Pregnancy & Infant Loss

In 1988, President Reagan declared October Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month to recognize the unique grief of bereaved parents who would otherwise go unnoticed and unsupported. I was eight years old playing with my baby dolls and roller skates that strapped on to my shoes when the whole country wrapped parents with empty arms in a symbolic hug. I didn’t know exactly twenty years later that social support would be a hug for me as well because I’d be lighting my first candle, two of them actually, to honor the memories of my sweet girls alongside thousands of other parents across the county.