Dive into the complete episode list for Navigating Baby Loss. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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24 Jun 2022
2: What is Coaching and How is it Different from Therapy?
What is Pregnancy Loss Coaching and how do I know if I need this or therapy? I wanted to share what a Pregnancy Loss Coach is, how I became one, and why I think it's so helpful for parents who are struggling following a stillbirth.
I tell my story about how I found myself in my first coaching session as a business owner just wanting to learn the nuts and bolts of business, but little did I know I really needed some life coaching to uncover the success in my business and life. I tell why I decided to become one as soon as I knew how it could fulfill my desire to help others through this tragic loss.
Here are the main differences: You could benefit from coaching if:
You could use support surrounding your thoughts about your loss
You are struggling to get back to day-to-day life
Your grief is affecting your relationships or getting in the way of your work
You would like to have another baby but are too afraid to try again
Therapy may be necessary if:
You have overwhelming grief to the point where you can't sleep or eat
You are having suicidal thoughts, or thoughts of harming yourself or others
You have issues from the past that is affecting your daily life
It would help if you had someone to make a diagnosis and prescribe medication.
In a nutshell, therapy focuses on the past traumas that are affecting how you operate in your everyday life and is a modality of treatment for healing disorders, and coaching focuses on the future and what it is you want to create for your life.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This is the first Episode of the Navigating Baby Loss Podcast. This Podcast is created to help women and their families who are struggling after the loss of their stillborn babies heal and find hope again.
I introduce myself and tell the story of my twins who were lost to stillbirth and my objectives for providing value to the listeners of this podcast.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
: a state of feeling sad: low spirits : MELANCHOLYspecifically: a mood disorder that is marked by varying degrees of sadness, despair, and loneliness and that is typically accompanied by inactivity, guilt, loss of concentration, social withdrawal, sleep disturbances, and sometimes suicidal tendencies
To anyone who has ever experienced any type of loss, these symptoms are all too familiar. Add in a traumatic life event like the loss of a baby and it is a dangerous situation for those who are experiencing it. Depression and anxiety are common following a loss with about 20% of women still reporting it 1-3 years after. This episode discusses how loss affects depression and what you can do about it so you are able to heal properly.
If you are listening to this and have someone in your life who is experiencing a pregnancy loss or stillbirth I would love to give you some advice on what NOT to say to them:
Anything that starts with "at least..." at least you can have another baby, at least it happened early, at least you are young, at least you already have a child, etc.
There must have been something wrong with the baby (then explain all the deformities, illnesses, and other things children are born with)
God must have needed an angel (I needed one more)
There is a whole litany of phrases that aren't helpful and in fact, are actually damaging to someone who is emotionally fragile. I go into more detail about this in my e-book "The 10 Questions You ask Yourself When You Lose Your Baby". You can download it for free on my website. So I am pleading with you to just say things like this instead:
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Relationships in general with those closest to you are often strained after a baby loss. It's hard to be around people who want you to be your old self again when you know that person is no longer there. The hardest person to connect with is often the one you love the most- your husband or partner.
Communication is vital in repairing any type of relationship breakdown, but when you are in the throes of grief and are experiencing severe hormonal shifts it takes a lot of effort to communicate effectively.
Couples who have a pregnancy loss or stillbirth run a 22% greater chance of divorcing than couples who never experience a loss.
This episode inspired me to create a PDF with these ideas and more written out for you to download that you can get at jennifersenn.com/couples
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This episode looks at what prevents loss parents from healing in a way that would be best for them as well as those around them. No one likes to sit in grief because it is uncomfortable, and when we are faced with uncomfortable things, our instinct is to do whatever we can to make it better as fast as possible. We are given all kinds of quick-fix advice on so many things in life to deal with the uncomfortableness of pain, but this is something we are forced to just sit in pain with. There is no fix to it, no magic pill or stretching exercise or change of location that will fix what we need to go through and the only way through it is to feel it.
There seems to be a period of time that is deemed acceptable and they seem to be set by people who have never experienced a baby loss themselves. Have you ever noticed this? If you come in contact with a mother who has had a loss she understands without a doubt that this is a long-haul and something that won't have an end date. As time passes it seems to get better but it never actually goes away. Depending on how long it has been since your loss it can look many different ways. Give yourself permission to heal in your own way on your own timeline. How would the rest of your life be impacted if you took the time you need to process all the feelings that come with your loss? Wouldn't that be the ultimate version of self-care and listening to your body? If it's something you have never done before or aren't used to doing, I'm urging you to do it now.
Put down the blame stick... I thought if I punished myself enough it would ensure that I didn't go through that terrible experience for no reason or that I would be sure to not forget them.
This episode ends with a permission slip for you to feel your grief in as long or as little time that it takes, without guilt and in a way that feels right for you.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
The inner dialogue we have with our bodies struggles as much as the inner dialogue in our minds. There are no suggestions or how-to guides on how to live in your body once your baby's heart stops beating in it.
This episode discusses the things I found to be most helpful in getting over the anger and betrayal I felt about my body following the loss of my twins and helps you stop the battle that may be happening in yours.
You're missing the symptoms of a pregnant body, your life feels so out of control, and are now left with a body in a state that you weren't expecting it to be without a baby in your arms to show for it.
I'm here to show you that this feeling is normal but you can find a way to appreciate all the amazing things your body has done.
To try a FREE 60-minute coaching session- schedule one HERE!
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Episode 7: When Someone Close to You Loses Their Baby
How do you support someone who is close to you without being triggered yourself?
The statistics of miscarriage is 1 in 4 and stillbirths occur 1 in 100 pregnancies. Chances are you will have someone in your circle that will suffer a loss and look to you for support.
But how can you do it without getting triggered yourself?
That's the hard part...
Here are some ideas:
1. Don't say the things...(you know the things..)
2. Say Something!
3. Share your story with them
4. Offer Help
5. Give a special gift
6. Have compassion for yourself
Whether or not you have had a loss yourself, this is great advice for anyone who is supporting someone through a loss.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Are you pregnant or want to become pregnant after your loss?
Preparing for your rainbow baby takes as much or more mental preparation as it does physical preparation, and the ability to keep yourself on track. Realize that this is a new experience and that means the outcome can be completely different than last time, but for some of us, it is our last pregnancy experience so if it is- try to enjoy it as much as you can knowing the reward will be better than you ever imagined.
Realize that you will still have grief-It's still there. And whether you are pregnant again right after your loss or it has been 10 years there will be triggers popping up everywhere.
Pregnancy will never be the same as you knew it-Sometimes the only thing that helps is the passing of the milestones and they should be celebrated along the way. Each successful sonogram or dr appt visit but the best one is when you get past the time of the loss. It allows you to start taking breaths slightly again and build momentum with each week that passes uneventfully.
Self-talk your way through it-Self-talk is one of the best ways to quiet that devil on your shoulder.
Gather your tribe-Find other women who are in the same situation. PS there are lots of them! And connect with someone with who you can share your concerns and fears and who can cheer you along.
Talking it out-We need reminders on a daily and sometimes hourly basis that this baby has a good chance of arriving safely.
A Word of Awareness: Women who have experienced a loss often times have difficulty bonding with a new baby. It's almost like we can't believe they're really here and get to stay. It may take a little longer so know that it's normal and OK and don't feel guilty if it takes a little longer.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Do you feel like it's your fault for losing your baby? Most loss parents experience great feelings of guilt and blame themselves. in this episode, we will talk about all the guilt feelings loss mothers face and the questions they ask themselves such as: Who else would be to blame but me? Did I do something wrong? I should've________.
Once this guilt subsides if you become pregnant again then a whole new line of guilt feelings begins: I feel guilty for moving on, or feeling joyful when my baby is gone, guilty for the thoughts of spending more time with a new baby, and less time grieving.
I will show you how to sort out your thoughts according to what the facts are so you can learn to relieve yourself from the guilt feelings and look at things rationally. You deserve to feel joy and begin to make peace with your baby's loss.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I love to collaborate with loss parents to find ways for them to memorialize their babies in a special way. There are as many unique ways as there are parents and babies. In this episode, I am sharing 10 of the most common ones that the parents seem to love and some of my own favorites.
I would love to see yours on my Private Facebook Group- Navigating Baby Loss Community- click here to join and share a photo of how you celebrate your baby!
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Nothing quite rocks your self-confidence more than a pregnancy loss or stillbirth. Within minutes, your whole life and the future you have dreamed about disappearing as waves of disbelief and grief wash over you. You just can't believe this is happening. That this is your life or that it's happening to you. You've heard of it happening to other people but never dreamed it would happen to you. Yet here you are...
Baby Loss zaps your self-confidence and leaves you questioning everything about your life and future. Confidence is a series of small wins compounded on each other. In this episode, I will give you 5 ways to get the ball rolling again and have you believe that you can find your way through this experience and use your new wisdom and strength to come back better than before.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This episode is a real, raw, unedited conversation in real-time talking about what the grief journey looks like many years later. I dropped my rainbow baby off at college this week and am telling the real feelings I have around it. Baby Loss lasts a lifetime and it's times like this that have it knocking at your door again. Find out what my favorite way to quiet the grief is and the gift I gave my daughter that helped release my own anxiety.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This episode is a comprehensive guide on how to identify exactly what your triggers are and how they make you feel, then I teach you my HEAL method to diffuse them quicker leaving you feeling better and breathing easier again.
