October 15th is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. My Forever Child has been donating the Always in My Heart lapel pins to numerous organizations that are distributing them to newly bereaved parents. We are also going to be making monetary donations to our favorite pregnancy and infant loss charities.

October 15th is the Worldwide Recognition Day. Please light a candle at 7pm on October 15th. Leave it burning for at least an hour, so that there will be a continuous wave of light around the globe in remembrance of our precious little ones, gone too soon.

To view a downloadable pdf brochure of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Info, please visit http://myforeverchild.com/Oct15.pdf

To view remembrance events taking place in your area, please visit http://www.october15th.com/activities_walks.htm

There are some lovely videos on YouTube regarding Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Here are a couple of recent ones:
~Light a candle on Oct. 15 for babies lost to miscarriage or stillbirth
~October 15th part 1 (there are 5 parts)

Miscarriage.about.com has some great info about how you can spread awareness of pregnancy loss and miscarriage. Be sure to sign up for the email newsletter for all the latest articles.

MiscarriageHelp.com is a wonderful site in which Ellen DuBois answers letters of readers struggling with the grief of miscarriage and child loss.

PregnancyLoss.Info has a lot of great info on frequently asked questions regarding pregnancy loss.

Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss Resources- I have a large number of online resources listed here. I continuously add more as I discover them. Do you know of a website that should be listed here? Please list it in the comments section of this post, or use the Contact Us form Here.

I have a few Free Giveaways going on during the month of October for Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. Check back often for updates, or sign up for our email list, facebook page, or twitter page for all the latest happenings.

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Please Help Support the Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009

First Candle is pleased to announce that the Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009 was filed on July 14 by Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ. A companion bill was filed in the House by Frank Pallone, Jr., D-NJ-6. This bill would improve the collection of critical data to determine the causes of stillbirth SIDS and SUID, increase education and awareness about how to prevent these tragedies in the future and expand support services for families who have experienced a stillbirth, SIDS or SUID loss.

• Every year there are more than 25,000 stillbirths in the United States. For more than half these deaths there is no known cause, leaving parents with more questions than answers as to why the baby died. The bill would expand activities to identify the causes of stillbirth, identify ways to prevent it in the future and increase education and awareness about the issue among healthcare providers and parents.


• In addition, there are more than 4,600 sudden unexpected infant deaths each year (including SIDS) and 200 sudden unexpected deaths of children between the ages of one and four. This bill encourages states to complete scene investigations to better understand why these children died, establishes a national database to track these deaths and identify risk factors to prevent them in the future, supports more comprehensive reviews and creates a national public awareness campaign to educate parents and caregivers.
  
  

We hope you will join us in supporting this legislation.
Please help by contacting your representative in the House and two Senators within the next week, urging them to co-sponsor this important bill.

The more co-sponsors the bill gets, the more likely it is to pass quickly through the House and Senate.

Participating in First Candle’s letter-writing campaign is easy!

• Visit www.house.gov to get contact information for the Congressman in your District. You will need your 9-digit zip code. If you do not know your 4 digit extension, you can get it at http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp. You will then be able link directly to your Representative’s website.


• Visit www.senate.gov to get contact information for your states two Senators. Simply select your state from the drop down menu to connect to your Senators’ websites.


• We encourage you to call your representatives directly, or set up an appointment to meet with them face-to-face. Writing a letter or sending an email can be effective as well. Emails can be sent directly through your representatives’ websites.


• We have provided a Fact Sheet about the bill, as well as a sample letter to help guide you.


• Whether you are writing a letter or speaking with your representatives directly, be sure to include your personal story.


• First Candle would love to receive a copy of your letter or an email detailing your conversation with your representatives for our files.
  
  

Members of Congress rely on input from their constituents to help them better understand what issues are important to those they serve. Help give our babies a voice!


Please feel free to contact Laura Reno, 800.221.7437 or laura.reno@firstcandle.org with any questions you may have.

Back In Stock!

Here are several items that have just come back in stock. Some were out for a long time, and I'm happy to have them available for you again. Please click on the picture to take you directly to the product description.

