Confessions of a Grieving Mother

In this episode, Tracy and Julie talk with loss mamas Ashley, Stacy, and Jessica about Mother's Day and how it changes after a loss. We dive deep into the feelings of being a Mother and how that feels even though our children may not be here with us. We wish you a gentle Mother's Day this year.

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss More about Stacey's Story: After years of trying to conceive, Stacey and her husband, Brandon, decided to foster to adopt in which they were blessed with 6 children. They still had a strong desire to conceive, they turned to IVF, and had a successful pregnancy with their son Owen. They had one more embryo and decided to transfer their sweet girl, Vivian. All was going so well with the transfer and all of her numbers were great. Until one Sunday morning as she was leading worship, she started to bleed on stage and unfortunately lost their sweet girl. Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss, Multiple Losses, Stillbirth More about Samantha's Story: Listen as Samantha shares her sweet babies Baby Lohrman and Avonlea with us. Samantha and her husband, CJ, were ecstatic when they found out they were expecting their first baby in 2021. Unfortunately, that excitement turned to sorrow when they were told at their first doctors appointment their baby didn't have a heartbeat. Listen as Samantha walks us through the grief she felt experiencing an early term loss. When they found out they were expecting again, they were quite reserved because of losing their first baby. Samantha describes her pregnancy with Avonlea as a textbook pregnancy. At 27 weeks gestation, Samantha went to the hospital because she hadn't felt Avonlea move in awhile. It was there that doctors told her they could not find a heartbeat. Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss, Multiple Losses, Terminating for Medical Reasons More about Carmen's Story: Buckle up for this episode as Carmen shares her 11 beautiful babies with us. In this episode, she she dives deep into her pregnancies, grief and how she turned her pain into purpose. Carmen wrote A Diary to My Babies: Journeying Through Pregnancy Loss to shine light on the darkness of pregnancy loss, while also showing there is no right way to grieve. And through her incredible journey, Carmen hopes the story of her family and her babies just might help others to heal. Purchase Carmen's book A Diary to My Babies: Journeying through Pregnancy Loss here: Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Listen as Tracy and Julie talk more with Shawn Betts, Courtney's Mom. Shawn found purpose in her pain of losing her daughter Courtney, by connecting with other loss moms to form the missing angel bill. A bill that would allow you to get a birth certificate for your baby that died after 20 weeks gestation. Shawn dives into how she worked tirelessly with those moms to get that bill approved by the PA Senate. Today, Pennsylvania Senate Bill 326 CBRS exists which allows parents to get a birth certificate for their baby who was stillborn because of moms like Shawn who found purpose in their pain. You can listen to Shawn's story here: https://bit.ly/Meet-Courtney-S7 You can find out more about the Stillborn Birth Certificate here: www.emmasfootprints.com/stillborn-birth-certificate

Type of Loss: Stillbirth More about Shawn's Story: Listen as Shawn shares Courtney with us. At 42 weeks gestation, Shawn went to the hospital to be induced, after about 7 hours of laboring doctors decided to send her home because she wouldn’t dilate past 3 centimeters. She woke in the middle of the night with horrible contractions and returned to the hospital. The doctors tried to find her baby's heartbeat, which was very strong hours earlier when she left the hospital. After numerous attempts, they confirmed her baby no longer had a heartbeat. After Shawn's life became threatened, doctors ended up having to speed up the delivery process in order to deliver Courtney. Shawn says she'll never forget the silence of the room when she finally delivered Courtney. Listen to part 2 coming next week to find out how Shawn found purpose in her pain of losing her sweet daughter. Connect with Shawn: Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss More about Alex's Story: Listen as Alex shares Sky with us. Alex and her husband David were so excited when they found out they were pregnant. At her first appointment, doctors confirmed Alex was pregnant, but she tells us she had a strange feeling leaving her appointment. At her next appointment, her unsettled feelings were confirmed when she was told her baby no longer had a heartbeat. Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

In this episode, Tracy and Julie chat with Peter Burton and Karen Burton Horstman President and Vice President for Burton Quinn-Scott Cremation & Funeral Services here in Erie, PA. Over the past 10 years, they have truly become our friends in the business. They walk us through the process of handling a baby loss and answer all of our interesting questions.

