Journalling loss and grief

If you've scrolled down to see my profile, you probably noticed the two adorable little girls in my profile photo. Those are our daughters, Nora (4) and Tabitha (5 mos). What you can't see in the photo are the two children we miscarried in 2004 and 2008. Those losses affected me, my husband, and us as a couple. After our first loss in 2004, we attended a support group at our local, Catholic hospital for parents who had suffered a miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. After the group ended, I offered assistance to the maternity chaplain, as I had been coordinating and leading support groups in a different organization for about 3 years. She called me a month later and asked me if I would co-lead the group with her, which I did until she left the hospital last year.


About a month ago, there was a notice in my parish's bulletin about the group at the hospital that makes little hats and outfits for the stillborn babies and preemies. They needed more knitters/sewers, and unfortunately, I don't knit and I don't sew very well. However, I emailed the coordinator and asked about providing altered notebooks as journals for families, because I know how important it was for me to be able to share the stories of our losses and the details surrounding our pregnancies, and how much I needed to be able to capture those memories so that I didn't forget.


She asked for 30 notebooks, and it took me a whole month, but she's picking them up tomorrow. Here are a few of my favorites: