I’m part of a club I never wanted to join. And each year 55,000 women in Australia are unwillingly granted exclusive membership. They are forced to join the Baby Loss Club.
After my third pregnancy ended in miscarriage, I wanted to process the experience and work through the grief by talking to those around me. But I quickly discovered that miscarriage is a taboo topic. It makes people uncomfortable. They avoid the subject or attempt to offer up the reassurance of a silver lining: It was probably for the best. You wouldn’t want a deformed child anyway. At least you know you can get pregnant. You already have two children. At least you weren’t further along. Don’t worry, you’ll have another one.
But these words don’t offer comfort. They deny the right to mourn the loss of that baby. So women grieve alone, misunderstood by those closest to them. We are expected to move on – quickly, quietly – to get over what was just a biological glitch. Life goes on.
This week marks the start of Never Forgotten: Mamamia’s Pregnancy Loss Awareness Week.
And it does go on. But many women silently carry the wound of a miscarriage with them. The problem is, if we don’t talk openly about miscarriage then it will always remain this secret unspeakable thing. A hidden wound.