The HEAL method is:
H- Hurt- feel the pain. The only way out of it is through it. Allow yourself to be uncomfortable and experience it.
E- Empower- Tell yourself things like "I am stronger than I ever imagined and I will make it through this better" Create some mantras to cling to that build you back up and remind you of how resilient you are.
A- Accept- Accept that you can't change the past or the fact that you are forever changed by your stillbirth, but it also means that you are not broken or damaged by it.
L- Live- Breathe deep, find joy, and choose to live in a way that honors the life your baby would want you to live.
Listen to this episode to find out more details about each of these steps and how to put them into action to diffuse your own triggers.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I have a unique perspective on this topic because I have been on both sides of the coin as a sibling who has tried to understand stillbirth loss and as a parent who has had to try to explain it to my own children.
In this episode, I tell my own story of how it felt to be on both sides and how we decided to handle it as parents. I give my best advice to anyone who is going through it now or who may go through it in the future.
It can be really hard to face so many questions your kids may have about pregnancy loss or stillbirth but it also can be very healing to have someone who shares your dreams about how it could have been.
I do encourage you to let them in on as much as you feel comfortable with and to show your emotion to them. Find ways together that you can all celebrate your baby's life.
Email me at navigatingbabyloss.com with any comments or ideas you have.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
The due date, Baby's first birthday, holidays, the first day of school...there is no shortage of milestones that keep happening year after year that reminds you of the baby you lost.
I know that the stress of anticipation is real and the anxiety builds in the days and weeks leading up to the stillbirth anniversary or other related dates.
In this episode, I give ideas on how to deal with the days leading up to a milestone and give you permission to do whatever feels right for you.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I am talking to Ashley Bush, author, founder, and Podcast host of the Unplanned Mom School talks to us about how an unplanned pregnancy can cause some feelings that may trigger guilt after our baby's loss and how to process those feelings. She works with women on Mindset, Money, and Miracles and helps them navigate an unplanned pregnancy and still reach their high-achieving goals.
We also dive into faith and the role it plays in our lives when things don't go as planned and she gives us some great advice to lean into what our beliefs are.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Jealousy following a pregnancy loss or stillbirth is very normal but can leave you feeling awful for the thoughts you have toward others while you are processing your grief. And it is not at all about you wishing bad things for someone else, but rather that you are SO wishing you had what they have...or are expecting.
It's the ultimate "it's not you, it's me" .
Here are some ways to deal with jealousy if you're struggling with your thoughts about it:
Examine the real reason WHY you're feeling this way towards someone. Is it because you mean to harm them? I'm going to bet 99.9% that it's a no.
Communicate how you feel to anyone who you can- we hold a lot of shame for feeling these things but it always helps to rationalize it and talk it out.
Be kind to yourself. You aren't a bad person for thinking these things and like any other emotion, it needs to be fully processed before you can move through it.
In this episode, I give some examples of how I conquered my own jealous thoughts and some solid advice about how I help my clients through it.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Carolina Sotomayor shares with us her expertise and experience of how she was introduced to Reiki and her journey to becoming a womb healer. She is also a medium who helps loss parents connect with their babies.
She is helping women heal their traumas to conceive and reach their fertility, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum goals through an online monthly membership called the Fertility Foundation Collective. She uses her intuitive mediumship skills to identify underlying triggers causing upset and pain. Serving and healing women to live their best lives is her life purpose.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I think it feels good to have some recognition about what is happening in the world of baby loss and calling some attention to it, but for some, it feels like WE are the ones who should be putting it out there and that feels triggering.
I am urging you to do whatever feels right for you right now. Protect yourself. Celebrate or opt-out and know that either way is exactly what these remembrance days (s) are meant to be.
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day is not FOR you... it is ABOUT you!
If you’re a loss parent struggling with guilt and having trouble healing...
You’ve already heard that “time heals all wounds”
But the real truth is that baby loss stays with you forever
That's why I created :
The HEAL Method for Baby Loss Course . It is for loss parents who want to relieve the guilt and go
from feeling broken and worthless to feeling hopeful and optimistic.
I've taken everything I've learned from my own loss experience of my twin girls and two decades of helping others and created a framework to put the power of coaching into action which allows you to process your grief in a more effective, positive way.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I had the honor to talk to Dr. Tracy steady Hardcastle, who is a doctor of acupuncture in Chinese medicine, and she's reformed her practice to help people in a new, empowering way. She helps women who are suffering from disenfranchised grief due to being childless, not by choice. We got really clear about what exactly is disenfranchised grief and how it affects us.
We talked all about the language that's so commonly used in loss and how we can interact with people to be more sensitive in case they don't have children or are childless, not by choice. There are so many great nuggets in here.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This week I have battled my own bout with anxiety so I am sharing the real, raw feelings in real-time and giving you the inspiration and strategies I used to start to release its grip. I give an honest portrayal of what thoughts I was having, how others in my life tried to "fix" it for me (in their most loving way), and work through the steps of the HEAL Method I teach others. I think part of my progress is due to changing my physiology and getting in my car with a perfectly positioned podcast episode that showed up right when I needed it from James Wedmore. Check out that episode on Manifestation HERE.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Kate Carson is a Somatic Love, Sex, and Relationships Coach who helps women integrate grief and thrive after baby loss. She helps us understand that changes in sex frequency and desire are normal after a baby loss since we are dealing with grief, hormones, and body changes. She gives us great advice about how to honor the process of reclaiming our sex life through small steps of reconnection and how to ease into the conversations we need to have with our partners about the "new" person we are now. We talked about how to ask for help from those in your circle by being specific about what your needs are. You can find out more info about Kate, read her blog and contact her at http://nightbloomcoaching.com
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Maria is a certified transformational coach who helps moms heal from postpartum depression and anxiety using her unique coaching approach that blend. Eft, also known as tapping self-compassion work and her deep knowledge of maternal mental health. She helps moms heal from their own childhood traumas, break free from dysfunctional family patterns and eliminate shame and guilt so that they can thrive in motherhood. She's also a postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety survivor. Maria is so knowledgeable and generous with the information she brings to us today. I know you're going to love this episode, and if you listen carefully, you'll be able to do a little tapping routine of your own. When I did it, I instantly felt a sense of relief, so I know it's going to be so helpful for you.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This is a true account of my own experience of my first Thanksgiving after my twins were stillborn at 32 weeks, and the advice I have given to others since then about what I've learned. Listen to yourself- tap into your intuition and make decisions accordingly. Your body will tell you everything you need to know in order to care for yourself. Talk to your husband or partner and let them know what you need. Be honest about what you are willing and not willing to do.
Be willing to decline invitations for gatherings if it doesn't feel right. If you feel comforted being with others and want to go then do that. But if the thought of being in a sea of happy people who don't understand how you're feeling is hard for you then be willing to say no and not feel guilty. You can always negotiate a certain amount of time you are willing to go too if that feels right. Don't make decisions according to what others feel is right for you.
Find special items to symbolize your baby. We have two small pumpkins with the girls' names on them for the table. Maybe find some special candles or flowers that are meaningful. Get creative and bring them into your space. Say their names and talk about them. It is the only way we will stop the stigma of keeping it silent.
Create new traditions. This is a time to create some new ways of doing things because your life is different than it was, and you have a new outlook on it. This is a time for you to create or recreate some traditions that are meaningful to you and your family.
Talk to someone who has lived it. There is no substitute for talking to someone who has walked this journey and can guide you. It is likely that those you are expected to see on Thanksgiving have no idea what you are truly feeling so can't see things from your perspective even though they love you and want the best for you. Find someone who is objective and can help you through the process of integrating your old life with your new one.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Dr. Carolina M. Sueldo is a Double Board Certified Fertility Specialist currently practicing in her hometown of Fresno, California. She completed her residency training at UCSF-Fresno, and her fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI) at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Sueldo has been a speaker at National meetings, as well as international speaking invitations throughout Latin America (such as Argentina, Columbia, and Mexico). She is the Go-To Local Media Women's Health Expert in the Central Valley, and she has held several positions within the Women’s Health Community (such as Vice Chair and Chair for her District Section). Dr. Sueldo is passionate about empowering women through education about their fertility. In this episode, she shares with us her knowledge about what medically happens when a pregnancy is lost and what if anything can be done to prevent it in a recurring pregnancy.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode we talk about how having a grief guide can provide a safe place for you to work out your feelings and learn techniques and practices that will help you get unstuck in a gentle, easy way that feels good to your body. Annie describes how to create your own sound bath experience and the benefits of controlling your environment to get your confidence back quicker.
Annie McDonnell is an acupuncturist, sound healing practitioner, and grief guide who teaches self-care practices to nurture tender hearts and cultivate resilience through the power of gentleness. Her virtual sessions are tailored to help you get unstuck, tune into your creativity, and reconnect to inner calm. In addition to a free monthly collective grief circle, she offers one-on-one Grief Care sessions.
To learn more about these offerings, as well as her upcoming self-paced digital course Finding Your Way Through Grief, she invites you to visit joyalchemyhealing.com or @acupunctureannie on Instagram, or email her at joyalchemyacupuncture@gmail.com.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode Patty Cuevas tells her own pregnancy loss story and how it left her questioning her own faith as a Christian woman. We talk about jealousy, family, and things she wishes she had done differently after her loss. She is a Family and Marriage therapist who coaches women who are dealing with a significant life change event. She is also the host of the Listen Bella Podcast where she helps Latina women recover from a sudden loss or unwanted life change event. She is @coachpattycuevas
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Episode 28: Jen Burgard- Henry's Story and How She Built a Foundation that Provides Others With Healing Gifts and Resources
This is the ultimate story of how one person who was trying to find healing in her own grief, snowballed her efforts and turned them into a way that built community, resources, and healing gifts for other families who are grieving.
