One Twin Stillborn --- Seeking Support

Greetings, Everyone -

Since the birth of my daughter, I am finding a lot of wonderful advice and support on these boards so I'm hoping that some of you can assist me once again.

After 5 years of struggling with infertility, my husband and I were beyond thrilled to find out on New Year's Eve in '07 that we were FINALLY expecting. To make a long story short, we found out at 19 weeks that we were expecting twins --- a girl and a boy. I was considered high-risk from the beginning: I am 35, pregnant with multiples, and I developed gestational diabetes during the pregnancy. During a routine exam with a perinatologist at 32 weeks, he couldn't detect the boy's heartbeat. This devastated me beyond words. To make another long story short, I delivered a beautiful daughter the next morning via C-section, measuring in at 4 lbs. 11 ozs. She was in NICU for 4 weeks, and has been thriving like a champ every since. She is now 7.5 weeks old.

But while I am so happy and feel incredibly blessed with my daughter, I cannot shake the sadness I am feeling for the loss of our son. We got to hold him, we named him, we had him cremated, and I set aside time to think about him every single day. I have never felt a hurt this horrible, and it's so hard to mourn a death while celebrating a life at the same exact time.

I am guessing that this grieving is perfectly normal, and probably will be for a very long time (if not forever). It doesn't consume me, but last night while I was thinking about him I got so angry at God for taking my son away, I couldn't stop crying for a long time. There were supposed to be two babies to take care of. My little girl is supposed to have a brother. One of the worst feelings I had to deal with was to return everything "extra" to the store that we received for our baby showers: the duo stroller, the extra high chair, the playpen ...

Is there anyone out there that's been through this (dealt with infertility, had a stillborn baby)? How did you get through it? Or does anyone know of any support groups out there? I've found some support forums online, but have not found any that meet face-to-face.

I appreciate any and all responses. Thank you.

Barb-
I cannot imagine what you are going through. This grieving is perfectly normal. There probably won't ever be a day that goes by that you don't think of him and you probably wouldn't want it any other way. Keep your head up. Time is what you will need to heal but there will always be a scar. I have not been through it myself but grieve for you as well. Hopefully some one on here can point you in the right direction. Take care and God Bless.

Barb,
I'm very sorry for your loss. I realize that there is nothing anyone can say that will truly minimize your hurt. It may not seem possible, but time does heal.
I had a miscarriage (fairly early in a pregnancy) and felt much of what you are describing. I know that it does not compare to the loss of your son but it does allow me to understand.
Please call your physician's office or hospital and see if they are aware of any local support groups.
I wish you the best and the peace that will come.

-Wendy

Barb,

Tow out of my Four pregnancies were twins I lost the first twin at 8 weeks. I lost the second twin at 21 weeks. I completely understand how you feel and you can e mail me anytime you want to talk.

[email protected]

Kristen

Barb, I have not been through anything like what you have, but your post really touched me. My heart breaks for you. I believe that all of the children go right to heaven and into God's arms. While you may be so mad at God for your loss, remember, you WILL meet your baby boy someday! He is not gone forever. And he knows how very much you love him. It will be a sweet sweet day on the day of your reunion. In the mean time, my prayers will be with you, I promise. If I find any sort of support group, I'll let you know.

Barb,
my heart goes out to you. I have lost 2 pregnancies in miscarriage and know the feeling of anger and hurt over loss. It is really intensified by post partum hormone changes and can lead to a serious depression. Please contact your OB and hospital chaplain for referrals for a local Resolve Thru Sharing group that has other moms that have gone through a loss and counselors that may come to your home if you can't get out, to help you begin to heal. You may need some meds from your Dr to help your hormones return to a balanced state if they are off. You may also need to remember the importance of your diet to help you.
It is normal to be angry with everyone around you. It can also be very difficult to deal with an unhappy or crying baby. Please know that what you feel is normal. You may be surprised that just when you think you have gotten a handle on it that you find yourself getting angry all over again. Please call for help or email me and I will help you or be happy to just listen. You have many friends here and have taken the right step in seeking consolation.
Kay@ The Nestingplace

