Mothers share stories of loss and hope after miscarriages
LOS ANGELES (NewsNation Now) — Model Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend sharing the loss of their baby on Wednesday night has mothers opening up and sharing their own stories. While it’s not a much talked about topic, the loss of a baby is far more common than many may think.
The March of Dimes estimates 10-15% of pregnancies result in a miscarriage and more than 2.5 billion babies are stillborn each year.
Psychologist Jessica Zucker said it’s a topic we need to talk about.
NewsNation anchor Marni Hughes shared she had a miscarriage herself.
“When I shared my story, I had a lot of close personal friends and family support me and there was a lot of comfort in that,” Hughes said. “So why do we need to be talking about this with others?”
“We need to be talking about this because one in four pregnancies result in miscarriage and one in 100 in stillbirth,” Zucker said.
The World Health Organization says feelings of “stigma, shame and guilt” often emerge for women who go through a miscarriage.
There are several organizations that can help, psychotherapy, faith and for some, social media.
“Although social media tends to be mostly people sharing the bright and shiny aspects of their life, there is this very robust community of us doing lots of work to change the cultural conversation on social media and that can be a really helpful resource for people,” said Zucker.
Mother Jenifer Wustman was pregnant with her little girl Zoe, when she received news that would change her life forever.
“We made it to 13 weeks and we started celebrating,” Wustman said. “We made it to 16 weeks, finally made it to 20 weeks, halfway point, and one week later in the middle of the night my water broke. I went to the doctor, not knowing what was going on and they confirmed it was in fact my embryonic fluid and they had recommended to terminate the pregnancy.”
She said at this point she was confused, and outraged.
“I would never wish those words on anyone,” she said. “Secondly, I’m not going to terminate the pregnancy, I’m going to let nature take its course and see what happens.”
Wustman said she went home and prayed, wished and reached out to her social media network asking for support.
“And just positive vibes that my body would not go into labor,” she said.
Five days later, she went to the hospital.
“Delivered a little one-pound baby girl, Zoe James, she looked like an angel. She had a few quick breaths in my arms and then she passed away.”
She said the nurses grabbed her phone.
“They started taking pictures of such an intimate moment that I wouldn’t think I would be grateful for, but looking back on it, I am so glad that they did because every year on her birthday, I look at those pictures and it brings back so many special memories. Just studying her and her little eyelashes, and her fingernails and her long toes. For being one pound, they’re perfect.”
Her one piece of advice for all mothers out there: you’re not alone.
“Just because it happens once, doesn’t mean you’re going to have another tragedy again, but I understand the struggle.”
She’s now pregnant with another baby girl, due in November, Wustman has faith she has an angel watching over her.