Many people know October as Brest Cancer awareness month, but it is also pregnancy an infant loss awareness month. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan designated October as the month to bring awareness to infant deaths, including miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, and SIDs or any neonatal death.
“A wife who loses a husband is called a widow. A husband who loses a wife is called a widower. A child who loses his parents is called an orphan. There is no word for a parent who loses a child. That is how awful the loss is.” – Jay Neugeboren
Because there is no word in the English language to describe this type of loss, it often silences those grieving.
October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. It is observed in the US, Canada, the UK and New South Wales. The day is observed with an International Wave of Light. To participate light a candle at 7 PM in your time zone and leave it burning for one hour. This will create a continuous wave of light around the world. I will be lighting my candle in honor and memory of my daughter Ansley as well as all babies that have died during pregnancy, at or during birth, or after birth. Will you join me in remembering babies gone too soon?
“An Angel in the book of life wrote down my baby’s birth. And whispered as she closed the book – Too Beautiful for Earth.”