A native of the upper midwest, Jen Burgard is a mom to two living children and one who lives solely in her heart. Her titles include loss mom, living mom, wife, founder, podcaster, director, and most proudly - a survivor. Upon the death of her second child, she set out to fill a gap in accessibility to resources, support, and community for others also experiencing trauma. With personal experience of her own and her newly formed network, she launched Haven as a service to grieving parents in and around her region. Today, Haven has touched each of the 50 states with their healing gifts, podcast content, and online grief workshops. With a goal to bring awareness and understanding not only to child loss but our grief culture in general, we are creating and building conversations around the vast Landscape of Loss.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Episode 29: Shannon MacFarlane's Incredible Story of Chronicling Loss Through Photography and How to Find Healing Through a Camera Lens.
Have you wondered if taking photos of your baby after they have passed causes more pain or is helpful?
My guest today, Shannon MacFarlane tells us her incredible story about how she chronicled not only the last few days of her baby's life before he was born, but her own life as the Doctors predicted as a gift to her husband before they died. Obviously, the story took a turn since I am interviewing her but she walks us through how she took an uncomfortable photography subject and turned them into beautiful memories for grieving parents.
In this episode she shares how you can also find comfort and chronicle signs that your baby is with you all the time from the lens of your camera.
We also reference THIS EPISODE of the "We Can Do Hard Things" Podcast with Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Episode 30: Author Crystal Webster of Sharing Solace Tells Madelyn's Story and How She Created Unique Sharable Items to Help Grievers
Crystal Webster is the (co)founder of Sharing Solace, author of ‘Confessions of a Griever’, creator of the ‘Feel Your &*@#% Feels’ Experience, speaker, mentor, entrepreneur, and most importantly she is Madelyn Elizabeth Webster’s mama. When Madelyn died in Crystal’s arms just hours after she was born, she wanted to die too. It took her years to learn to live again – mostly because she realized her Madelyn wouldn’t want her to live the rest of her life waiting to die.
In this episode, she tells Madelyn's story and how her death inspired her to write a book and create gifts that are meant to comfort them and be passed along.
Sharing Solace (SharingSolace.com) was founded from that love and hope: to help grievers grieve and lovers love their griever through technology-elevated, pass-along-able gifts wrapped in a meaningful community of support and strength - so you can always ‘Remember. You’re not alone.’
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Episode 31: Clara Capano- Living life with Clara-ty with less guilt and overwhelm
Clara Capano is a podcast Host, and bestselling author- her third book will be released in May, she is an international speaker and has been featured on major news networks. She is recognized as one of the 100 most Powerful women and is a writer for Forbes magazine. Today she is motivating us to ask for what we need in this season and to break the cycle of guilt and overwhelm. She has great advice about returning to the workplace following your loss and teaches us a great exercise we can do to start dreaming again of the future if you are feeling like it's hard to imagine what lies ahead for you. Enjoy this powerful conversation about what it takes to take your life back with Clara-ty.
Watch her Shows HERE Join Clara's Mastermind Community HERE Watch Speak Up on Prime and find out more about Clara at www.claracapano.com
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Episode 32: Sarah Jane Smith-Embodied Possibility- Reconnecting With and Loving Your Body Again After Loss
Sarah Jane Smith from Embodied Possibility tells how her story of how the multiple pregnancy losses she suffered led her to live a life childless not by choice and sparked her journey of reconnecting and forgiving her body again through Yoga, Journaling, and meditation. She teaches us how to appreciate the body that carries us through our life and how she has made peace with living a life full of joy without the children she wanted so much. She helps women after their losses learn to: 1. Remember they have a body 2. Befriend their body 3. Dial into the signals your body sends you.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Episode 33: Kyira Wackett MS,LPC -The Shame Therapist Shares Why We Feel Shame and What To Do About It
Kyria Wackett is a wife, mom, and self-proclaimed shame therapist. She is the Founder of Adversity rising and as a licensed mental health therapist she specializes in anxiety and shame and helping women address these issues in order to live their best lives.
In this episode, we focus on the shame we so commonly feel after our baby's loss and why every human carries shame. What the difference is between guilt and shame and how you can notice when you are shaming yourself?
We each share an interesting perspective of how you can carry that shame into a new pregnancy and pass it on to the new baby. I know this topic is one that is really hard to recognize in yourself because we are ashamed to feel shame but Kyria offers us some great free resources. Check them out below:
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I'm in the process of creating a new quiz to help loss parents get the information they need at the exact time they need it. While I was putting together the information and creating the different paths that a stillbirth parent might be on it occurred to me that there were many stages you go through as you are healing. In fact, in my experience, these stages last far beyond the initial year or two after the loss, and I believe these stages are equally as much healing as they are reinvention.
In this episode I talk about the stages you typically go through post-loss and I don't mean the 5 stages of grief. These are the stages of recalibrating who you are and who you want to become. We know without a doubt that losing a baby changes you forever and this episode helps you begin the process of redefining who you are on the other side of this experience.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Dr. Diane Speier is a perinatal psychotherapist who is the author of Life After Birth: A Parent’s Holistic Guide for Thriving in the Fourth Trimester. She talks about the physical things your body experiences in the fourth trimester and how we can enable better healing in that time period. She is also a celebrant and gives us some beautiful ideas about how we can celebrate the importance of our babies with the ones we love. Besides her book, she has a companion app to the life after birth book and is creating an online course as well.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Dr. Heather Browne is a psychotherapist who specializes in relationship and couples therapy and is an expert at helping others find the other side to their most challenging situations. She talks about the losses of those closest to her and what she learned going through those experiences. She has been published in many outlets including Inc. Magazine, Toronto Sun, and Psychology Today to name a few, and is a regular contributor and expert on major television networks.
She offers a weekly newsletter packed with tips and techniques to improve relationships and has workshops! Simply go to her website!
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Karista Marcinek is a Sydney-based creative consultant, culture curator, and change maker. After suffering a miscarriage at 18 weeks gestation during Covid where she realized she was pregnant as she was miscarrying, she returned to work in an environment that was insensitive to what she had experienced. and realized there were too many people suffering in silence after experiencing a traumatic life event, so it ignited a passion in her to become an advocate for creating better cultures in the workplace.
She shares with us her story of losing the baby she didn’t know she wanted and the realizations she had about grief, loneliness, and her quest for healing.
Karista is the founder of Intuitively Create where she works assisting clients with big transitions in their lives. She also works with companies to curate better cultures in their workplaces. Coupled with hosting the 'Not Compliant Enough' podcast exploring all aspects of work, she runs a program called 'Silent Survivors' through holistic mentoring imparts the tools and wisdom of lived experience to help navigate being in adverse workplace environments.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Debra Kilby is an energy healer, channel, spirit baby medium, and author of Rosa’s Choice: Healing the wounds of the mother. She had a challenging journey to motherhood herself and suffered several miscarriages as well as a TFMR loss of her daughter Rosa. She tells us about how she realized she was a spirit baby medium on a trip to Ireland, and what she learned about herself after that experience that inspired her to help other women in her own unique way and began writing a book with Rosa’s guidance. Debra shares how we can find comfort by connecting with our spirit babies and the unique message her own baby shared with her that helped her heal. She shares a vision with us of our babies and a connection with water, and the babies even smiled in approval of this podcast recording in the end.
If you’ve ever felt like you can feel your baby around you in spirit, had a TFMR, or want the hear Debra’s beautiful story of loss and healing, you need to listen to this episode.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Amy Watson gives great advice on how to talk to children who are confused about what happened to the baby and how to say things that help them deal with reality without scaring them. She shares the story of her own stillborn baby as well as a late miscarriage and how she had to tell her older children and walk with them through the confusion and grief they were feeling since losing their sibling(s). She is celebrating the 10th Birthday of her baby in heaven this month and shares how different things look down the road. Amy is a baby loss coach for moms with angel babies. She believes that when you can get to the roots of your struggles and bring them to light that’s when you will make the most progress. She is the host of the Smooth Stones Podcast where she shares all the tools you need to build a beautiful life even without all your babies in your arms.
Amy Watson- Life coach for moms with angel babies. Find out more here.
Because loss doesn't define you, it's part of your story!
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Heather Gilbert shares the story of the stillbirth loss of her first child just 2 weeks before his due date. She tells how she tried to convince herself that she was healed and moving on and meanwhile her grief was eroding her marriage, career, parenting, and health. She shares the symptoms of the unprocessed grief she suffered for 10 years before she leaned into her faith and found comfort in others to begin healing. Heather is a mom of 4, wife, model, actor, and friend to those who are struggling to put the pieces back together following the tragic loss of their baby.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Amy Figueroa is a Virtual Assistant Coach and a Professional Copywriter.