Real Forget-Me-Nots in Heart Charm

Real Flower Single Forget-Me-Not Cross

Real Rosebud Charm

Always In My Heart Prayer Box Necklace

Healing Heart Rose Quartz Pocket Stone

Blue Chalcedony Healing Tears Charm

Moonstone Turtle Fertility Charm

Moonstone Fertility Message Bead Bracelet

Moon Goddess Fertility Pendant

Kokopelli Fertility Charm

Fancy Jasper Pregnancy Bracelet

Have a pleasant and blessed weekend!

Child Loss in the Media

Here are some articles about child loss that have been in the media recently.
Feel free to link to this post, or post a comment if you have other articles to add to it.

Reader Advisory: these resources contain very heart wrenching, tear jerking material. Reader discretion advised.

People Magazine- "We Will See Maria Again"
When Gospel Star Steven Curtis Chapman's Youngest Daughter Was Accidentally Killed by An SUV Driven by His Son, the Family Faced a True Test of Faith. The Chapmans Share Their Story of Love, Loss and Healing


Stillborn Report from nbc11.com (video)

Newsweek Magazine- A Vast and Sudden Sadness
Every year some 26,000 babies die during or after the 20th week in their mothers' womb (a loss before that is considered a miscarriage) or die during birth. In at least half of all cases, doctors have no idea what went wrong. The impact is impossible to measure. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends—all must figure out how to absorb the vast and sudden sadness, to grieve and, in many instances, to reconcile with a God who has shaken their faith to its core.


Why infants still die from SIDS from cnn.com

Fewer than 2,500 infant deaths this year will be classified as SIDS

SIDS may be underreported because causes of infant deaths are mislabeled

Researchers investigate brain-stem problems and undiagnosed genetic anomalies

Babies who begin daycare before 4 months of age may be at increased risk

Redbook Magazine- The Shadow Side of Motherhood
Becoming a mom is one of life's greatest joys. But for some of us, the path to motherhood takes a gut-wrenching turn. Seven women share their journeys — and how they made it through.


O Magazine-This Does Not Have to Be a Secret
"Every day as I love this baby in my lap, I think of my other baby. Poor older brother, poor missing one. I see the infant before me, the glory of the soles of the feet, the lips fattened and glossy with nursing, the nose whose future Edward and I try to predict daily. The love for the first magnifies the love for the second, and vice versa."

Lily Allen opens up about her Miscarriage
Songstress Lily Allen reveals how her despair over a January 2008 miscarriage led her to spend three weeks in a psychiatric ward. “I was really depressed because of the miscarriage and I’d kind of lost the plot a bit,”

I Lost My Toddler To Cot Death
"Even before I went into his room, I knew something was wrong. I was used to hearing him play with his five-year-old sister, Abi - their laughter was my daily alarm clock. Not this morning."

Gorilla Grieves Over Death Of Her Baby
"This, perhaps, is one of the greatest gifts that a zoo can bestow - to show animals are very much like ourselves, and feel elation and pain," Adler said. "Gana lost a child, but I think in that loss, she taught people here so much."

From Redbook Magazine- The Fertility Diaries:
Part 1 of this series is not linked properly. But here are the other installments:

The Fertility Diaries: 3 Friends, 3 Paths to Pregnancy
This month, Jody copes with the stressful reality of reproductive treatments, Jenny faces her fear about the health of her baby, and a pregnant Carrie learns from her friends' struggles and losses.

Fertility Diaries: They Dreamed of Motherhood Together
As Jenny, Jody, and Carrie each face their own unique challenges, the friendship that has supported them on the path to becoming moms only grows stronger.

Mothers...at Last
Jody, Carrie, and Jenny look back at how far they've come together and look forward to a sweet future with their daughters.

Cowboys’ Ware Fulfills a Challenge for Fatherhood

Sports / Pro Football
Cowboys’ Ware Fulfills a Challenge for Fatherhood
By GREG BISHOP
Published: June 15, 2008

DeMarcus Ware and his wife, Taniqua, believe they appreciate their daughter, Marley, more because they adopted her after three failed pregnancies.

Click Here for Full Article