Oh Barb. We delivered our stillborn daughter last summer at 33 weeks. It will take time to greive...alot of time. Remember to thank God for that precious girl that He did give you. Our goal after our daughter's delivery was to be sure to try praise God for the blessings we do have. The Bible says to rejoice in all situations, which is not easy. But at the time our other children were 2 & 3 yrs old. We wanted them to see that the things that happen in this fallen world are still under God's control and even when horrible things happen(and they will) God will give us the strength & courage to deal with it. I dont feel like our loss(or yours) was some kind of punishment for our sins. I believe that this was something that we had to walk through so that we could TRUST God to take care of us & to bring glory to Him through the new ministry that we have. PLEASE dont miss-understand what I am saying. I was terribly greived and still greive daily for Carsyn. I believe I always will. But I have learned that through it all God is faithful. I have met so many women recently who have delivered a stillborn. It's incredible to hear their stories and be able to bond with them and make new friends out of our losses. It's a different kind of friendship.

Your loss is different because you lost a twin. I cant imagine how difficult it is to greive while caring for a newborn. I pray that you would treasure every moment with that beautiful girl! Be sure to greive him AND celebrate her! We are expecting #4 in just a couple of weeks now, and I do wonder what kind of emotions will come with her. We will be celebrating the birth of our beautiful baby girl(Rylan) while we greive the loss of our beautiful baby girl(Carsyn). Greive, you must! Dont let anyone tell you that you should be "over it" by now. Or that you shouldnt. You absolutely have to! And it will take time. I hope I have offered you some encouragement.

I am so sad for the loss of your baby boy. I don't know if you are religious or spiritual, but I have prayers that comfort me in tough times. To paraphrase, God is very sad for your loss. This has come to pass for reasons only he knows and you will know in time. You must grieve. You will never forget your boy even if you had 10 more kids. I don't know a mother who could. God has granted you grace to handle this loss and He will never leave you. Talk to Him. He loves you.
Peace, Betsy

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss--I struggle with PCOS and lost an early twin pregnancy in April but can't imagine the bitter sweet moment you experienced 7.5 weeks ago. I just wanted to offer information about support ministries that our church uses to reach out to families just like yours. I attend Watermark Community Church located at 635 and Coit(trust me, it's worth the drive) and they have the GriefShare Ministry for the loss of a loved one as well as the Shiloh Ministry for miscarriages and infertility--you do not need to be a member or attend the church to attend these ministries. More information can be found at the website www.watermark.org
As a sister in Christ, I hope this information helps and blesses you and your family.

First let me offer my condolences on the loss of your son....it's a sad and difficult situation you are living. I'm wondering if perhaps everyone around you is so overjoyed to welcome your daughter (and rightfully so) that maybe there is no talk or acknowledgement that you also lost a son? My only experience with this is through my sister.....she carried 2 boys almost to term but lost one near the end....it was a very traumatic event. I know she had so many issues, like "how can I be SO happy to have David when I feel SO horrible that I lost Timothy?" it haunted her for a long time....I believe it still does....she visits his grave when she can...but she moved on through the years, had another baby (a girl) and raised them well. God heals all wounds if we let him in. I know what helped her the most was to always acknowledge that there had been 2 babies, one she was given to raise and 1 God took home way too soon.....It's a very personal issue and nobody can really help you heal except to love you...I hope you can cling to your husband through this, men don't grieve outwardly as well as women....this is a shared tragedy, stick together and love on your daughter. I believe, personally, that one day the Lord will reveal all the answers when we meet face to face....God Bless you all.

There is (or was I think it is still going) a wonderful support group at North Hills Hospital in NRH called T.A.P.S Tiny Angel Parent Support. They meet monthly and were a great support to my husband and I when we were grieving the loss of our son.
I too went to a 32 week check and they found an abnormality in the formation of his heart. He was delivered 3 days later. He was on life support for 6 short (but in some ways long) weeks waiting for a heart transplant before he died. Had I carried him to term he would have been stillborn they told us.
I am so sorry for your loss. Losing a child is the hardest thing to go through and you will never 'get over it' but I can tell you that for us the pain is not what it once was. It has been three years...the first year was the hardest. and the first couple months definitely hard because my body was still on a hormone roller coaster from giving birth!
I would say take it one day at a time. Do what you can. If it makes you feel better to return things then do so.....if not then don't!!! I still have all my son's things I couldn't bare to part with them.
I will pray for you and your family....I was very angry at God too, but have been able to make peace :-) If you would like to talk in person email me and I will send you my #
[email protected]

Let me start by saying congratulations to you because you have a beautiful healthy daughter; try to wake up every day focused on that rather than the loss. She needs to see a happy smiling mama, one that is happy down in her heart and not one that is shining it on while she is angry and sad inside. This is the first place you start with tucking your son away, by remembering your daughter is the priority. Do remember your son every day and yes, your grieving is normal. Google the five stages of grief, you are currently pissed and again, that is normal. You just need to make sure that you don't let this loss color your entire attitude about life, etc., make you primarily sad, bitter, etc. forever because you are really doing him a disservice.