After losing her newborn daughter to Trisomy 13, Amy embarked on a journey to find work/life balance and career satisfaction which led to launching her own online business and allowed her to channel her grief into something positive, as well as be more present to her surviving children. Her loss inspired her to create Vital VA which helps others learn to create their own Virtual Assistance business and work on their own schedule to create a better work/life balance. Links:
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Sierra Grana is a Soul Gratifying Coach, Medium, and Speaker who guides leaders, pioneers, and generational curse breakers through their darkest moments and brings them toward their light. She shares her near-death experience of her own experience with baby loss and how she took that experience and found her way through it by being willing to feel the grief and look for the ways it impacted her life. Before starting her coaching career, Sierra was a Licensed Massage Therapist and held upper management positions over a 12-year span. After a successful but stressful career, Sierra shifted into what ignited her Soul, helping people live in the moment. With an undeniable Divine Aura, she has become the go-to person for others who have lost their way. Sierra channels Spirit to help create authenticity, freedom, love, and joy with ease.
Sierra is available for transformational coaching & spiritual readings. You can reach Sierra at sierragranacoaching@gmail.com or at sierragrana.com
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Maureen Farrell is a lactation counselor, doula, herbalist, and homebirth midwife practicing in rural West Virginia. She passionately works to improve pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences for families through education and holistic care. That same motivation drove her to co-found the Milk Minute Podcast in 2020, which provides evidence-based and entertaining breastfeeding information.
In our conversation today we discussed why lactation happens even following a loss, how to cease it, and what is normal and not normal during the process. We also talk about the option of becoming a breastmilk donor as a means of healing and dealing with grief. Maureen has a podcast called the Milk Minute podcast and you can find out more about her on her website at https://www.milkminutepodcast.com/
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This episode gives you practical advice on strategies you can use to cope with the messages and invitations to celebrate Mother's Day. Mother's Day can be especially hard when you are dealing with the loss of your baby. In this episode, I talk about:
setting boundaries
creating self-care rituals that feel good to you
saying NO. It's OK to decline events that you don't feel good doing
taking a break from social media to minimize messages
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Dr. Shona Johnston is a pediatrician, qualified coach, and bereaved mum. She uses her experiences following the death of her baby Gail to make a difference to others through teaching about and making improvements to child bereavement care, and through coaching overwhelmed healthcare professionals to find self-compassion, joy, and purpose and to reach their potential. In this episode, she tells us the story of her stillborn daughter and how that experience changed how she was as a healthcare professional. We talked about the differences in maternal healthcare in the Netherlands where she lives vs the United States, and how she coaches healthcare professionals to get out of their overwhelm.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Sharna Southan is a loss mama who while looking for her own resources for healing, found that others were looking for the same thing. She is the creator of the Institute of Healing Through Pregnancy Loss, which is the home of the Pregnancy Loss Practitioner Program. She teaches women tools that helped her heal from her own grief and loss and in turn, it teaches them how to help others who are suffering from a baby loss. She shares her story with us and what the moment was when she realized what she was put on this earth to do.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Meredith MacKenzie is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Intuitive Eating Coach. Her journey through eating disorder recovery to becoming a binge-eating therapist led her to create a caring and respectful relationship with her body. All this was put to the test during her experience with infertility and miscarriage. Meredith shares about she implements body respect and an intuitive relationship with food and movement into her grief of baby loss, and how she supports women in their own journeys to loving their bodies.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, I talk about some things you can do to help the father deal with grief in a healthier way after their baby loss, and some ways you can celebrate them for the upcoming Father's Day. It is important to learn their grief style especially if it is different than yours and be willing to ask questions that show them you acknowledge their grief as well as keep the lines of communication going.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Have you ever wondered how holistic practices like yoga, ayurvedic techniques, and reiki could help you in your journey toward fertility? Join us in this heartfelt conversation with Ashley Holmes, a yoga instructor, reiki practitioner, and the owner of Yoga for Fertility, as she shares her personal struggles with infertility and the healing methods she now teaches to help women unlock their optimum fertility potential.
Together, we'll explore the importance of self-care, stress reduction, and finding balance in our lives as we prepare for motherhood. Ashley also sheds light on the power of routines and how they can contribute to our overall well-being. Finally, we discuss the invaluable support available for parents after a stillborn loss and the significance of breaking the silence around this deeply personal experience. Don't miss out on this inspiring and insightful episode, which could be the key to unlocking a whole new world of holistic fertility solutions.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Have you ever wondered how to effectively navigate conflict in your relationship, especially after experiencing the unimaginable loss of a baby? Join me as I sit down with life and relationship coach Sharon Costanzo, who has not only weathered this storm in her own marriage but has made it her mission to help others do the same.
In our heart-to-heart conversation, Sharon shares her personal journey and professional expertise on improving communication with our partners, emphasizing the importance of self-validation and recognizing our own emotions without needing our partner to agree. We also explore the challenges that arise when our partners don't share the same grief experience and discuss how communication can bridge that gap. Trust me, you won't want to miss Sharon's tangible advice and tips for nurturing a stronger, more resilient bond with your significant other.
Lastly, we highlight the vital role of maintaining relationships during challenging times and the value of seeking professional help early on, rather than waiting until it's almost too late. Together, Sharon and I emphasize the importance of having a weekly ritual to connect with our partner and understanding the different ways people grieve. Be sure to check out Sharon's workshop, Needy No More, and her Keep Talking Revolution podcast for more support and resources as you navigate your own path through grief and relationship challenges.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
What if writing could help heal the painful wounds of losing a child? Join me as I sit down with Carmen Grover, a courageous mother and author, who shares her heart-wrenching journey of experiencing 10 pregnancies, with only three children here on Earth and seven in Heaven. Carmen's powerful story unfolds in her book, A Letter to My Babies, which was inspired by the journals she kept for each of her children, finding solace and healing through writing.
In this emotional conversation, we discuss the transformative power of journaling as a means for processing grief and finding hope. Carmen opens up about her plans to involve her children in her journaling practice, revealing how these rituals have guided her through unimaginable loss. By sharing her story, Carmen hopes her book will serve as a source of healing for families who have also faced the heartbreak of pregnancy loss. Don't miss this uplifting episode that shines a light on the resilience and strength of a mother's love.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Have you ever felt the searing pain of losing a child? I have. And so has my guest today, Suzanne Jabour, a grief educator and coach who tragically lost her 22-year-old son, Ben. As parents, we know that the death of a child defies the natural order of life, leaving us grappling with a unique type of sorrow. We explore the profound impact this type of loss has on a parent's identity and how, amidst such devastating loss, life can regain meaning and possibility.
Fear in times of loss, often prevents us from being there for others who are grieving. Suzanne and I unpack this fear, revealing how one can show up authentically for the grieving process. We believe that grief provides a unique opportunity to be real, to be imperfect, and to form deep connections. We share our thoughts on how to navigate through the platitudes and cliches often associated with grief and how to respond to insensitive comments with empathy and understanding.
But how do we practically honor the memory of our lost children while also letting go? Suzanne and I share our strategies, including revisiting places we loved with our children and keeping their presence alive in our lives. We discuss the paradox of cherishing memories while consciously releasing dreams and visions we had for their lives. This episode is an invitation for you to join us in this heartfelt conversation, to find understanding, connection, and perhaps even healing within shared experiences of grief.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Ever felt trapped in your own body? The struggle with PCOS often feels just like that. I sat down with Kendra Alexander, an integrative health and hormone coach, and she opened up about her battle with PCOS. Kendra talks candidly about her diagnosis, the lifestyle changes she made to manage it, and her journey to motherhood. She emphasizes the importance of seeking medical guidance when dealing with PCOS and instills hope for those dealing with this condition, by showing that, while it can't be cured, it can certainly be managed.
The conversation took a poignant turn, as Kendra bravely shared her story of miscarriage and how it impacted her marriage. We touched upon the unique grief that comes with losing a pregnancy, how it can affect relationships, and the significance of allowing ourselves time to process such a loss. Kendra's experience in the beauty industry post her loss and her being queried about her family status are discussed, shedding light on the challenges women face in society. Tune in to hear Kendra's powerful story of resilience and endurance, as she navigates through grief and fertility, and learn from her experiences. Remember, you are not alone in your journey.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
What if your body and mind hold the power to overcome seemingly insurmountable fertility challenges? Our guest, Juliet Owen Nuttall, a former firefighter and a mother at 45, defied the odds and has a story that brings forth the magic of resilience and the power of positive thinking. After a grim fertility diagnosis, she used her training in Chinese Medicine and Shiatsu to battle PTSD and fertility obstacles, exemplifying an incredible journey that unites the power of the body and the mind.
Juliet speaks about her unique path - from an intense firefighting career to the heartbreak of losing everything and finally to the joy of motherhood. Discover the transformative role of positive thinking in fertility as she shares her story of conceiving her daughter, Lyra. We also tackle the often-undiscussed fears of motherhood; how societal pressures, lack of role models, and cultural upbringing can intensify these fears. Juliette is dedicated to helping women redefine their perspectives on motherhood, inspiring them to forge a fulfilling and successful identity as mothers. Prepare to be inspired by Juliet’s resilience and wisdom - her story is a beacon of hope for anyone navigating their fertility journey.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
What happens when the unimaginable takes place and heartache becomes your constant companion? Brave mom, Katie Bordelon, boldly shares her story of losing her twins, Scarlet and Jackson, just 19 weeks into pregnancy due to an infection. Katie details this traumatic experience – from the shocking premature birth to the aftermath that tested her faith and resilience. She shines a light on the valuable lessons learned throughout her painful journey, and her pursuit to offer comfort and understanding to other bereaved families enduring similar losses.
