Parents: Resources, organizations, and projects

Zuri Nzilani Foundation

As part of the Zuri Nzilani Foundation’s #BreakingTheSilence campaign, they have allowed us to share stories that honor these parents and the babies they hold dear. Please watch the first of a four part series of Auntie Jemimah’s story. Her brave recount of experiencing stillbirth is a profound reminder of the emotional toll of infant loss. Please consider donating to ISA so we can continue to support women across the globe like Auntie Jemimah.

Please click here.

Parent led activities

A year after his loss Adam Sanford wrote and illustrated a children’s book named after his son. It is about loss, grief, and support. It is very colorful and whimsical, and was published this year. Here is a link to information about the book.
Dying with dignity and love: Read this beautiful tribute by Tamarin Norwood published in the Lancet

ISA former Board chair Zan Leisher published this Op Ed about her experience of her son Wilder’s stillbirth plus a call for recognition, answers, support, collaboration, and action on stillbirth!

“This Father’s Day”, Marquise and Morgan Goodwin share their story of the loss of their three babies.
Ali Xanda has produced a wonderful song called “Heartbeat” about miscarriage/stillbirth for those who have loved and lost their precious babies: listen to it here
Chrissy Teigen breaks a long-standing culture of silence by sharing her loss https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/02/us/chrissy-teigen-pregnancy-complications-support-trnd/index.html
The Bluebird’s Egg: this song and video were produced by Layla Zoe for women who have lost their children through miscarriage, still birth, or other cause. Listen and watch here
Read this guidance by Dina Smith for the workplace, How to Support a Colleague Who Just Lost a Baby

Adam Sanford is an artist and illustrator. He is a dad who lost a baby boy in March of 2020. Through his grief journey he made a couple of projects based on the son he lost and wants to share them with you as a resource. Samuel Shootingstar is a short, illustrated story about his arrival into heaven. https://www.jumpmasterpress.com/product-page/samuel-shootingstar

Parent Support Organizations

Resources for children and grief include: Children’s Bereavement Center provides free online articles and videos for children to learn coping mechanisms and relate to other children in similar situations. Grieving.com has forums available for children of all ages that are dealing with the death of a loved one. National Alliance for Grieving Children provides children and families with online resources and support groups for children dealing with loss. The Dougy Center based in Portland, OR has a multitude of online activities and resources for children that are grieving.
Benjamin’s Gift has a mission to “Provide financial support to bereaved parents for medical and hospital costs associated with stillbirth”. Please visit their website to learn more!
Heartfelt Guidance for photographers and parents 200326_HF_Camera_Kit_Tips_vFINAL regarding taking photos following a stillbirth or newborn death.
Memorials of Distinction have created a guide to the benefits of gardening when coping with grief. The guide highlights: The benefits of gardening that help to reduce painful emotions, essential steps for starting your garden, and how gardening can reduce feelings of grief. The guide can be accessed here

The Living with Loss program has been co-developed by a team of bereaved parents and health professionals, including GPs, psychologists, social workers, and midwives. This interactive program shares evidence-based strategies and covers a broad range of topics including differences in grief, managing intense feelings, facing difficult situations and conversations, strengthening relationships, and navigating the future. The Stillbirth CRE are leading a research study to determine the effectiveness of this program. We’d like to invite bereaved parents to visit https://stillbirthcre.org.au/about-us/our-work/living-with-loss/ to find out more about the study and register to participate. Your participation and feedback will help us to evaluate the effectiveness of this program and improve grief support options for parents in the future.

The Still Born project was initiated by artist Adinda van’t Klooster to help raise awareness of stillbirth. Learn about the Still Born exhibition at: https://www.stillbornproject.org.uk/

Name your stillborn baby; join the Each Egg A World project.

