LIFE
The first and loudest phrase you'll likely hear if you talk to someone who has experienced pregnancy loss or infertility is: it's so isolating. No matter your situation, so much can feel, well, gone: pregnancy, a baby, but also control, how you thought your life would look, and trust in your body. That's why it makes total sense to approach fertility challenges, as well as pregnancy and perinatal loss, through a grief lens, says Dvora Entin, a specialist in perinatal and reproductive mental health.
Yet while we tend to sit with people's pain in other areas of life – attending funerals and honouring those we've lost – too often these specific types ofone is going to get it’,” says Entin. Up to one in five known pregnancies end in miscarriage before 20 weeks, while around one in six couples of reproductive age experiences fertility difficulties. So, yes, issues are common – and so is not knowing what to say to communicate thoughtfulness and sensitivity to a loved one experiencing them. To lead you through the waters, spoke to perinatal mental health professionals and people who have faced loss or infertility.