Continuing this heartfelt conversation, Katie takes us down her path of healing. She discusses the challenges faced by her and her husband as they negotiate their individual grief and the importance of honoring these differences. Katie impresses upon us the significance of self-care and connecting with others who've walked the same path. Her enduring strength and courage are awe-inspiring. This insightful discussion stands as a testament to Katie's bravery, her understanding of grief's personal and unique nature, and her unwavering belief in the power of compassion and empathy. Tune in and be moved by Katie's resilience in the face of adversity, and learn how grief can be navigated with grace and fortitude.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Welcome to an intimate episode of Navigating Baby Loss, where we unravel the challenging emotion of jealousy following the loss of a baby. I'm Jennifer Senn, your host and a grief coach by profession, and also a bereaved mom of stillborn twins. Together, we'll face this tricky emotion head-on, acknowledging that it is a normal reaction to grief. As we journey through the highs and lows of summer celebrations and gatherings, I'll be providing practical advice on managing this emotion.
We'll explore some helpful strategies like acknowledging your feelings without judgment, limiting exposure to potential triggers, and prepping your mental space before stepping into social situations. We'll tackle how to handle everything from social media stalking to pregnancy announcements from loved ones, and even mentally preparing yourself before public outings. Trust in your feelings and set your own pace. If you're a grieving parent or you know someone who is, this episode is a must-listen for navigating through jealousy after baby loss.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Can you imagine experiencing an unimaginable loss and finding a way to turn it into a journey of self-discovery and wellness?
Our guest, Erin Tennant, a certified health and wellness coach, takes us along on her life-altering journey. Erin experienced the heartbreaking loss of her son, Max, at seven months gestation. Instead of letting it break her, she used this devastating experience as a catalyst for personal transformation, losing 130 pounds and launching her own health and wellness business, Grow Well Coaching.
In the first half of this episode, Erin and I delve into the raw emotions surrounding the loss of a loved one. We discuss the importance of self-acceptance during the grieving process and Erin gives us a glimpse into her own body image journey after suffering a loss. We contrast this with another person's story of feeling betrayed by their body after a similar experience. Erin emphasizes the power of transformation and honoring emotions around loss, while also acknowledging the struggles of grieving and finding acceptance.
As we move forward in our journey of grief and healing, Erin highlights the significance of self-care and reaching out for support. We discuss the importance of grieving, allowing oneself to feel and process the emotions that come with it. Erin also shares about the symbols of remembrance and healing that have provided her comfort and touch on the significance of creating meaningful memorials and rituals.
In the final stages of our discussion, Erin focuses on promoting support for parents who have experienced stillbirth loss, sharing her own experiences and the comfort she finds in sharing stories about Max.
This episode is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of personal tragedy.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
What if you found strength in the face of multiple miscarriages, a divorce, and the lengthy path to adoption?
Our guest for this episode, Anna Maria de Dio, did just that. She takes us through her decade-long journey navigating the ups and downs of life, a testament to her resilience and determination. Not only did Anna Maria conquer personal hardships, but she also successfully integrated her adopted daughter into her family unit, and she's here to share how she did it.
As we unpack Anna Maria's story, we delve into the profound children's book series she's authored. Inspired by her own experiences with adoption, these books are changing the way we talk about adoption with children. But that's not all. Anna Maria offers valuable insight for anyone considering adoption. She emphasizes the significance of thorough research, forging ties with other adoptive families, and seeking professional support. This episode is a tribute to unconventional paths to family and the enduring spirit needed to stay committed to the end goal. Listening to Anna Maria, you'll find yourself inspired and empowered about the possibilities of family, adoption, and steadfast focus on what truly matters.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Emotions were running high as I watched my son say "I do" and embark on his own life journey. This significant event sparked a whirlwind of emotions and personal growth, which I can't wait to share with you. From experiencing the immense joy of my son's wedding, to confronting the heartache of personal loss, I've learned to fully embrace the spectrum of feelings - a concept that I believe everyone should grasp.
Recently, I've also been immersing myself in NeuroLinguistic Programming, Timeline Therapy, and Hypnosis, unlocking powerful tools to help my clients reprogram their unconscious minds. By replacing the doom and gloom narratives we often live in, these techniques foster transformational changes. But it doesn't stop there, I've got some thought-provoking insights to share about handling the holiday chaos, specifically, how to foster connection and provide support during these difficult times. We explore the concept of giving ourselves some breathing space and the importance of understanding our needs, alongside practical tips for making the most of this holiday season. So, sit back, tune in, and let's embark on this journey together.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
We just finished a season of celebrating my son's joyful wedding one moment and then, in the blink of an eye, faced with the sorrow of my mother's health battles and eventual passing. It's within these contrasting experiences that this episode was born, sharing with you the raw and honest reflections on grief's profound impacts, the path to healing, and the power of what my coaching experience allowed for me. The journey through loss has not only reshaped me but has also reinforced my dedication to provide comfort and understanding to parents who have experienced the unspeakable agony of stillbirth and child loss.
We then open up the discussion of navigating life after a loss, addressing the paralyzing mix of guilt and fear, and how to find courage in vulnerability. I offer insights into how grief can alter one's approach to life, sometimes causing a ripple effect through generations, and how to embrace risks for a more fulfilling life after loss. I hope this conversation serves as a beacon of guidance and understanding for anyone walking this challenging path.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
When you lose a baby when you already have other children, your thoughts instantly go to how and when to tell the other children. Ariane Sroubek, PSY.D shares her unique story of the loss of her second child, and how she combined her clinical knowledge and experience with her parenting intuition to see her family through and inspired her to write a book about their experience to help other parents who are navigating this too.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
My two favorite worlds came together when I got to interview Nikki Scott and talk about all things business, books, and how she navigated the loss of her sister and her husband and many dreams she had for her future along with them. Nikki is a salon owner and a loss mom who suffered one devastating loss after another. She wrote a book about how she and her husband found each other after each living unimaginable lives growing up. They set out to live a life they were proud of and together built businesses and a family until things started to crumble beginning with the loss of a twin baby and her sister's murder. During Covid, her husband Anthony became ill and died shortly after. Her story recounts the tragedy and how she learned to overcome it all and continues to live the proud life she and Anthony committed to and is quickly becoming the voice of preparing for the unthinkable.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I can never get enough of hearing other loss mom's stories and I love bringing their lives into the room because each one is so special and unique. Mary Matt bravely shares her incredible story of the birth of her twinless twin and how she carried him for many weeks knowing she would say hello and goodbye at the same time she welcomed his living brother. Listen as she recounts what the experience was like finding out the news and how she and her husband dealt with the reality of their situation and told their older child.
Mary and her husband have been married for ten years and have five children with four boys between us. She navigated secondary infertility, a miscarriage, and a chemical pregnancy as well as the stillbirth of one of their twins, Maverick. They are almost 11 months from the date they learned Maverick died and seven months later said hello to Erixon and see you later to Maverick. They are learning to pivot and shift in this life after loss as they lean into each other and provide stability and love to Maverick's grieving siblings.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Losing a baby is one of the most devastating experiences anyone can go through. As a mother, the dreams you had for your child and the life you envisioned are shattered. It feels like a piece of your heart has been taken away, leaving you to navigate a world that suddenly feels unrecognizable. Life is different now, and the question that often lingers is, "How do I live my life now?"
In this episode, I will take you through many facets of healing and ideas of how to give yourself permission to begin letting go of what you thought your life would be and start creating a new future.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Parijat Deshpande is the founder and CEO of Ruvelle, the only trauma-informed wellness company specifically dedicated to improving high-risk pregnancy outcomes, reducing preterm birth, and supporting parents on the entire high-risk pregnancy journey. On a mission to end the high-risk pregnancy crisis, she has served and supported thousands of clients through her live events, one-on-one work, her bestselling book, Pregnancy Brain: A Mind-Body Approach to Stress Management During a High-Risk Pregnancy, and the Body Language Journal.
Join us in our conversation today to find out how her own personal story guided this mission and how she created this solution for parents who are in the high-risk category.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Julie Shapiro's Journey: From Devastating Loss to New Purpose
Julie Shapiro recounts her deeply personal and heartbreaking journey through stillbirth, grieving during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the steps she took to create Aubrey's Advocate, a non-profit organization providing support for parents who have experienced similar losses including helping other grief parents with hospital bills and establishing stillbirth suites within hospitals.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Heather Browne, the author of 'Speaking with the Heart,' to discuss the importance of self-love and releasing guilt. Dr. Browne shares profound insights and real-life stories about dealing with the past, the impact of guilt, and how to move forward with compassion for oneself. She also discusses navigating grief, and the unique ways individuals grieve. She stresses the importance of not judging oneself or others during this process. Dr. Browne introduces her book, emphasizing communication from the heart, and provides practical exercises for readers. Listen to our conversation filled with her wisdom and advice on healing and growth for loss moms.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome Back 01:05 The Impact of Unforgiveness 01:57 Learning from Mistakes 03:46 Embracing Scars and Healing 07:00 Dealing with Guilt and Loss 18:23 Coping with Jealousy and Self-Care 24:01 Self-Care and Personal Well-being 24:21 Coping with Loss and Grief 27:25 Embracing Legacy and Moving Forward 29:15 The Journey of Writing a Book 30:36 Communication and Relationships 33:28 Grieving in Relationships 36:51 Layered Grief and Personal Reflections 41:11 Living in the Present 41:55 Finding Support and Resources 42:51 Final Thoughts and Farewell
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this heartfelt episode, Ashley shares her deeply personal story of loss, grief, and healing after losing her daughter, Willow, at nearly 37 weeks. She talks about the emotional rollercoaster of her pregnancy, the trauma of discovering Willow's heartbeat was gone, and the subsequent emergency C-section. Ashley discusses the moments of immense grief, guilt, and the process of making peace with the loss. She also describes the healing journey, including finding support in community groups, having another child, and the decision-making involved in a home birth for her rainbow baby. Through her story, she emphasizes the importance of support, community, and honoring the memory of lost loved ones.