Couple of years ago, expert on grieving the loss of children was on Oprah I think. The program dealt with children lost to violent death but I think it applies regardless. If you only remember the death, that diminishes the life. In your case, by focusing on not being there to see the milestones, etc., your memories are all negative instead of seeing him as a soul that just wasn't here for very long.

No matter what we go through, we start with our minds and trying to get the right intellectual perspective, and then it is finally something that is accepted in our hearts. I think anyone that loses a child will, like you said, never be able to forget, etc. I think you try to move from totally devastated all the time to an intermittent bitter sweet. Your daughter will have milestones and at those, you will probably imagine what your son would have looked like, that will be normal and even healthy, as well as heart-wrenching. One of the things you do then is recognize that you have raised your daughter well, happy, healthy, that is how you honor your son.

I have dealt with loss, not that of a child but my father and grandmother, cousins, watched two of my cousins bury their sons, and I nearly died myself a year and a half ago. The prospect of leaving my children without a mother was horrifying and I honestly cannot imagine losing a child. While everyone experiences grief, allowing yourself to focus on the things that should have been will make the process take longer. I am not telling you not to do it, just try to monitor how much it dominates your thoughts. One reason why is your daughter. Are you really enjoying your daughter if you are thinking I should be playing with two babies? She won't know the difference but you will. These are moments you cannot get back and you may wind up kicking yourself later on.

And maybe here's how you start to get your head in a better place. It is not uncommon for one twin to be undernourished and either born terribly under the weight of the other or as in your case, stillborn or dying not long after they are born. I honestly don't remember if I came by this knowledge through a fictional program or something like 20/20 but I thought to myself at the time, the one gave it's life for the other; no greater love.

Another thing, God answers our prayers, just not always the what we seek. You prayed and prayed for years I assume for a child and you were blessed with that child, unfortunately a mixed blessing but this leaves you with another question. Why? That is inevitable, but start looking for positive answers. You said in your post that you were supposed to raise a girl and a boy, why don't you adopt a boy? Maybe this happened so that you could be a wonderful mother to a little boy whose life might not be so great without you. Maybe you are meant to foster children, that you have one child of your own but with the love and resources you have, you could help so many children.

With the support groups, try area hospitals and don't focus just on people with your particular situation. Families that have lost children are essentially dealing with the same thing and you may find the help and solace you want there.

I know it's hard and I know it is easy for other people to try to offer help but maybe the bottom line is that instead of looking at this situation as less than what you thought you were going to get, you should feel just the huge blessing that your daughter is. Difficult pregnancy, how much harder would this be if you had lost both babies? Some women are never so blessed so holding to that thought too might be helpful.

Maybe too pray to God to help you accept the loss gracefully? You know, grown-ups are not that different than children. Anyone responding to you is at a bit of a loss because if it were a friend we knew, we would tailor the suggestions to that person and the personality, the things that make sense to that individual. So like you would explain something to a child in a way that that particular child will understand and find meaning, you need to look for the way that you can look on this with some sense of the perhaps not positive but peace. That boy is in you, he is in your heart, and he is sitting at the right hand of God watching his beautiful sister grow up and he doesn't want his mommy to be sad.

I am so sorry for your loss. This organization might be of help. I heard them speak at a MOPS groups years ago. They sounded like a great support group.
It is called M.E.N.D. http://home.mend.org/
M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death) is a Christian, non-profit organization that reaches out to families who have suffered the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death. We publish free bi-monthly newsletters, hold two commemorative ceremonies each year, and host a variety of support groups in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. We also have chapters in NW Arkansas, Kansas, Nacogdoches, Houston, Texarkana, and Georgia.

For more information on miscarriage support and infant loss please take a moment to view all the resources we have available.

