Support + Services
Grief After Miscarriage
It is normal for a woman to blame herself for a miscarriage. The truth is most miscarriages are outside your control. Blaming yourself just adds to your grief, please know that this was not your fault.
It takes time to heal emotionally after you lose a baby to miscarriage or other form of pregnancy loss. Grief after miscarriage is very complex and will take time. It is very normal to grieve, not just for your baby, but for the life you started planning and dreaming about when you discovered you were pregnant.
Don’t put a time limit on your grief, surround yourself with other people who understand and can support you. Everyone grieves differently, there is no right or wrong way to process your loss, don’t compare yourself to others, do what you need to do for you.
Grief looks different for different people. You might feel:
- Angry
- Sad
- Guilty
- Lonely
- Bitter
- Unmotivated
- Unable to concentrate
You may find it difficult to be around other pregnant women or babies for a while. Even after you think you’ve moved on; grief can return when you may not expect it. Your baby’s due date, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, or other special holidays that you expected your baby to be apart of.
Men and women grieve differently after the loss of a baby. It may be hard to recognize your partner’s grief, but be sensitive to how each of you are feeling and care for another through the process.
Talk to one another and express how you are feeling about the loss, be honest when unexpected bouts of grief come up. Acknowledge that each of you process the loss differently, men may need to be more patient with how long it takes their wife or partner to process the loss. And women may need to remember that even if your husband or partner doesn’t talk about it as much or for as long, they are still mourning in their own way.
Pregnancy loss can be difficult on a relationship, if your relationship is struggling, seek the help of a counselor who can help you understand and support each other.
Support Groups and Classes
We currently offer a monthly in-person art journaling support group, an online support group, Sharing is Caring and one-on-one in person or virtual peer support through our coffee chat program. As our community partners continue to grow, we will be adding more groups and classes. Please stay up to date on our Facebook page for the most recent updates!
Support Group
Official Love Surrounds Facebook Community
Love Surrounds seeks to create community for women and their families to find love, support, and education about miscarriage and pregnancy loss. We aim to walk alongside families as they journey through the difficult process of miscarriage and its effects on their mental, spiritual and physical health. A good way to stay up to date on our progress is to join our official Facebook community group as we post regular updates about the stories behind the individuals, doctors offices, midwiferies, churches, and other organizations that are partnering with us to help make Love Surrounds a reality.
Local Class - AK
Healing Arts Journaling in Partnership with Artist Uncorked
Join artist, Diana Bland, in the "let the Journal Begin' an introduction to Art Journaling. Your art journal will become a visual diary that will serve as a private space to process through your grief while also creating a beautiful memorial to your precious baby.
Let the Journal begin workshop provides a robust selection of supplies and instruction, as well as a beautiful 8x8 watercolor journal. This class will also explore creative writing ideas, bringing both written and visual arts together for the purpose of grief processing and moving towards healing. Students who attend the workshop will also be invited to an ongoing class 'The journal continues' in which we will continue to explore new products, new writing techniques and a special comrade between bereaved mamas.
Coffee Chats
Coffee Chats
Life after pregnancy loss can be a messy and unpredictable journey, having someone alongside you whose walked the path can help. Our Coffee Chat program was created to offer bereaved moms and dads an opportunity to process through the grief, logistics, and milestones that occur within the first year of a loss.
We have loving and supportive volunteers available to meet with you one-on-one, either in person, over the phone or through text and FB messaging. Contact us to be matched with a peer volunteer who may be able to help.
Food is Love
Bringing food to a friend or family member who has recently experienced a miscarriage or other form of pregnancy loss can be a very practical and very loving way to say you care. We LOVE takethemameal.com. Their website gives you very simple, step by step instructions for setting up an online sign up sheet along with tips on posting and sharing with others who may like to help out and bring a meal.
If you use this for a friend or family member, please email us a link to your food train and we will make sure to sign up! If they are local, we will be sure to get a meal delivered and if they are outside of Alaska, we will get a pizza or other favorite local restaurant meal delivered!
Sharing your story can be healing. Sharing your story can help bring closure. Sharing your story can help others. Stories are powerful.
We know sharing can be scary. But if you are at a place in your healing journey to share your story, we would be honored if you shared with us.
We have an area of our website dedicated to providing a place to create community for anyone touched by the unfortunate realities of miscarriage or pregnancy loss. If you have experienced a miscarriage or some other form of pregnancy loss, we hope reading other similar stories will encourage you, and reassure you that you are not alone. If you have a friend or loved one that has lost a baby, we hope these stories will help you to understand what they are going through and how to reach out to them in love. Click on the button for more information on how to share your story with us.