00:00 Introduction and Shared Experiences 01:46 Reflecting on Willow's Life 03:30 The Pregnancy Journey 05:35 The Heartbreaking Discovery 07:12 The Hospital Experience 11:51 Coping with the Loss 18:08 Guilt and Healing 23:22 Joining Support Groups for Grieving Parents 23:36 Therapy and Staying Active 23:53 Holy Sows: A Healing Initiative 24:23 Coping with Grief and Depression 24:46 Husband's Grief and Support 26:44 Planning for Another Baby 27:13 Pregnancy After Loss 30:51 Home Birth Decision 33:16 The Birth of Oakland 42:32 Advice for Those Experiencing Loss 44:21 Honoring Willow and Moving Forward 46:23 Conclusion and Future Plans
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, Christine Davies, a hospital chaplain and spiritual director, shares her profound experiences and approaches to supporting parents who face the heartbreaking ordeal of saying hello and goodbye to their babies on the same day. Christine discusses the importance of rituals and the role of spirituality in coping with grief. She emphasizes the power of using a baby's name in memory and the misconceptions surrounding grief. She shares about the detrimental effects of toxic spirituality and the steps to provide better support to grieving families. Christine's writings and insights offer further resources for those navigating their journey through loss.
00:00 Introduction to Christine Davies 01:10 The Role of a Hospital Chaplain 01:45 Creating Rituals for Perinatal Loss 03:34 The Importance of Using the Baby's Name 04:41 Addressing Spiritual Distress and Grief 09:18 Toxic Spirituality and Misguided Comfort 12:58 Navigating Faith and Loss 21:17 Christine's Journey to Becoming a Chaplain 32:22 The Power of Writing and Sharing Stories 35:11 Conclusion and Where to Find More
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Micah's Legacy: A Journey of Love, Loss, and Healing
In this heartfelt episode, we meet Brianna Crane, the mother of Micah, who shares her deeply personal story of love, loss, and healing. Brianna recounts the joy of planning for Micah's arrival, the emotional challenges of discovering complications during her pregnancy, and the profound grief of losing him at 38 weeks. She delves into the impact of Micah's loss on her family, including her two daughters and husband, and the different ways they each coped with their grief. The episode highlights the importance of strong support systems, including the remarkable role of Brianna's midwife, Renee, and the compassionate response of her community. Through her narrative, Brianna exemplifies resilience, the power of open communication, and the enduring influence of Micah's memory on their lives.
00:00 Introduction to Brianna and Micah's Story 00:38 The Joyful Expectation of Micah 03:03 A Concerning Discovery 04:46 The Heartbreaking News 07:08 Coping with the Loss 09:25 Support from Family and Friends 12:05 Navigating Grief as a Family 16:16 The Role of Mental Health and Therapy 22:46 Honoring Micah's Memory 32:47 Reflections and Moving Forward
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, Sharna shares her journey of integrating human design into her parenting and homeschooling methods, especially after experiencing pregnancy loss. She discusses her new website, Parenting by Design and Homeschool by Design, and how they support parents in understanding their children's unique energies. Sharna explains how she navigated her own energetic boundaries as a projector parent to a generator child and the impact of human design in managing grief and parenting. Additionally, she highlights the creation of her Institute of Healing Through Pregnancy Loss and the development of her empowering approaches to homeschooling.
00:00 Catching Up and New Beginnings 00:56 Introduction to Human Design 01:44 Parenting with Human Design 03:01 Creating a Supportive Community 08:28 Empowered Education Method 15:28 Human Design for Children 23:43 The Journey of Loss and Healing 36:25 Balancing Homeschooling and Self-Care 44:37 Final Thoughts and Future Plans
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this powerful episode, we sit down with Dr. Emily Guarnotta, a psychologist specializing in maternal mental health and the founder of Phoenix Health. Dr. Guarnotta shares her personal journey into women's health and discusses the critical gaps in care for those facing infertility, pregnancy loss, and postpartum challenges.
We explore: - The often overlooked grief of pregnancy loss - When and how to seek help for maternal mental health issues - The benefits of telehealth in providing specialized care - Dr. Guarnotta's innovative approach with her new practice, Phoenix Health
Whether you're struggling with fertility issues, recovering from a loss, or navigating the complexities of new motherhood, this episode offers valuable insights and hope. Dr. Guarnotta provides a compassionate perspective on the importance of tailored mental health support throughout the maternal journey. Don't miss this important conversation about breaking barriers in women's health care.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this powerful episode, we sit down with Lucy Froese, a fertility coach who turned her decade-long struggle with infertility into a mission to help others. Lucy shares her raw, emotional journey from unexplained infertility to IVF success, the joy of natural conception followed by the devastation of miscarriage, and finally, the birth of her rainbow twins at age 41.
Lucy opens up about the mental health challenges of infertility, the transformative power of fertility coaching, and how she navigated the complex emotions of loss and hope. She offers invaluable insights on:
Coping with an unexplained infertility diagnosis
The reality of IVF and other fertility treatments
Healing after pregnancy loss
Balancing career ambitions with family planning
The pros and cons of egg freezing
Now an IVF and egg-freezing coach herself, Lucy provides practical advice for women on their own fertility journeys. She emphasizes the importance of mind-body connection work and offers strategies for releasing trauma and fear.
Whether you're struggling with infertility, considering fertility treatments, or supporting a loved one through this process, Lucy's story offers hope, guidance, and a reminder that you're never alone on this path. Tune in for an honest, heartfelt conversation about the challenges and triumphs of the journey to parenthood.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, Jennifer Senn, a coach for stillbirth moms and a stillbirth mom herself, shares her journey and mission to help others find life after loss. Jennifer discusses the complexities of addressing the common yet challenging question, 'How many children do you have?' She offers insights and strategies on how to handle this sensitive topic, emphasizing that there is no right or wrong way to respond. Jennifer highlights the importance of self-compassion and educating others to foster understanding. She also encourages viewers to reach out for support and offers a free session to help them navigate their struggles.
01:48 Navigating the Question: How Many Children Do You Have?
04:06 Strategies for Answering the Question
10:45 Personal Comfort and Context
14:09 Educating Others and Final Thoughts
18:01 Support and Encouragement
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, Jennifer talks with Katie Ressler about handling grief within relationships, informed by Katie's personal experiences with loss and her professional practice in couple therapy. Katie has connected how grief is often the root of couples' issues and stresses the importance of open communication. Katie shares her insights on how grief can resurface years later and the necessity of addressing these emotions. She also gives us great advice for starting tough conversations with partners, maintaining connection, and the importance of seeking professional support. Finally, Katie introduces her books and the Level 10 Relationship Assessment to help couples rebuild their relationships after a significant loss.
00:00 Introduction to Grief and Fertility Issues 00:44 Personal Loss Story: Katie Ressler 02:49 Navigating Grief in Relationships 03:59 Support Systems and Shared Experiences 08:19 The Impact of Grief on Identity 10:23 Hidden Grief and Societal Expectations 13:38 Long-Term Effects of Grief on Couples 18:10 Resentment and Unspoken Feelings 24:26 Navigating the Journey of Grief 25:02 The Importance of Seeking Help 26:51 Communicating with Your Partner 28:38 Starting Difficult Conversations 30:22 Effective Communication Strategies 32:54 Rebuilding Relationships 35:47 Professional Support and Resources 42:24 Books and Relationship Assessments
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
I am answering a question from a listener- “Can I reuse my baby’s name? I’ll explore the sensitive topic of reusing a lost child's name for a rainbow baby. We discuss the pros and cons of this deeply personal decision, offer alternatives, and provide guidance for parents navigating this challenging aspect of pregnancy after loss.
Listen as I discuss: - The emotional impact of reusing a lost child's name
- Pros and cons of name reuse
- Alternatives to consider
- Steps for making your decision
- Ways to honor your angel baby
Timestamps
- 00:00 - Introduction and topic overview
- 02:15 - Personal story: David's family experience
- 05:30 - Pros of reusing a lost child's name
- 09:45 - Potential concerns and considerations
- 14:20 - Alternatives to reusing the exact name
- 18:35 - Steps for making your decision
- 23:50 - Other ways to honor your angel baby
- 28:10 - Dealing with others' opinions and reactions
- 32:25 - Closing thoughts and support resources
Quotes from the Episode
- "There are no trigger warnings in life. These things will happen, and no one will give you warnings for any of it."
- "It's okay to go there. It's a beautiful time of remembrance and a way of honoring what that milestone would have been for you, your baby, and your family."
- "Remember, there's no right or wrong answer. This is a personal decision."
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, we sit down with author Eileen Rosete to discuss her personal journey through pregnancy loss and her upcoming book, "To Tend and to Hold: Honoring Our Bodies, Our Needs, and Our Grief Through Pregnancy and Infant Loss." Eileen shares her experiences, discusses the gaps in pregnancy loss care, and introduces the concept of "self-tending" as a gentle approach to healing.