May God surround you with His Love during this time.

Bless your heart, I am so very, very sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you. You have suffered one of life's worst possible losses on top of having those post-partum hormone shifts. Give yourself lots of time, and enlist the help of close friends and family so you can take care of yourself and the basic functions of life.
Get your friends and family to help return gifts, care for your baby while you rest, bring suppers, clean house--whatever. When people tell you "Let me know if I can do anything" don't let them off the hook--take them at their word and assign a task to them. They will likely be more than glad to do whatever needs done. Bless you and yours during this very difficult time; take each day as it comes--one day at a time.

I have not dealt with this personally but had a friend who had a miscarriage and found a group called M.E.N.D. (Mothers Enduring Neonatal Death). Here is what their website says, "M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death) is a Christian, non-profit organization that reaches out to families who have suffered the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death. We publish free bi-monthly newsletters, hold two commemorative ceremonies each year, and host a variety of support groups in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. We also have chapters in NW Arkansas, Kansas, Nacogdoches, Houston, Texarkana, and Georgia." Their website is www.mend.org.
Hopefully this is something you would find helpful. I can't imagine how you're dealing with this. Bless you!
Jen C

Hi. I am so sorry to hear of your loss, but I applaud you for seeking help. I, too, have lost a son. Matter of fact, he would have been six years old next week. His name is Logan. He was my middle son of three.

What you are feeling is completely normal. I was extremely angry at God for a very long time and cried for hours on end after he was born and died.
Immediately after he was born I started attending a support group called MEND (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death), but daddies are welcome to come, too. Anyway, I am still very involved with the group and still attend pretty regularly. We meet in Irving, the 2nd Thursday of each month. Please, if you want to talk or want more information, I would be happy to help in any way that I can. Our website is: www.mend.org and there is a lot of useful information there.
If you want to see pictures of my son and a slide show or two, you can go to my family website and then click on "Logan's page" and see him...if you want. It's: www.thefishbowl.name
Anyway, please let me know if you want any further info or just to talk. One of the moms that is still really involved with MEND also lost one of her twins and I know she would be more than happy to talk to you as well.
Also, October is "National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month." (Probably one of those things you'd just soon not have ever known about...) but we do a beautiful ceremony at a church in Irving. It's more of a remembrance ceremony with an awesome balloon release at the end. We only do it once a year, but we'd love to have you and your family join us this year if you want. You can see two slide shows from the "Walk to Remember" from 2005 and 2007 on my website and they are also on the MEND website.
Anyway, my e-mail address is [email protected] and you're welcome to contact me if you want.
It's so hard to talk to other people who haven't experienced burying a baby, but a little bit easier to talk to someone who has had a similar experience.
What was his name?

~Brittney Fish

I have never delt with this so I have no advice. I will pray for you, you poor sweetie. You are in a wonderful place and a horrible place all at the same time.

If you need to talk, email me.

Barb,
I cannot even imagine what you are going through. My prayers go out to you. Here is the link to the Center for Loss in Multiple Birth. http://www.climb-support.org/. They might be able to help you.
Take care,
Heather

Barb, I first want to say congrats for your beautiful baby girl. I am sorry to hear about your son. First you need to remember that everything you are going through is normal. Second, you need to contact your OB and let them know what you are feeling. Third, continue to do what you are doing now and talk with, Momasource, husband, family and friends.

I lost a child when I was 12 weeks pregnant. It happened 5 days before Christmas. My daughter was just 2 years old and I had a horrible time focusing on her and Christmas. It was the most difficult thing I have ever been through. My child would be 6 years old now and I never go past my childs birth date with out thinking of my loss. However, I also remember to thank the Lord for my blessings. I now have 2 daughters and 1 son. I will never forget the child that I loss, but I try to concentrate on the children that I have with me.

Again, remember to allow yourself to grieve, but try to consentrate on your beautiful little girl. Also, talk about it with someone.

My prayers are with you and your family.

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your baby boy. I can't imagine the pain that you must be feeling. I hope you find the support that you need to get through this now and in the future.

I am a member of the Fort Worth Moms of Multiples (www.fwmom.org) and the members of the club have a list of people to call for different needs and one of those is the loss of a child. I not sure if this will help you, but I thought it may be an option.

Hug, kiss and love that baby girl and allow yourself the time you need to grieve for your precious little boy.