Baby Loss Awareness Week 2016: My Sister in The Sky
Sunday, October 09, 2016
Between 9th and 15th October 2016,
hundreds of people will gather in churches, hospitals, community centres and their
own homes to remember a little one they have lost, someone who is not with them
anymore and someone who is missed dearly. Whether the loss was years ago, or just recently, Baby Loss Awareness Week is in place to give a time and place where families can gather together to remember those they have lost, a place that emphasises the message that you are not alone and there is always someone who can help and support you.
My main reason for starting this blog was to express the
thanks I had for Children Bereavement Charity ‘Once Upon a Smile’ during one of
their big fundraising weeks back in August, as they are an organisation who do
amazing work for families of those who have lost a parent, child or sibling.
During that blog post, I explained that, although never acquiring their
services myself, the reason it was so comforting to know they are there for
families was because my family and I are without someone who should be here, my
sister Alice who died shortly after she was born.
So, like many other families yesterday, my Mother and I attended
a memorial service for babies, like my sister, who have died after birth,
during birth or during pregnancy.
It was very emotional. Each person who entered the Church
had their own different but still painfully similar story, each one of them had
begun possibly the most exciting stage of their life, only to be left
heartbroken, with no or very few answers which can in no way even begin to
console the way they are feeling, and without their baby.
It was what you would expect of a service of this saddening
nature, it consisted of hymns, poems, readings and candle lighting, but behind
the traditions of the church, laid the upsetting undertones of the pain each
person in that room felt, no matter how long they had been grieving. However,
you could also feel a sense of unity between families, some, as my Mother
pointed out, where familiar faces who had, like her, been attending the service
for years, and some new families who were perhaps only just coming to terms
with a recent but still just as devastating loss. Strangers were offering
comfort to people that, although they had never met before, had gone through
the same pain as them.
Candles lit and tears shed, families left the Church, saying
goodbye until they return next year for another service just like this. But
despite Baby Loss Awareness Week, services and memorials like this only being yearly,
the pain of losing a loved one doesn’t go away, and no matter how alone you
feel in the situation you’re going through, you never are. There’s always
someone feeling the same pain as you, going through similar, if not the same as
you. It is vitally important to remember these things during those times it all
gets too much, and this is why services and awareness weeks like the one that is upon us are important, because they bring people together who may have never met
otherwise, and these people can lend a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear for those just like
them.
During Baby Loss Awareness Week, a range of different activities
will be taking place nationally to help raise awareness, as well as services
and memorials for families affected by such tragedies to remember those we are now without.
You can show your support by taking part in the 'Wave of
Light' on 15 October, the final day of Baby Loss Awareness Week which is also
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Light a candle
in your front window at 7.00pm and let it burn in
remembrance of all the babies that have died during pregnancy, at, during or after
birth. People will be taking part across the globe to create a 'Wave of Light' to recognise the memory of the babies who are no longer with us.
If you need any help, support or
guidance, remember that you are certainly not alone and help is out there, no
matter how long you, or someone you know, has been grieving.
“Don’t think of them as gone away
Their journey’s just begun.
Life holds so many facets
The earth is only one.
Just think of them as resting,
From the sorrow and the tears,
In a place of warmth and comfort
Where there are no days and years.
Think how they must be wishing
That we could know today,
How nothing but our sadness
Can clearly pass away.
And think of them as living
In the hearts of those they touched…
For nothing loved is ever lost
And they were loved so much.”
-Author unknown.
For more information,
contact:
Sands (Stillbirth
and Neonatal Death Charity):
Baby Loss
Awareness Week:
Child Bereavement UK:
Bliss: for babies born premature or sick
Grieving Dads:
Once Upon a Smile:
Ultimate Guide to Grieving Support Resources
Web: http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/grieving-support-guide/
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SANDS ribbon badges are available here |
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