Timestamps
[00:00] - Introduction and welcome
[02:15] - Eileen shares her personal experiences with pregnancy loss
[05:30] - The impact of compassionate healthcare during pregnancy loss
[08:45] - Discussion on the lack of standardized training for pregnancy loss care
[12:20] - The vision that inspired Eileen's book "To Tend and to Hold"
[16:40] - Introduction to the concept of "self-tending"
[20:15] - The importance of language and rituals in the healing process
[24:30] - Eileen's call for change in pregnancy loss care
[28:50] - Discussion on the upcoming release of "To Tend and to Hold"
[32:10] - Closing thoughts and where to find Eileen's work
Quotes from the Episode
- "Two early pregnancy losses is how I like to refer to it now." - Eileen Rosete
- "There really is no standardized training for all kinds of healing and health practitioners who work with pregnancy, which is pretty bananas." - Eileen Rosete
- "Self-tending to me can be as simple as taking a moment to wash your face before you start your day." - Eileen Rosete
Eileen Rosete is an author, therapist, and advocate for improved pregnancy loss care. Her personal experiences with pregnancy loss have led her to
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
This podcast episode addresses a common concern among bereaved parents: the fear of forgetting their baby as they heal from grief. Drawing from 25 years of personal experience with baby loss, the host explores topics such as survivor's guilt, the impact of clinging to grief, and the misconception that constant sorrow equates to a stronger connection with the lost child. The episode emphasizes that healing doesn't mean forgetting, but rather growing one's capacity to handle grief. It encourages listeners to find joy again, asserting that it's possible to honor a baby's memory through healing and living life fully. The host provides empathetic guidance, giving listeners "permission" to feel happiness and reminding them that growth is essential and can be a way to honor their baby's memory. The episode concludes by mentioning free resources available on the host's website, aimed at helping stillbirth mothers find peace and hope as they navigate life after loss.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, we speak with Aspen, a clinical social worker who shares her personal and professional insights on pregnancy after infant loss. Aspen discusses her journey from losing her first child, Otis, to pregnancy with her rainbow baby, Lenara, offering both emotional support and practical advice for those on a similar path.
Key Points
- Aspen's background in clinical social work and linguistics
- The loss of her first child, Otis, shortly after birth
- The decision to try for another pregnancy
- Coping strategies during subsequent pregnancy
- The role of dark humor in grief
- Balancing fear and hope during pregnancy after loss
- Professional insights on therapy and self-care
- Starting a specialized private practice for pregnancy and infant loss
Notable Quotes
[00:15:30] "I don't think I'm done. I don't think that I can walk away from this and not try again."
[00:27:45] "It's okay to do that. Human life... we all have our own stories and part of it is learning how to deal with other people's stories."
[00:38:20] "What you're doing in those moments is taking the power back rather than letting the thoughts and emotions control you."
[00:52:10] "There's no right or wrong way to grieve or navigate pregnancy after loss. Your journey is unique, and it's okay to approach it in whatever way feels right for you."
Timestamps
00:00:00 - Introduction and Aspen's background
00:05:30 - The story of Otis's birth and loss
00:15:30 - Decision to try for another pregnancy
00:22:45 - Navigating pregnancy after loss
00:30:15 - Coping strategies and the role of dark humor
00:38:20 - Managing anxiety and intrusive thoughts
00:45:30 - Bonding with rainbow baby Lenara
00:52:10 - Professional insights and starting a specialized practice
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this heartfelt episode of *Navigating Baby Loss*, host Jennnifer Senn opens up about her personal experience with guilt following the stillbirth of her twin daughters. She shares the story of how she blamed herself for their loss, wondering if her initial shock and fear at learning she was expecting twins contributed to their death. Through her own healing journey, Jen has learned to release that guilt, and today, she offers practical guidance for other moms struggling with similar feelings.
Join Jen as she explores how to revisit the facts of your loss, challenge guilt-driven thoughts, and practice releasing guilt through simple but powerful actions. Whether it's writing down your thoughts and physically letting them go or talking to someone who can help you find a new perspective, this episode provides compassionate, actionable steps to help you break free from the cycle of guilt.
If you're feeling stuck in guilt after your loss, this episode is a reminder that you are not alone, and you deserve peace.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode of the Navigating Baby Loss podcast, we dive into one of the hardest parts of grief: living with unanswered questions. After stillbirth, many parents are left asking, "Why did this happen?" These questions can feel overwhelming, especially when there aren't any clear answers.
Join me, Jennifer Senn, as I share my personal story of growing up with parents who experienced a stillbirth and how that shaped my understanding of grief and uncertainty. I also discuss how tools like neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and self-compassion can help you find peace, even when you don’t have all the answers. Together, we’ll explore ways to honor your baby while focusing on healing in the present moment.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
How unanswered questions can keep you stuck in grief
Why it’s okay to not have all the answers
Practical tools like NLP and self-compassion to help you find peace
How to honor your baby while focusing on your healing journey
Why it's important to give yourself permission to live in the present, even with uncertainty
Episode Highlights:
[2:30] – Jen shares her personal story of witnessing her parents' grief and how it shaped her views on uncertainty.
[7:10] – Exploring the common questions parents ask after loss, like "Why did this happen to me?"
[12:45] – Introduction to NLP and how it can help shift your internal dialogue during grief.
[18:00] – The importance of self-compassion and honoring your baby while healing.
[24:00] – How small acts of self-care can help you live with uncertainty and find moments of peace.
Resources Mentioned:
Free guide: Healing Together: A Guide for Couples Navigating Baby Loss – [Download Here]
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, we explore how to rebuild relationships after the devastating loss of a baby to stillbirth. Whether it's your relationship with your partner, friends, or family, grief can deeply impact these connections. Jen shares her personal story of how seeing someone turn away from her at the grocery store after her loss left her feeling broken and isolated. From there, she dives into how you can stay connected with loved ones and ask for the support you need while healing.
Key Topics:
Healing with Your Partner: How to navigate grief together and stay connected emotionally, even when you’re grieving in different ways.
Navigating Friendships: Why some friends pull away and how to communicate your needs to those who want to support you.
Family Dynamics and Boundaries: How to handle well-meaning but sometimes hurtful family comments and set boundaries to protect your heart.
Rebuilding Trust and Connection: Practical steps for rebuilding relationships after loss, with grace and patience for yourself and others.
Memorable Quote: "I remember the moment I saw someone I knew at the grocery store, and they turned their cart around to avoid me. It left me feeling worthless. But what I’ve learned since then is that I deserve relationships that honor my grief, and so do you."
Resources Mentioned:
Visit Jen's website for free resources for stillbirth moms: CLICK HERE
Schedule a complimentary support session: CLICK HERE
Join the Conversation: Have you experienced shifts in your relationships after loss? Share your story or thoughts on today’s episode in the comments, or reach out to Jen directly for support.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode of the *Navigating Baby Loss* podcast, Jen explores the unexpected waves of grief that can take us by surprise, even long after we think we’re "healed." Through personal stories and compassionate insights, Jen shares why these moments happen and offers practical strategies to help you navigate them with kindness and understanding. This episode is a reminder that these "grief surprises" don’t have to overwhelm you—they can be moments to honor your journey and your baby’s memory. Key Points Discussed: 1. Why Grief Can Surprise Us: - How memories, milestones, and daily triggers can stir up unexpected emotions. - The role of our brains in protecting us by releasing grief in manageable pieces over time.
2. Navigating Emotional and Physical Triggers: - How sensory experiences, like smells or sights, and even hormonal changes can cause sudden waves of grief. - Why unprocessed emotions may resurface during quieter times in life.
3. Tools to Cope with Grief Surprises: - Acknowledging Your Feelings: Recognize and label your emotions without judgment. - Creating Space for Yourself: Step away if needed; find a safe space to let the emotions pass. - Grounding Techniques: Simple breathing exercises to calm your mind and body. - Reaching Out: How a quick message or call to a loved one can lighten the emotional load. - Practicing Self-Compassion:Permission to feel without guilt, recognizing that grief is an ongoing journey.
Listen Now: Tune in to this episode and learn how to find peace in the unexpected moments when grief sneaks up on you.
If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, share with someone who may benefit, and leave a review. Remember, you’re not alone on this journey, and it’s okay to feel whatever you need to feel.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Sarah Cox shares her story of love, loss, and resilience. From facing infertility and navigating the unexpected challenges of pregnancy to the heartbreaking loss of her daughter Jasmine at 32 weeks, Sarah shares her journey with raw honesty. We discuss how she coped with grief, the regrets and challenges that came after, and how she turned her pain into a mission to support other parents through the Rainbow Skirt Project and her blog, Journey for Jasmine.
In This Episode:
Infertility and Early Pregnancy Loss: Sarah shares her struggles with PCOS, fertility treatments, and her two early losses before Jasmine.
Jasmine’s Diagnosis: The shock of receiving a congenital diaphragmatic hernia diagnosis at 13 weeks and further complications that followed.
Loss and Regret: The emotional impact of Jasmine’s passing at 32 weeks and the challenge of processing feelings of regret and guilt.
The Healing Journey: How Sarah found solace in writing, built a supportive community, and channeled her grief into helping others.
