Chrissy Teigen said “We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about”.
There are no words that can express the kind of pain a couple feels from the loss of a child. I cant even imagine such a pain. In my group, I have met some amazing women. Strong, brave and loving women. The kind of sister that you say “Darn, if I only had a little of her strength”. These women are so inspirational and encouraging. Women who move to the beat of their own drum. Only when I inquired deeper, did I find out that some of these women experienced pregnancy loss.
Just for clarification, there is pregnancy loss/miscarriage and stillbirth. According to Webmd, A miscarriage is the loss of a baby before the 20th week of pregnancy. Womens Health.org states “After 20 weeks, losing a pregnancy is called stillbirth”. In black women, the rate of pregnancy loss is disproportionately higher. To complicate things even further, black women experience higher maternal death rates than white women. To quote an article written by the Harvard Chan School of Public Health “Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—and a big reason for the disparity may be racism, say experts”.
Sadly, there are a number of celebrity women who know this reality. I remember reading about the miscarriages of Beyoncé, Gabrielle Union, Mariah Carey and even Michelle Obama. Again, women with such strength and grace but they know a pain that you only hear about. It just so happens that October is Pregnancy Loss Awareness Month. One woman who not only has known this pain but has made it her mission to help other women navigate the devastation of pregnancy loss and stillbirth, is Erica McAfee. She founded the organization Sisters In Loss, where she works intensively with black women on their grief and healing journey as a Grief Specialist and Doula by giving them the tools they need to become more resilient, confident, and joyful no matter life’s challenges, circumstances, and hurts.
For more information about Erica McAfee’s upcoming Sisters in Loss Digital Summit 2020, please click the link.
Black Women and Infertility 