Type of Loss: Stillbirth More about Miranda's Story: Listen as Miranda shares her sweet Piper with us. Around 32 weeks gestation, Miranda noticed decrease fetal movement. Out of precaution, she went to the hospital to be monitored. After observation, she was released being told everything looked normal that Piper was just running out of room. A few days later, Miranda realized she hadn't felt Piper move in quite some time and returned to the hospital. It was there that doctors told her they could not find a heartbeat. Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss, Ectopic Pregnancy, Multiple Losses More about Erin's Story: Listen as Erin shares her sweet babies with us. Erin and her husband, Andy, were ecstatic when they found out they were pregnant for the first time. However, just three days later, she began bleeding. Her doctors told her that her pregnancy had been an ectopic pregnancy. Since her first pregnancy had been ectopic, her next pregnancy, with Grace, was closely monitored. Doctors were hopeful when her HCG levels were increasing and they found a heart beat. Sadly, not long later, it was confirmed that the baby was growing in her fallopian tube putting Erin's life in grave danger. She had to have her left fallopian tube removed in February 2015, and has not been pregnant since. Erin's message for listener's is there is hope and happiness is possible again after loss. Connect with Erin: Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of Loss: Infant Loss, Life Limiting Diagnosis [Restrictive cardiomyopathy] More about Sara's Story: Listen as Sara shares her sweet June with us. Sara describes June as the perfect baby in every way. That all changed when June was four months old, she started making a strange sounds and just seemed sick. Thinking they were overreacting, Sara and her husband took June to the ER where their lives would be turned upside down. June was flown in a helicopter to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Extensive testing showed June had Restrictive Cardiomyopathy a life threatening condition. Within the next 10 days, June passed in Sara's arms while holding her dad's hand. Connect with Sara: Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Taboo Topic Series: This season, we are kicking off our Taboo Topic series where we discuss the uncomfortable topics that go hand-in-hand with losing your baby. If you have a suggestion for this series, please reach out to us at khristina@emmasfootprints.com. Episode Warning: This episode discusses intimacy and sex after loss. Due to the nature of this topic, this may be an episode you chose to listen to with your headphones on. Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss More about Kristyn's Story: Listen as Kristyn shares her early term loss with us. Kristyn and her husband Nate were so excited when they got pregnant with Baby Ross #2. Their first pregnancy was what Kristyn described as a 'textbook pregnancy' that lead to their healthy son, Wesley. Their second pregnancy was going according to their life plan and smooth sailing until the 8 week ultrasound. Doctors found an empty sac without a fetus. Doctors told her not to worry too much and thought that maybe she was earlier in her pregnancy than she originally thought. Unfortunately, later ultrasounds confirmed their fears there was not a growing baby. Connect with Kristyn: Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of loss: Multiple Losses, Early Term loss, Stillbirth Connect with Nelida: Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Type of Loss: Multiple Losses, Early Term Loss, Stillbirth More about Brittanie's story: Listen as Brittanie shares her multiple losses with us. Brittanie and her Husband were ecstatic when they found out they were pregnant with their first, but their excitement quickly turned to heartbreak when they experienced an early term loss. When they got pregnant again, the fears diminished when Brittanie made it out of the first trimester. Her second pregnancy seemed to be a textbook pregnancy. At 39 weeks and 5 days gestation, Brittanie felt Lilah moving sporadically and soon felt contractions. As the contractions progressed, Brittanie and her husband went to the hospital filled with excitement to meet their baby girl. Upon arrival the nurses had trouble finding Lilah's heartbeat. The doctor came in and confirmed their worst fears, Lilah no longer had a heartbeat. Connect with Brittanie: Learn more about Emma's Footprints:

Listen as Tracy and Julie recap 2023 at Emma's Footprints. They share their high's, low's and most memorable moments of the last year. In 2023, Emma's Footprints served 356 families and spent over $200,000 on mission related expenses. Learn more about the Farewell Gala here: https://bit.ly/farewellwintergala

Type of loss: Multiple Losses, Life Limiting Diagnosis - Trisomy 18 Listen as Amber shares her multiple losses with us. Amber has 5 children including 3 losses and 2 living children. Amber's first pregnancy in 2016, with her baby Archimedes ended in an early term loss. Her second pregnancy was with her living child Killian, born in October 2017. During Amber's third pregnancy with her daughter Charleigh, she was told her baby girl had Trisomy 18. At 36 weeks, in October 2019, Charleigh was born via c-section and lived for 117 minutes. In April 2020, Amber became pregnant for a fourth time with their second living child, Arthur. He was born full term and healthy in January 2021. In October 2022, Amber became pregnant for the fifth time with their baby Star, which ended in an early term loss. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀: Instagram: @fabulous_foys Facebook: www.facebook.com/amber.m.foy

Type of loss: Life Limiting Diagnosis - Trisomy 18 Kelly and her husband Nick found out their baby girl, Blaney, had Trisomy 18 from doing 10 week genetic testing. When Blaney made it to full term, they were hopeful that she'd be their miracle baby and survive this life limiting diagnosis. Unfortunately, Blaney passed away after just 7 hours after birth. Connect with Kelly on socials: Instagram: @k_smely Facebook: www.facebook.com/kelly.reininger

This is the final episode of our 2023 Holiday Series and the final episode of the year! In this episode, Tracy and Julie discuss how to create new traditions to honor and memorialize your baby. As we move into a new year, it can can stir a wave of emotions. We are starting something new with a huge piece of our hearts missing, our babies. Tracy and Julie discuss things have done over the years that helps them honor their babies.

Listen as Tracy and Julie talk with Pam Presler about How to Navigate Your Emotions This Holiday Season. *Spoiler Alert* ...it is not possible. Listen as Pam gives us the tools and coping mechanisms to deal with our grief this holiday season. She reminds us that grief will show up and shares how we can prepare ourselves on how to best handle our grief. If you are interested in learning more from Pam, please reach out to her via email at pamelapresler@gmail.com.