If you’ve experienced any form of pregnancy loss, the first thing to do is to give yourself grace. It’s crucial during this devastating time to embrace as many resources as you need, for both your physical and mental healing. You’re allowed to grieve, rest, and nourish your body, for as much time as it takes to feel better. Accept support from loved ones, and know that you’re not alone (about 10% to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage).  But when you’re ready to try to conceive once more, it can be challenging to know when...

Three days after my D&C from a missed miscarriage, I walked the beach with my mom.  It was a sunny May morning, the kind of day that tells you summer’s on the way — but all I could see were dark, heavy clouds looming overhead.  We were wading in the water and collecting shells when I found a dime with my birth year. I had no doubt it was a sign from someone or something much bigger than me… a reminder to have hope, even at my lowest point.  I’d been through a miscarriage before, and...

Trying to understand recurrent pregnancy loss is often taxing. There are a lot of questions but very few answers. You are overwhelmed with curiosity about what may happen next while also navigating the grief of the loss you’ve just experienced. It’s a lot. The load can get heavy pretty quickly if you’re one of the women who have navigated two or more miscarriages in a row.  “It is always important for couples to recognize the level of grief and anxiety that occurs with each pregnancy loss,”  explains Dr. Sandy Goodman, a board-certified OB/GYN and fertility specialist at...

This week, the topic of conversation at the Supreme Court was the “abortion pill” or mifepristone. Mifepristone is one of two pills that doctors typically prescribe for medical abortions. According to CNN, two-thirds of all abortions in the United States are medicated abortions.  On Tuesday, March 26th, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the pill, how it is currently prescribed, and whether it should be banned nationwide. While the Supreme Court will not issue a decision on the case until early this summer, the arguments alone have reignited a conversation around access to abortion and abortion...

The loss of a baby during pregnancy is traumatic. It doesn’t matter when or how it happens. In my experience, an early loss is the loss of your hopes and plans for the future, while a later loss is that and the loss of a loved one whom you’ve shared your body with for months; you’ve felt them living inside you and are attached — literally and otherwise. Both are a loss of time, which is no small thing for women in their late 30’s and 40’s. All are physically traumatic for the mother — whether...

My journey to motherhood began in 2016 when I became pregnant with my son, Luke. I was fortunate to conceive easily and have a smooth pregnancy, until 21 weeks.  On Christmas Eve morning, I began bleeding, and we rushed to the hospital.  Our unimaginable pregnancy loss  I delivered our son, Luke, on Christmas morning at nearly 22 weeks gestation. To this day, we are unsure if the loss was due to an incompetent cervix, preterm labor, or a bit of both. Several weeks later, I was hemorrhaging and it turned out that I had retained placenta,...

If you’re pregnant and find yourself endlessly scrolling through online forums, you’re not alone. Not by a long shot. With so many dos and don’ts in pregnancy, it’s understandable if you’re not totally sure what’s what. But there’s one question in particular that we’ve seen come up a lot: Can boric acid cause miscarriage? The short answer is… probably not. But that doesn’t make boric acid safe for pregnancy. Here’s what you need to know. What is boric acid? Boric acid is a white power used in hundreds of over-the-counter products, from soil fertilizers to personal...

When a loved one experiences a pregnancy loss, it can feel like there aren’t enough words in the world that could ease their pain. Sending a gift, no matter how small, can help your loved one through a painful and challenging time and show them that they are not alone. Miscarriage gifts: A little bit goes a long way Below are 11 thoughtful miscarriage gifts we’d recommend for anyone grieving a pregnancy loss.  1. Make daily tasks a little easier  Grief can make mundane tasks like cooking or cleaning feel impossible. Ease this burden with a...

For the 10 to 20% of pregnancies that end in miscarriage, the loss is compounded when there are more people involved in the journey toward becoming parents. And when assisted reproductive technology is part of that journey, there may be an increased risk of early miscarriage. When a gestational carrier experiences pregnancy loss, it’s a devastating period of time for both the surrogate and the intended parents. This can make the web of grief and coping with the loss even more complex for all parties.  Lynetta Cuomo, a surrogate with the agency SurrogateFirst, had three of...

When we talk about abortion rights in a post-Roe world, we often talk about the importance of reproductive choice. As we should: Giving people, particularly people with uteruses, autonomy over their bodies is absolutely crucial — frankly, it feels dystopian to have to even make that point. But the need for universal abortion access isn’t always about choice. Sometimes, people who very much want to carry out their pregnancies are abortion patients — and it’s time we include them in the conversation. Their stories highlight a crucial point: In our post-Roe world, we can’t just fight...