Grief can occur when you least expect it. It is especially hard when you suffer loss during a pregnancy. Miscarriage, abortion, fetal demise, infant loss, and IVF failure all can lead to a feeling of brokenness. An inability to resolve the pain. Deep inner pain. Grief brings life to a standstill. The shock, the numbness, the anger, the loss of interest in the things that once made you happy. The only thing that would seem to bring life back is bringing your baby back.

Symptoms of Acute Grief

• Somatic distress occurring in waves
• Tightness of throat
• Choking with shortness of breath
• Need for sighing
• An empty intense feeling in the abdomen
• Lack of muscular power
• Intense subjective distress described as tension or pain

Symptoms of Grief

• Denial
• Recognizing the loss but delaying the emotional response
• Crying
• Failures of memory
• Eating more or less than usual
• Sleeping more or less than usual
• Health problems from prolonged and intense grief
• Absetnmindness
• Problems concentrating
• Tendency to do the same things over and over
• (Kastenbaum and Moreman 2018)

November 2, 2022