Type of Loss: Early Term Loss, Multiple Losses, Stillbirth

More about Samantha's Story: Listen as Samantha shares her sweet babies Baby Lohrman and Avonlea with us. Samantha and her husband, CJ, were ecstatic when they found out they were expecting their first baby in 2021. Unfortunately, that excitement turned to sorrow when they were told at their first doctors appointment their baby didn't have a heartbeat. Listen as Samantha walks us through the grief she felt experiencing an early term loss. When they found out they were expecting again, they were quite reserved because of losing their first baby. Samantha describes her pregnancy with Avonlea as a textbook pregnancy. At 27 weeks gestation, Samantha went to the hospital because she hadn't felt Avonlea move in awhile. It was there that doctors told her they could not find a heartbeat.

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Type of Loss: Early Term Loss, Multiple Losses, Terminating for Medical Reasons

More about Carmen's Story: Buckle up for this episode as Carmen shares her 11 beautiful babies with us. In this episode, she she dives deep into her pregnancies, grief and how she turned her pain into purpose. Carmen wrote A Diary to My Babies: Journeying Through Pregnancy Loss to shine light on the darkness of pregnancy loss, while also showing there is no right way to grieve. And through her incredible journey, Carmen hopes the story of her family and her babies just might help others to heal.

Purchase Carmen's book A Diary to My Babies: Journeying through Pregnancy Loss here:

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Listen as Tracy and Julie talk more with Shawn Betts, Courtney's Mom. Shawn found purpose in her pain of losing her daughter Courtney, by connecting with other loss moms to form the missing angel bill. A bill that would allow you to get a birth certificate for your baby that died after 20 weeks gestation. Shawn dives into how she worked tirelessly with those moms to get that bill approved by the PA Senate. Today, Pennsylvania Senate Bill 326 CBRS exists which allows parents to get a birth certificate for their baby who was stillborn because of moms like Shawn who found purpose in their pain.

You can listen to Shawn's story here: https://bit.ly/Meet-Courtney-S7

You can find out more about the Stillborn Birth Certificate here: www.emmasfootprints.com/stillborn-birth-certificate

Type of Loss: Stillbirth

More about Shawn's Story: Listen as Shawn shares Courtney with us. At 42 weeks gestation, Shawn went to the hospital to be induced, after about 7 hours of laboring doctors decided to send her home because she wouldn’t dilate past 3 centimeters. She woke in the middle of the night with horrible contractions and returned to the hospital. The doctors tried to find her baby's heartbeat, which was very strong hours earlier when she left the hospital. After numerous attempts, they confirmed her baby no longer had a heartbeat.

After Shawn's life became threatened, doctors ended up having to speed up the delivery process in order to deliver Courtney. Shawn says she'll never forget the silence of the room when she finally delivered Courtney. Listen to part 2 coming next week to find out how Shawn found purpose in her pain of losing her sweet daughter.

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Type of Loss: Early Term Loss

More about Alex's Story: Listen as Alex shares Sky with us. Alex and her husband David were so excited when they found out they were pregnant. At her first appointment, doctors confirmed Alex was pregnant, but she tells us she had a strange feeling leaving her appointment. At her next appointment, her unsettled feelings were confirmed when she was told her baby no longer had a heartbeat.

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In this episode, Tracy and Julie chat with Peter Burton and Karen Burton Horstman President and Vice President for Burton Quinn-Scott Cremation & Funeral Services here in Erie, PA. Over the past 10 years, they have truly become our friends in the business. They walk us through the process of handling a baby loss and answer all of our interesting questions.

Type of Loss: Stillbirth

More about Miranda's Story: Listen as Miranda shares her sweet Piper with us. Around 32 weeks gestation, Miranda noticed decrease fetal movement. Out of precaution, she went to the hospital to be monitored. After observation, she was released being told everything looked normal that Piper was just running out of room. A few days later, Miranda realized she hadn't felt Piper move in quite some time and returned to the hospital. It was there that doctors told her they could not find a heartbeat.

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Type of Loss: Early Term Loss, Ectopic Pregnancy, Multiple Losses

More about Erin's Story: Listen as Erin shares her sweet babies with us. Erin and her husband, Andy, were ecstatic when they found out they were pregnant for the first time. However, just three days later, she began bleeding. Her doctors told her that her pregnancy had been an ectopic pregnancy. Since her first pregnancy had been ectopic, her next pregnancy, with Grace, was closely monitored. Doctors were hopeful when her HCG levels were increasing and they found a heart beat. Sadly, not long later, it was confirmed that the baby was growing in her fallopian tube putting Erin's life in grave danger. She had to have her left fallopian tube removed in February 2015, and has not been pregnant since. Erin's message for listener's is there is hope and happiness is possible again after loss.

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Type of Loss: Infant Loss, Life Limiting Diagnosis [Restrictive cardiomyopathy]

More about Sara's Story: Listen as Sara shares her sweet June with us. Sara describes June as the perfect baby in every way. That all changed when June was four months old, she started making a strange sounds and just seemed sick. Thinking they were overreacting, Sara and her husband took June to the ER where their lives would be turned upside down. June was flown in a helicopter to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Extensive testing showed June had Restrictive Cardiomyopathy a life threatening condition. Within the next 10 days, June passed in Sara's arms while holding her dad's hand.

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Taboo Topic Series: This season, we are kicking off our Taboo Topic series where we discuss the uncomfortable topics that go hand-in-hand with losing your baby. If you have a suggestion for this series, please reach out to us at [email protected].

Episode Warning: This episode discusses intimacy and sex after loss. Due to the nature of this topic, this may be an episode you chose to listen to with your headphones on.

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