Star Legacy announces: A new Spanish Speaking Bereaved Parents group will be held on the first Friday of the month along with Bereaved Parents being held on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month along with 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. They also have many other resources. Click here for more info.
Listen to this podcast: the first of a new series by Ashleigh Smith The Glimmer Podcast: Should we all see a psychologist after pregnancy loss? on Apple Podcasts. And this one: Ashleigh Smith interviews Claire Storey, ISA board member The Glimmer Podcast: The International Organization working to reduce baby-loss

Books

(Disclaimer: ISA does not actively promote the sale of any products and does not benefit from any sales)

Empty Cradle, Broken Heart: Surviving the Death of Your Baby is a guide book to support you through your grief journey. It is full of information and practical suggestions and can help you accept the variety and depth of your emotions; find answers to questions such as “What’s normal?” and “Why me?”; make sense of your grief and mourning; cultivate mutual understanding with your partner; tap into sources of support; and adopt mindfulness-based coping strategies. By hearing from mothers and fathers who have walked this path, you can establish realistic expectations for grieving, find reassurance, and truly understand that you are not alone. The book was written by Deborah L. Davis, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist and writer who specializes in the emotional aspects of coping with crisis during pregnancy and infancy.

Dr. Claudia Figueroa Ibarra completed “Maternaje en la ausencia“, a book that details the experience of receiving care in public hospitals when a child dies during pregnancy. It also shows an analysis of how motherhood is experienced in the absence of a child within the Mexican culture. This book aims to make visible a little of what is experienced, in relation to fetal deaths, in a small place in Latin America.

“Maternaje en la ausencia” es un libro que detalla la vivencia de la atención recibida en hospitales públicos cuando fallece un hijo durante el embarazo, además se muestra un análisis de cómo se vive la maternidad ante la ausencia de un hijo dentro de la cultura mexicana. Este libro pretende visibilizar un poco de lo que se vive, en relación a las muertes fetales, en un pequeño lugar de América Latina.

One of our long-term ISA members just had her book published (02/2024). Still His Mama was inspired by the author’s lived experience with stillbirth. In the fall of 2018, Dr. Terrell Hatzilias was nine months pregnant when her baby’s heart suddenly stopped beating in utero. Her son, Kegan Christopher Hatzilias, was stillborn mere days before his due date. Still His Mama spans the worlds of fiction, memoir, medical literature review, and journaling assistant. It draws both on the author’s personal experience as a bereaved mother and her professional experience as a neuroscientist and medical writer to explore the world of baby loss and its subsequent heartbreak. 

The Secret Club The second edition of the Still Born book has now been published and is available to buy online for £ 25 including postage. It includes a new ten-page article with images of the Each Egg a World Online artwork. You can buy it here: https://www.stillbornproject.org.uk/shop. Also, if you would like to receive the regular mailing list you can add yourself on the affectformations website here: https://www.affectformations.net/mailing-list. Alternatively, send an email to stillbornproject(at)gmail(dotted)com
Check out this book by Natasha Baggaley about the taboo of miscarriage titled ‘Miss Carriage & her elephant’. Available for sale on Amazon here
Stillbirth Stories brings a series of eight animations each touching on a different aspect of baby loss

For Children:

“Why Is Mommy Crying?” A book explaining early pregnancy loss to young children. Here is the link to the Amazon book page and click here to listen to a blog
Check out this delightful resource for children whose parents experience a stillbirth: available on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-JeNai-Kuhn/dp/1736580507/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=rainbow+book+je’nai+kuhn&qid=1632076071&sr=8-1
A year after his loss Adam Sanford wrote and illustrated a children’s book named after his son. It is about loss, grief, and support. It is very colorful and whimsical, and was published this year. Here is a link to information about the book.
Books for children on baby loss. Here is the website of the author: https://www.jenaikuhn.com

For Parents/Families:

http://www.glowinthewoods.com/ A place for parents with lost babies.

For Fathers:

New understandings of fathers’ experiences of grief and loss following stillbirth and neonatal death: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31493675/

From ISA board member Francine de Montigny at the University of Quebec (also available in French and subtitled in Portuguese): The Father Friendly Initiative team has published a video on men’s experience of their child’s death, When the storm hits. Five fathers share their experience of their child’s death and the tools that have helped them. It also aims to support training for the health and social care milieu, as well as community organizations.
Resources on bereavement support for fathers, from ISA board member Francine de Montigny at the University of Quebec (also available in French and subtitled in Portuguese): The youtube documentary “Helping Men in Distress” illustrates ways to create a bond of trust with men in crisis, and to help them in their distress. this 17 minute video illustrates different emotions and reactions that men can experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROKgjOXh47g