An experience of miscarriage from a spiritual perspective

Abstract

Miscarriage is the death of a baby before twenty weeks gestation. It is actually a very premature birth with no chance of the baby's survival. Although a common event estimated to occur for one in four pregnancies, it is often an unacknowledged and deeply mourned loss. Women have always miscarried and in times past, they would probably have sat together and talked about their experiences. However, in our current social climate with its unease about any kind of death, we seem to have lost the emotional skills to support each other through miscarriage. The uncomfortable silence seems to imply that the death of a baby so early in pregnancy is of no major importance. My own experience of miscarriage highlights this anomaly. When my third baby died at twelve weeks, it had a profound impact on me. That baby’s life, although very brief, was hugely significant. This story was written in his memory.