National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the United States. Each year, over half a million dreams are shattered. Out of 3.3 million born alive, some 30,000 die during the first 28 days. Another 39,000 babies are still born. Miscarriage occurs in fifteen to twenty percent of pregnancies, while ectopic pregnancy occurs in one percent.

More than 25,000 children are stillborn in the United States every year leaving mothers, entire families and communities devastated. Estimates of the rate of occurrence of stillbirth make it at least as common as autism.

On October 15th, remember the thousands of unfinished children lost and the families who remain to grieve them. Honor them by taking action.

~An angel wrote in the book of life, my baby's date of birth. Then whispered as she closed the book "Too 

beautiful for earth."~

                                                        ~In our lives for a moment but in our hearts forever~

No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you're the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside.

Hope

I just hope. I hope for good timing. A round belly. A healthy pregnancy. A bouncing baby. I do hope. Though, I have moments, even days where hope is strained and pessimism sets in like a flu. I hope for a chance to be a Mum and to see my husband as a Dad. What two greater honors are there in this life?



I realize that life is not ALL about becoming pregnant or having a child. I also know that I have seen and done a lot and sure there is more to do... Always more... And I feel in my very being that having a child is not only a gift but it is something I would like to experience in this lifetime. It is something I would feel so blessed to say outloud one day "I am the mother of...." "This is my child." 



I know that having a baby will not complete me. I know there is always more to "want" and "need" but I also know that wanting to have a baby after my miscarriage is a really deep want. It is more of a want then it was when I got pregnant and didn't know my baby was going to die. I really WANT to know what it is to be a mother and kiss my child. So, I have hope today. I see hope. I feel hope. 

And I also know that sometimes HOPE is all we have.