On this episode, we welcome Allie Demes, a postpartum and bereavement doula. Allie values transparency and honesty, openly sharing her journey to beauty from ashes, after the loss of her daughter, Calvary. She shares about the Lord's nearness as she travels through her healing journey and talks about how her experience has led her to find a new passion for ensuring other loss mamas never walk alone. 

Allie is a teacher turned homeschool mom and has been married to her best friend for 10 years. Together with their three living children, two dogs, a cockatiel and five chickens, they find magic in the mundane in sunny Florida.  

If you are a survivor, we encourage you to join us at our annual Gathering where we honor our babies and our unique motherhood. Tickets are available now at GatheringHope.org/gathering-2022.

To continue the conversation, we invite you to share this video and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Connect with us at GatheringHope.org, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or TikTok.

We know that pregnancy loss is lonely, but you are not alone. We're survivors, too...let's walk through this together!

SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • Facebook Community Group
• Find Allie Demes online!
  • Instagram
  • Website
• Resources Mentioned in the show:
  • Wild, Free, + Well Mama group
  • Book -  I Had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, A Movement
  • Book - The Redbird Sings the Song of Hope
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

Taking a departure from our normal interview with loss mamas, we invited Emily Morehead, a Licensed Professional Counselor & co-owner of The Couch Therapy to educate us on all things mental health. We talk about how to find a therapist, what to expect during your first appointment, the different types of therapy and how to establish whether they are a good fit for your personality and mental health goals. In this episode, you'll walk away empowered to start your own mental health journey. We also dive into postpartum grief, how to establish boundaries, the concept of suffering vs. pain, and self-care for bereaved parents. The resources that Emily shares are plentiful, so we've included all of them in the show notes below. We are so grateful for her dedication to providing excellent care for grieving mamas! 

Show Notes

• Books: 
  • The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
  • It's Ok That You're Not Ok: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand, by Emily Devine
  • Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself, Nedra Glover Tawwab
• Gottman's Couples Therapy 
• Postpartum Support International 
• PSI 24-Hr Helpline: call or text 1.800.944.4773
• Find Emily online
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • TikTok
  • Website

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

Welcome to Slaying the Stigma, a podcast focused on changing the narrative of pregnancy and infant loss, one mother at at a time. On this episode, we welcome Chelsey Schnell, founder of Evermore Blooms, as she shares with us how she combined the love of her children, Ava and Orion, with her entrepreneurial spirit to create a nonprofit organization that gifts a beautiful bouquet of flowers to moms on important days like due dates, after a miscarriage. She also shares the details of walking through baby loss and how her faith grew through that experience. Chelsey is also an enthusiastic, passionate leader who has most of The Office memorized, can't turn down a good piece of plain cheesecake, and believes with her entire soul that iced coffee is a year-round drink. You won't want to miss this heartfelt interview that embraces both laughter and tears! You can learn more about Evermore Blooms at Evermoreblooms.org.

This series is designed to empower and encourage survivors in their healing journey, while also educating others seeking to understand the unique issues surrounding miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss. By highlighting women who vulnerably share their stories, our hope is that one of these conversations will resonate with you and inspire you to share with others in your own community!

To continue the conversation, we invite you to share this podcast and subscribe. Connect with us at GatheringHope.org, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or TikTok.

If you are a survivor, we encourage you to join us at our annual Gathering where we honor our babies and our unique motherhood. Tickets are available now at GatheringHope.org/gathering-2022.

Join our private Facebook group, Gathering Hope: A Community for Moms After Pregnancy and Infant Loss where you can meet other mothers and find support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/850363201806229

We know that pregnancy loss is lonely, but you are not alone. We're survivors, too...let's walk through this together!

Find Chelsey online at Evermore Blooms website or on social media, Instagram or Facebook.

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

On this episode, we welcome Dr. Cindy Haggerton, who bravely talks about her son, Evans and his impact on her life. We talk about grieving differently than your spouse, the new people that become part of your life after the heartbreaking loss of a baby, what has surprised her most about grief, her adoption journey, where she finds hope and how the Lord showed his hand through so many of the details, both big and small.

SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
• Find Cindy Haggerton online!
  • Instagram
  • Website
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 
• Support the show 

To continue the conversation, we invite you to share and subscribe to to this podcast. Connect with us at GatheringHope.org, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or our private Facebook group, Gathering Hope: A Community for Moms After Pregnancy and Infant Loss where you can meet other mothers and find support. 

If you are a survivor, we encourage you to join us at our annual Gathering where we honor our babies and our unique motherhood. Early Bird tickets are available at GatheringHope.org/gathering-2022. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

"I remember journaling before going to bed, 'God please grant me peace as I go into this hospital, because I don't think I can do this.'"

Meet Ali! We are so excited to share this interview with you--if there was ever a representation of how grief and joy can collide, this is it. In fact, after ending this interview that we recorded a few months ago, we instantly knew we wanted her to become one of our #Gathering2021 speakers. (And she said yes!!)

Alishia shares her story with us, starting from the very beginning of her journey from engineer and newlywed, to stillbirth survivor & pregnancy loss advocate. We talk about where she's found hope, the role that her faith has played in her healing journey, the online community she found along the way and her role in fostering a welcoming atmosphere for those who are searching for other mothers like themselves. We hope you will join us this Thursday morning at 9am CST! You'll be able to watch here on Facebook, our YouTube channel or IGTV. 

Slaying The Stigma: Changing the Narrative, One Mother at a Time, encourages survivors in their healing journey, while also educating others who are unfamiliar with the issues surrounding miscarriage & infant loss. Our hope is that one of these conversations will resonate with you and inspire you to share with others in your own community.

SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
• Find Alishia Anderson online!
  • Instagram
  • Website
  • LinkTree
• Resources mentioned in today's episode
  • Still Here: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph after Stillbirth, by Alishia Anderson
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

 We invite you to listen to our conversation with Mallory Morgan . Co as she talks about her recurring miscarriages & infertility, while believing God is in every step of the journey to growing her family.

In our series, Slaying The Stigma: Changing the Narrative, One Mother at a Time, we highlight women who vulnerably share their perspective, their heart and their stories. By normalizing the conversation of pregnancy loss, we are collectively encouraging women in their healing journey and educating others who are unfamiliar with the issues surrounding miscarriage & infant loss.

Listen in and help us welcome Mallory as she bravely shares her story. Can you relate to her experience? Share this important conversation with your community and help us slay the stigma!
SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
• Find Mallory Morgan online!
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Website
• Resources mentioned in today's episode
  • WorkWell.co
  • Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, by Timothy Keller
  • Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans
  • A Grief Observed, by C.S. Lewis
  • Risen Motherhood
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

“My journey has taken me some really incredible places that I wouldn’t have gone, otherwise. Obviously I would rather have my daughter here with me, but I’m just so amazed by the creativity of so many moms who have experienced pregnancy & infant loss, and what they do with their grief.” 

-Candi Summers

TODAY, we invite you to explore the possibility that your unique experience and survival story could be exactly what another woman needs to hear as she navigates her own journey. Candi Summers shares personal story with miscarriage, mental health and her healing process. Plus, you’ll learn more about her work combating infant & maternal mortality, and how the experience of grieving her daughter Olivie Juliana then traveled across the world to minister to another mother in Liberia. 

Candi lives in Arlington, Texas with her children and her husband Nathan. She served on the board of the nonprofit BESTWA for 14 years and became Executive Director in January 2019.  Candi homeschools her children, and loves reading, genealogy, trivia, and people.

Slaying The Stigma: Changing the Narrative, One Mother at a Time, is a series that encourages survivors in their healing journey, while also educating others who are unfamiliar with the issues surrounding miscarriage & infant loss. Our hope is that one of these conversations will resonate with you and inspire you to share with others in your own community.

SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
• Find Candi Summers online!
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
• Resources mentioned in today's episode
  • BESTWA
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

We’re honored to have author, speaker and coach, Pamela Henkelman return to share her story. Pamela is an enthusiastic encourager who believes all of life flows from our intimacy with God. She helps weary, discontent, Christian women build a deep bond with God and understand his love.

Our new series, Slaying the Stigma, focuses on encouraging survivors in their healing journey, while also educating others who are unfamiliar with the issues surrounding miscarriage & infant loss. Our hope is that one of these interviews will resonate with you or inspire you to share with others in your own community.

SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
• Find Pamela Henkelman online!
  • Pamela's website
  • Instagram
• Resources mentioned in today's episode
  • I'll Hold You in Heaven, by Jack Hayford
  • Draw Near Beloved: Six Growth Mindsets to Deepen Your Faith
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

Meet The PhD Mamma! Our guest today is Dr. Quantrilla Ard, a recent transplant to the Atlanta area. A passionate creative at heart, she has answered the call to encourage women in all stages of life and of various backgrounds through empathy, transparency, and love. She is a faith-based personal and spiritual development writer and speaker who believes in the power in collective strength, community and fellowship. {No wonder we love her!!} You will find our conversation compelling as we explore her miscarriage experience as well as her advocacy work, with a focus on Black maternal and infant health and mortality.

SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
• Find Quantrilla Ard online!
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
• Resources mentioned in today's episode
  • The Shack, by Willam P. Young
  • Grace Like Scarlett, by Adriel Booker
  • Sisters In Loss 
  • 4Kira4Moms
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.

"If we could get a piece of understanding into communities, and into workplaces...maybe that could change families and dynamics and just grief in general where we're not forced to say, 'Ok get over it and get back to work.' That's essentially what you're saying, when that's not how it is."

"We never wanted to replace Hayes. That's something we could *never* do, but our hearts still yearned for a baby and for our family to grow...It's no one else's decision of when or why you want to have a baby after a loss. That is a decision that you and your spouse make, and that's all that matters." -Leslie Goehring

Meet Leslie! She is a collegiate hall of fame soccer player who never saw the trials of motherhood coming. Today, she’s a nurse, a teacher and a mom of 3 beautiful children. During our interview, you’ll hear the story of her journey through a complex diagnosis, mourning the loss of her beautiful son, Hayes and the intricacies of navigating through pregnancy after loss. 

Leslie’s desire to show the Lord’s faithfulness, both through challenging hardships and everyday life, is woven through our conversation. Her smile is contagious and her story is compelling! 

Slaying The Stigma: Changing the Narrative, One Mother at a Time, encourages survivors in their healing journey, while also educating others who are unfamiliar with the issues surrounding miscarriage & infant loss. Our hope is that one of these conversations will resonate with you and inspire you to share with others in your own community.

SHOW NOTES:

• Find us online!
  • GatheringHope.org
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
• Find Leslie Goehring online!
  • Instagram
• Timely Tender Totes
• Join our email list HERE.
• Have a suggestion for who we should interview next? Send us an email at [email protected].
• Gathering Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To support this podcast and our mission to provide resources and community to miscarriage, stillbirth & infant loss survivors, click HERE. 

Support the show

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Let's talk! Email us at [email protected].

Follow us on Instagram at Sucky Sisterhood Podcast and Gathering Hope.

Join us at Gathering 2025, our national loss mom conference, and use promo code: SISTERHOOD for $15 off!

Visit our website at suckysisterhood.com for more resources and support.