My Friend, the Mother

My Friend, the Mother is a passion project with the goal of allowing every woman the chance to share her pregnancy-related story, whether it involves a healthy pregnancy and birth, unexpected preterm delivery, traumatic delivery, birth-related injury, or perinatal loss.

---

I identified my passion for women’s health as a freshman in high school. Throughout nursing school and working as a bedside nurse in the Postpartum, Antepartum, and Labor and Delivery units, my passion only grew. It was during my time as a L&D nurse that I began to see a different aspect of women’s health that was only discussed in secrecy outside of the hospital. That area was perinatal loss, also termed “miscarriage”, “spontaneous abortion”, “stillbirth”, or “intrauterine fetal demise,”.

During the last six months of working as a bedside nurse, every week I personally cared for at least one family who would not be taking their baby home. Being completely honest, I struggled with the overwhelming amount of grieving I was doing with each family coupled with the other stresses of working on a short-staffed, yet very busy, unit.

Being away from bedside has made little change on the frequency I hear about perinatal loss. Friends and family have shared their losses, and it seems that in general more and more women are feeling safe to share their stories. I will always encourage sharing. Discussing sensitive topics such as birth trauma, perinatal loss, and birth-related injuries is such an important aspect of healing for some women. My company, RAEdiant LLC, is offering a safe-space for women to share their sensitive stories if they feel compelled to. To read more information on this project or to submit your own story, use the following link: https://forms.gle/XmKAXUtzxHuWhmBh7

To ask questions or discuss this project in more detail, please send a detailed email to: collaborate@RAEdiantllc.com

XOXO,

Shaleigh Rae