An Often Hidden Misery - The Taboo of Pregnany Loss
- Wendy Bennett
- Feb 5, 2015
- 2 min read
Pregnancy loss is often a taboo subject that few wish to acknowledge. Sadly it is a fact that 1 in 4 pregnancies will end in a loss and that in Australia almost as many babies are still born each year as those that are killed by breast and prostate cancer (http://pregnancylossaustralia.org.au/index02.php?id=22&pl=12).
There is often the assumption that you will fall pregnant straight away –because you have been warned about unprotected sex and its consequences right?! . We take precautions to avoid getting pregnant before we are ready as getting pregnant is easy?! However, the reality can be completely the opposite. When have a healthy, living baby doesn’t happen through infertility or losing a baby through miscarriage or still birth a whole new world becomes your norm. That of being a parent to an angel baby.
So why is pregnancy loss such a hidden factor in our society?
This is a double edged sword for many of those who have lost;
You are desperate to have your baby recognised and acknowledged; BUT
You wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone else.
Nobody wants to enter pregnancy thinking of anything other than getting a healthy baby at the end of the 40 weeks.
Nobody wants to be “the Grinch at Christmas”, so to speak, and ruin a woman’s experience of a normal, healthy, pregnancy by warning them of what might happen.
There are very few answers that the medical profession are able to give as to why events such as miscarriage or still birth happen.There is no way to predict who will be affected or how they will be affected.
In addition to this there is little empathy in the medical profession when a miscarriage occurs (which can be up to 20weeks), when a baby is still born or other complications arise that result in the passing of the baby.Much of this may be related to the fact that legally and in the medical profession the pregnancy is not recognised as a baby until after 25weeks which is when they foetus becomes “viable” , i.e. that they are able to sustain life outside of the mothers body.
However, as most mothers would agree, the connection with the baby, the dreaming, the planning, the hope and expectation all begins as soon as you see those 2 lines of the pregnancy test.
If you or someone you know has experienced the loss of a precious baby, please know that you are not alone. Below are some of the organisations that offer support to families who have been touched by the sadness of losing a baby.
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