It should probably come as no surprise that women in pregnancy after loss (PAL) have higher rates of anxiety and depression during their pregnancy than women who’ve never been pregnant before or women who have never had pregnancy loss. There’s been plenty of research that about 20-25% of women in PAL have anxiety, and another [...]
Welcome to Pregnancy After Loss (PAL) Awareness Month Photo Challenge, March 2018. What is Pregnancy After Loss Awareness Month? In the world of pregnancy after loss there is a story of hope about a precious new life, and it’s the story of the rainbow baby. It is based on the understanding that the beauty of the [...]
The newborn period is hard on many families. Young babies are extremely needy and give very little in return. Add in the hormones, lack of sleep, and newness of most parenting activities, and new parents are overloaded and overwhelmed. In general, we have improved on education and openness about how trying this time can be [...]
We all fell further in love with Target (I mean, what mama doesn't love Target?!) when they released the Cat & Jack™ Oh Hello Little Rainbow bodysuit. As soon as photos of that infant bodysuit started showing up online, so many Courageous Mamas headed right to Target to get their own. Members of the community even [...]
As her first birthday is just two weeks away, all I have been thinking about is Evan's birth story. I wish things had gone much smoother than it actually did, but either way this is how she became our Rainbow. My whole pregnancy, I never trusted my body, as I have said many times. I [...]
Photo by Juja Han on Unsplash What a year it's been at PALS (Pregnancy After Loss Support)! We became a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization this summer and launched the new PALS MeetUps, all while continuing all of our other support services. We look forward to reaching even more Courageous Mamas in 2018! One of the ways we support [...]
My rainbow baby recently turned one and I find myself reflecting on those dark days of pregnancy. Referring to pregnancy as “dark” probably isn’t socially acceptable. After all, shouldn’t I have been grateful just to be pregnant? Especially after burying a baby less than a year earlier? I was given another chance! Society reminded me [...]
Rainbow Baby Evan Roux From the time I found out I was pregnant with Evan, I referred to her as my Rainbow. I had to explain the term to many, as they had never heard it before. This term held, and still holds, significance for me. I even used it as inspiration for [...]
Sometimes the death that took them, since it's often the final tangible moment on earth we have of them, shadows the memories of the babies we hoped for and dreamed of. Sadly, sometimes in our minds that individual becomes what happened to them, and memories of the unique baby we were growing begin to slip [...]
I didn’t give much thought to grief before losing my son, Zachary, to a heart tumor in 2010. My few experiences with funerals were few and far between. There I observed the bereaved as sullen but composed. They were not weeping, though did shed a few tears. They were not outwardly angry and thanked people [...]
