Last Christmas: Navigating holidays after infant loss

It’s hard to believe that we’re already in the last quarter of this year. Before you know it, we’ll be packing up Halloween decor and creating menus and place settings for Thanksgiving. After that, we’ll flip our calendars to December and the pre-Christmas frenzy begins. For those of us who have suffered pregnancy and infant…

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Guest Post: The Darkness of October Gives Way to Light

The following is a guest post from Rebecca Hurtley,  mama to one in her heart and one here on Earth, blogger at The Ivy Nest.  Visit her blog and give her a follow ❤ ——– As some of you may know, October is such a bittersweet month for us; it’s the month that we said hello and…

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Guest Post: Counter-Factual

As I come up on a year since my son, Sebastian, was born and died, I find myself at a vastly different place to the one I was at a year ago, and even six months ago. I could not have imagined the day after he died and I went home to an empty nursery…

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The Facebook Reaction Buttons

To those friends and family that want to be supportive of us, as we grapple with the loss of our sweet baby and all the grief that comes with it, can I offer a suggestion? Please stop using the sad reaction emoji on Facebook anytime I post something about my daughter. I know, I know…

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Grief Journaling Through the Holidays: Sign up!

Hi Courageous Mamas! Joli here. I have an announcement for you! The holidays are coming, and I’m a little anxious. Last year during the holidays, I was pregnant with Jonah, so this year might be a little sad. I mean, it would be sad anyway, considering he’s supposed to be here, right? If I’m in…

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Our Rainbow Baby: A Poem By a Courageous Father

This rainbow baby poem comes to Courageous Mothers from a writer unlike any we’ve featured before. Robin Spina is a 66-year-old father of two (Nikki, 30; Matt, 27), and because of Courageous Mothers, found out that his daughter is a rainbow baby. Here’s his explanation: You see, I did not know the term, Rainbow Baby…

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Still Listening: Reflections One Year After Loss

Grief Like Waves I woke up this morning to a gorgeous view of the ocean, expansive and terrifying, all encompassing and boundless. The waves pound the shore, ebbing and flowing with the current. It’s absolutely breathtaking. In many ways, I’ve found grief to be like an ocean. In the early days and months after Xavier…

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A Note from Founder Joli on Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Dear Courageous Mothers community, Today is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day, and I’m so glad to have all of you beautiful souls here with me to remember our babies. This day doesn’t really feel like it’s for us, does it? We remember our babies every day – we don’t need a specific month or…

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“Momma Grief” by Kohen’s Mom

This lovely post by Kohen’s Mom on her blog is about momma grief. She talks about how momma grief is just love, masquerading as sadness. Here’s the piece I love: Momma grief is keeping a memory alive. Momma love is speaking the name and love for my precious boy, who could easily be forgotten by…

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Lost at Sea: Beyond the Roundabout

This article comes to us from Claire at Beyond the Roundabout. Her beautiful daughter, Phoebe, lost her life at age 4 due to a genetic mutation. In this post, Claire writes about a cruise she and her husband took, and how she was able to handle it as a loss parent. Here’s a part I liked:…

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5 Tips for Bereaved Parents

I feel weird even writing this.  Who am I to give advice on something as personal as the biggest loss any of us will experience?  Especially when we all grieve so differently, and there isn’t really a right or wrong way to do it.  Should there even be a “top five” list for something like…

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National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is observed annually in the United States on October 15th.  It is a day of remembrance for pregnancy loss and infant death which includes, but is not limited to, miscarriage, still birth, SIDS or the death of a newborn. How I wish I never knew about this day….

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