As I write, we are coming to the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week #BLAW. Baby loss affects many women and their partners – thousands every single day. You are not alone if you are going through, or have previously experienced baby loss. And however you are feeling right now is OK. Baby loss is an awful and disorientating experience, whether the loss occurred in early pregnancy, late pregnancy, at or after birth.
Something that I wanted to create a tradition for, in my own life, related to the baby I lost during pregnancy. I longed to have some kind of ceremony to mark this ‘event’ in my life – to honour, acknowledge and say goodbye to my baby, even though I had never seen or held them.
Because my baby was only at 7-8 weeks gestation, it was not an option to hold a traditional funeral service. The hospital that cared for me offered a communal ceremony, where everyone who had suffered baby loss was invited to the hospital chapel to join together in an act of remembrance. I attended because I wanted to do something to acknowledge and honour my baby. But the overall experience didn’t feel quite right for me personally; partly because there was a religious element to the ceremony, and at the time, that wasn’t for me. And partly because it felt a little too generic. And there were certainly families there who would have been better served by having their own private ceremony, as would I.
Holding a ceremony to acknowledge and honour your baby is a rite of passage in your grief journey and can be a stepping stone to moving through your grief and beginning to reconcile your feelings. A ceremony of this nature can be held at any time – whether baby loss experience was two months, two years or twenty years ago.
At The Authentic Celebrant I offer two services to provide support with Baby Loss: an Acknowledging Loss Ceremony for you to effortlessly hold a beautiful and meaningful ceremony that will acknowledge and honour your loss, and; a coaching support programme called Moving Towards Peace after Pregnancy Loss, so that you can give yourself the gift of time and space to explore how to start moving towards the peace you deserve.
Every woman has their own unique experience of loss and I’m here to support you by preparing and delivering a meaningful, authentic and beautiful ceremony for you that will acknowledge and honour your baby, in a trusted and respectful way. And by choosing to create your own tradition and ceremony you are giving yourself the gift of freedom of choice for the content, style and location of your ceremony.
To read more about The Authentic Celebrant Pregnancy Loss services, click on the links above and if you have any questions, just get in touch. I understand that going through a baby loss experience is emotional and difficult, and that even just taking the first step in picking up the phone or filling in a contact form might feel like too much. Just send me a message saying “#BLAW support”, I’ll make the first step with you and message you right back.
In the meantime, you may find a guided audio useful – on sale now in the shop , recorded especially for you and available at a special price in honour of BLAW until midnight 15th October 2021.
Look after yourself x