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Drawing upon her experience as an OB/GYN and as a mother that has felt the sorrow of pregnancy loss, Dr. I. Cori Baill shares with Michelle the journey of writing her beautiful and much-needed book, "Why is Mommy Crying-explaining early pregnancy loss to young children".  Dr. Baill provides suggestions and guidelines when experiencing a miscarriage. She reminds grieving parents of the importance of not blaming themselves and or feeling shame regarding their miscarriage, doing their best to overlook the well-meaning but often hurtful things that people can say, and remembering they are not alone in this experience. So many others have experienced baby loss, as well. As a professor, Dr. Baill is working to instill the skills of humanity, empathy, and compassionate care in the next generation of physicians. "There is just too much silence about miscarriage. Women have grieved way too long in silence and have been told, 'You'll get over it, just move on.’ And, I don't think that's the appropriate message. We should have the time, and the permission and the support to grieve the loss of a pregnancy." —Dr.  Cori Baill Connect with Dr. Baill on Facebook @whyismommycrying, Twitter and Instagram  @wimcbook Connect with Michelle at www.BirthEaseServices.com /loss-support, Facebook and Instagram @birtheaselossssupport

Laura LaBelle and Michelle discuss how children are often overlooked as grievers when death and loss occur. They remind us when death and loss occur children are learning how to manage their grief and that they must adjust to a new identity that this loss brings. Laura stresses the importance of conversation and creating an empathetic space where pain can be absorbed. Laura provides tips for communication and helping kids to process their grief such as memory jars, breath and grounding exercises, models of grief, observing how animals grieve, discussions about grief and playing out scenarios, and involving the deceased by creating traditions that remind the bereaved it is ok to still talk about that person. They explain why it is vital for adults to become more comfortable with death and grief. Laura also shares signs to look for regarding if a child is having difficulty coping with the loss. "It's a heightened, heightened, heightened anxious time. And so, often times we don't say anything to kids right away. But they know something is up. They feel it. They can feel it. We think we are hiding it and it's like NO. No one's hiding anything other than the fact that we all see that everyone's kinda freaked out right now. Like nobody knows what to do."—Laura LaBelle To learn more, access resources, and contact, follow Laura on TikTok @Let’sTokAboutDeath, on Instagram @spaceforgrief, or visit lifeshiftscompanion.com.

Mother’s Day can be quite painful for those who have lost their mom or for those that have struggled to become pregnant, experienced pregnancy and infant loss, or the death of a child. For many, the day may bring feelings of sadness, isolation, loneliness, unworthiness, and pain. They may feel left out and forgotten on Mother’s Day. Michelle provides a brief history of Mother’s Day and the creation of International Bereaved Mother’s Day in 2010 by Carly Marie Dudley after the loss of her stillborn son, Christian. As International Bereaved Mother’s Day becomes more recognized, mothers and families can honor one or both days in the way that is best for them, even varying it year by year. Michelle shares tips to support someone that is grieving their child on both Mother's Day and Bereaved Mother’s Day and closes the episode with a short meditation for Bereaved Mother's Day.

Michelle and Sunni VonMutius discuss a type of pregnancy and infant loss in which the grief and loss may go largely unacknowledged: that of placing a baby for adoption. Sunni shares her experience of becoming pregnant as a teenager and placing her son for adoption. Together they explore how the pregnancy and birth of her second child 20 years later has brought renewed grief along with the joy. In the sharing of her story, Sunni wants to support other birth parents and remind them that all of their feelings and emotions are valid and are to be honored.

When we are facing the loss of a baby, it isn't unusual to question one's faith. All the truths that we thought we believed can feel like a lie. We may even feel abandoned or punished by God. When grieving, reminders of God’s Word can soothe the emotions and thoughts surging through our hearts and minds and relax our grief-weary bodies. For this last episode of Season 1, Michelle has recorded Bible verses for bereaved parents seeking comfort within scripture. And while this first season has ended, please follow and/or subscribe to the podcast to stay abreast of new episodes. It is Michelle's intention to release an episode approximately once a month.

Michelle and her sister-in-law, Vicky Kramer, have a heart-to-heart conversation about Vicky's experience with breast cancer and the decision to enter into hospice care. Vicky shares some of the things that well-meaning folks may say to a cancer patient that can be quite hurtful or offensive. She also suggests relying on your faith, whatever that might be, and trying to keep a sense of humor when faced with cancer.

In this very personal episode, Michelle and Susan Dascenzi, Licensed Psychotherapist, discuss the implications of the pandemic as it relates to grief and loss. While this episode was originally recorded in September 2020, Susan's wisdom regarding the journey of grief is just as relevant now especially for those grieving the loss of a baby or a loved one. Their conversation explores the multitude of losses the pandemic has brought us globally. Together they dig deep into the places where we may not even realize the amount of grief and loss we are experiencing due to the pandemic, where we may be in grief overload, and tips to walk with grief. Susan explains the differences between emotions and feelings and what can happen if we push our feelings aside as we work to get back some normalcy. They discuss why people often can have a difficult time supporting someone that is grieving. 

Michelle shares her heartfelt conversation with Sarah L. Dickey, grief recovery specialist and fellow Calm Birth Teacher. Together they discuss the importance of holding space for the messiness of grief. "What if we created ways in which we trusted our ability to grieve?"— Sarah L. Dickey

Michelle is a certified Calm Birth Teacher. She explains the Calm Birth meditation practices and shares samples of the meditations the organization designed for pregnancy and infant loss.

Michelle has created a healing meditation as we close out 2021 and enter into the New Year 2022. This meditation can be used anytime to release the heaviness of stress, strain, and grief. It is also useful for those times when you may feel triggered, especially by someone's insensitive remarks or a difficult situation.

Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT shares with Michelle how meditation and her yoga practice helped her to work through the grief, guilt, and fear of infertility, difficult pregnancies, and miscarriages. Together they discuss how pregnancy loss can shake one's faith, how unaddressed grief can impact us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spirituality, and the importance of finding support and practicing self-compassion.

Tammy candidly shares her unexpectedly difficult journey to become pregnant. In her sharing, she provides the insights she gleaned as she worked with her obstetricians, reproductive endocrinologists, fertility specialists, registered dietitians, acupuncture physicians, her extensive research regarding her own fertility, and the importance of advocating for yourself. Tammy remembers the sinking feeling she got each time she got a negative pregnancy test each month, the grief and trauma of miscarriage, and the self-blame that infertility and pregnancy loss often brings. Tammy also shares with Michelle how her faith and maintaining hope lead to the miracles of her children.