a Mother: Where Love Triumphs over Loss, a chronicle of my thoughts and feelings, a narrative of what I have experienced on my journey to motherhood. My book shines a light on an often taboo subject, and offers hope no matter what your future holds.
To those of you who have experienced child or baby loss, you are not alone. I can relate to 'those' feelings. I recognise the changes to your DNA and in your outlook on life. It has been hard navigating the very foreign terrain of raw emotions of guilt, the numerous unanswered questions; all without help to navigate them as they pop up.
I hope my book offers you an insight to be able to extend a helping hand to 'mothers' who have no physical children cradling their hip or suckling at their bosom; none in a pram... mothers with nothing to prove their claims, but an unsuccessful effort at wading through the foggy clouds of postnatal depression.... And most importantly, I hope it brings you hope.
Tears of a Mother: Where Love Triumphs over Loss by Eva Nabunya is available on Amazon here.
About Eva
Eva Nabunya is a Grief Recovery and Trauma Specialist and an author of Tears Of A Mother: Where Love Triumphs Over Loss, shining a light on the grief of child loss and how love can triumph over such loss. You can learn more about Eva here.