I recently posted on Facebook a status that was hard for me to write. Not because I didn’t want to share, but because I wasn’t sure how others would take my sharing of a such a personal topic. Less than a month ago I suffered a miscarriage. Or, more appropriately, my partner and I suffered a miscarriage. He is going through just as much emotional pain as I am, and I can see this pain in his eyes when he was at my side for the physical pain that I went through.
I am seeing a great counselor that has helped me though some things in the past. She is giving me the tools that I need to be able to see the light at the other end of this ordeal. Now that we are over the physical aspect of the miscarriage, there is still the emotional side that seems like it will take forever to get past. I am the type of person who wants to be able to make a list and check off the steps, putting everything in it’s appropriate place and move forward. Unfortunately for me, this is not how grief works. This is why I am seeing the above mentioned counselor. She can help me wrap my head around a process that is not linear in any fashion of the word. She has helped me to see that I am not just grieving the loss of a child, but the loss of all the moments we had already thought about in this child’s life. And that it is alright to feel ALL my emotions that come with this loss. Even the ones that might make me feel guilty, like I didn’t really want to be pregnant in the first place (which is SO not true, but a way that my mind is now seeing the current situation and reassessing how I will move forward). Life goes on, our plans have to change to accommodate what this crazy world has thrown at us. We have to be able to accept that we may not understand the Why, but to be able to adapt and still work towards our long term goals.
I post this not for sympathy, but to let others know that they are not alone if they are going through the same pain. Brian and I are slowly starting to move forward with our lives. We both have had some amazing opportunities come about in the last few weeks and we are able to see the joy in brief glimpses.