The Rainbow Skirt Project: The story behind this beautiful initiative that has brought hope and connection to loss parents worldwide.
Navigating Life After Loss: Balancing gratitude, grief, and the joy of parenting after loss while carrying the memory of Jasmine.
Advice for Loss Parents: Sarah emphasizes the importance of allowing yourself to grieve, seeking supportive and positive communities, and remembering that strength can coexist with vulnerability.
Memorable Quotes:
“Don’t stuff the grief down. Even the strongest person needs support.”
“Parenting after loss is like walking a tightrope between joy and sorrow. It’s hard, but it’s part of the journey.”
Social Media: @journeyforjasmine on Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms.
Join the Conversation: Have you experienced a similar journey or found hope after loss? Share your thoughts and connect with others who understand. Your story matters.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
Jennifer explores the unexpected physical reminders such as milk production, stretch marks, and extra weight, and the overwhelming emotions of betrayal and distrust many women feel toward their bodies after loss. She addresses a topic that is often overlooked but profoundly significant—coping with the physical and emotional changes that come after baby loss. This episode will help you acknowledge these challenges, start to reconnect with your body, and take small, manageable steps toward healing.
The Unexpected Physical Reminders: Jennifer discusses how physical changes like milk coming in without a baby to feed and other postpartum symptoms can feel like a cruel reminder of what didn’t happen. The Sense of Betrayal Toward the Body: Many women feel betrayed by their bodies after loss, believing that it failed them. Jennifer shares her personal experience and reassures listeners that these feelings are valid and part of the healing process. Recognizing What Your Body Did Do: Acknowledging that, despite the outcome, your body carried and nurtured life. Understanding that while your body didn’t fail you, it did its best with the information it had. Taking Small Steps Toward Reconnection: Simple self-care practices like staying hydrated and taking walks in nature can be acts of kindness that help reconnect with your body and foster emotional healing. The Role of Hormones: The hormonal shifts after baby loss can be intense and confusing. Jennifer explains how these shifts impact emotions and physical health and encourages patience and compassion during this adjustment period. Moving Forward with Compassion: Emphasizing that healing is not about perfection, but about taking one small step at a time and showing up for yourself and your body.
Main Points - Your body is not your enemy; it’s doing its best and is also navigating the grief and loss. - Recognize that reconnecting with your body can start with small, simple acts of self-care. - Be patient with your body’s healing process, and don’t hesitate to seek help if feelings of anger or disconnection become overwhelming. Resources Mentioned: - Visit Jennifer’s website for free resources, support, and to schedule a complimentary support session. - Listen to other episodes of *Navigating Baby Loss* for more conversations and guidance.
Quote to Remember: "Your body is doing its be
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode of the *Navigating Baby Loss* podcast, Jen delves into the complex journey of pregnancy after loss, a path filled with fear, hope, and vulnerability. Drawing from her personal experience of becoming pregnant just four months after the loss of her twin daughters, Jen offers compassionate advice and actionable strategies to help you navigate this challenging time. Learn how to manage anxiety, rebuild trust in your body, and celebrate small milestones while balancing the emotions of fear and excitement.
In This Episode: - Why the fear of pregnancy after loss is normal and expected. - How to reframe your thoughts with NLP techniques to manage anxiety. - The importance of recognizing that every pregnancy is unique. - Ways to build and lean on a strong support system, including friends, family, and healthcare providers. - How to balance fear and hope without letting fear steal your joy. - Fear doesn’t mean you’re weak—it means you’ve loved deeply. - Each pregnancy is a new story with its own path and possibilities. - Sharing your fears and asking for help is not a burden; it’s a step toward healing. - Small milestones are worth celebrating—they are reminders of progress and hope.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, Jen discusses the challenges of facing the holiday season after the loss of a baby. While holidays are often seen as a time of joy, they can be an incredibly painful reminder of what is missing for grieving parents. Jen shares her personal story of navigating her first Thanksgiving just weeks after losing her twins, when feelings of guilt, sadness, and expectations felt overwhelming.
Key topics in this episode:
Why holidays can feel overwhelming after loss: The constant reminders of family, children, and joy during the season can magnify grief and make it hard to cope. Studies show anxiety and depression increase during the holidays, especially for those who have experienced loss.
Real stories from moms navigating the holidays:
Sarah found peace by lighting a candle and playing a special song to honor her daughter.
Amanda created a ritual with a memorial stocking filled with love notes, helping her feel connected to her son.
Jen shares how her family honors her twins each year with a special ornament and gives back to the community.
Practical tips for coping with the holiday season:
Say no without guilt: It’s okay to decline invitations and prioritize emotional well-being.
Create new rituals: Find meaningful ways to honor your baby, such as lighting a candle, donating in their memory, or decorating with something symbolic.
Let go of guilt: It’s okay to feel sad, angry, or overwhelmed. Grief doesn’t disappear just because it’s the holidays.
Additional Resources:
Free Guide: Download 20 Ideas to Honor Your Baby During the Holidays at jennifersenn.com/holiday.
Workshop: Join Jen for the Surviving the Season workshop on December 5th at 11 AM EST, a 90-minute session designed to help navigate holiday triggers, set boundaries, and create a personal plan for the season. Visit jennifersenn.com/workshop to sign up.
Complimentary Support Session: Schedule a session with Jen for personalized guidance at jennifersenn.com.
This episode offers reassurance that there is no right or wrong way to approach the holidays after loss. Whether through declining invitations, creating rituals, or finding small moments of peace, this season can be navigated in a way that honors both your grief and your needs.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode, I sit down with Janice Eisman, a trauma-sensitive movement specialist, to discuss how trauma is stored in the body and why addressing it through movement is a vital part of the healing process. Janice shares her expertise in trauma-sensitive yoga, a powerful tool for those experiencing lingering effects of loss, grief, or trauma. Together, we explore how movement can help release stored emotions, soothe the nervous system, and support those navigating life after baby loss.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
The difference between trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive movement.
How trauma is stored in the body and why talk therapy alone may not resolve it.
Practical techniques, such as rhythm and choice, to help calm the nervous system and process emotions.
How trauma-sensitive yoga differs from traditional exercise or yoga classes.
Why reconnecting with your body after loss can feel challenging but transformative.
How this approach can support those preparing for pregnancy after loss.
Key Highlights:
Trauma-sensitive movement focuses on empowering individuals to regain a sense of control through choice and gentle, rhythmic movements.
Trauma can manifest physically even when we feel mentally "healed," and movement can be a vital tool to help release those lingering effects.
Janice discusses why feeling disconnected from or even angry at your body is a normal response to loss—and how gentle movement can help rebuild that connection.
Strategies include simple exercises like arm movements, spinal rotations, and rhythmic actions to help the body release stored emotions and promote healing.
This method is evidence-based, with proven techniques to calm the nervous system and integrate trauma into your life rather than letting it define you.
Resources Mentioned:
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk (book recommendation for understanding trauma).
Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY): Visit their website for certified practitioners and additional resources.
Healing after loss requires a combination of tools, and addressing the body’s role in trauma is crucial. If you’ve done the talk therapy but still feel stuck, trauma-sensitive movement may be the missing piece. Whether you’re coping with grief, preparing for pregnancy after loss, or simply looking for ways to reconnec
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode of Navigating Baby Loss, we discuss a sensitive but important topic: the fear of bonding with a new baby after experiencing the heartbreak of loss. While this fear may feel isolating, it’s more common than you think, and it does not make you a bad mom.
Jen shares why it’s normal to feel disconnected or cautious about bonding with your baby when past trauma lingers, as well as signs that you may be struggling, such as feeling emotionally numb, excessive anxiety, or even guilt. Drawing from her personal experience and work with clients, she offers actionable tips to begin fostering a connection with your baby—including skin-to-skin contact, responding to their needs, making eye contact, and seeking professional help when needed.
If you’re ready to move from fear and uncertainty to connection and hope, this episode is for you.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Why the fear of bonding with a new baby is normal after loss
Signs you might be struggling with bonding
How fear and anxiety can impact your relationship with your baby
Simple, actionable steps to foster a stronger connection
Why seeking professional help can be a game-changer
Key Takeaways:
Healing and bonding take time—be gentle with yourself.
Skin-to-skin contact and responding to your baby’s needs can help nurture emotional connection.
Don’t ignore signs of struggle like detachment, excessive anxiety, or feelings of guilt.
Reaching out for professional support isn’t a weakness—it’s a step toward healing.
You are an amazing mom, and you don’t have to face this journey alone.
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
In this episode of the Navigating Baby Loss podcast, host Jennifer Senn discusses the challenges that come with moving into a new year after the loss of a baby. She shares personal experiences and common feelings of anxiety, sadness, and guilt that many stillbirth and loss moms face during this time. Jennifer offers practical ways to honor and remember lost babies, such as writing letters, creating memorials, and sharing their stories. The episode emphasizes the importance of acknowledging one's feelings, setting boundaries, and finding supportive communities to navigate this emotional transition.
00:00 Welcome to Navigating Baby Loss
00:39 The Unexpected Challenge of New Year's Eve
02:15 Understanding the Fear of Moving Forward
03:31 Carrying Your Baby's Memory into the New Year
https://www.jennifersenn.com/holiday A Season of Memories is a guide created especially for stillbirth moms who find the holidays challenging. This free resource offers 20 unique ideas to help you create new traditions that celebrate your baby's memory. These practices help keep your baby's light shining year after year.
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