Bereaved Mother’s Day is an opportunity for moms grieving for their children to be open about all they’ve endured.
They can talk about their birth experiences, what their children who died looked like, the dreams they had wished for their families, and how they may be hurting. Women who lost a baby and do not have living children can be recognized for the mother’s that they are, even without their babies in their arms. The day is a celebration and a memorial.
Opening the conversation around grief and loss is needed to encourage healthy expressions of pain, sorrow and ultimately healing.
From my experience, the discomfort from others on the topic of death was intense. Through losing Zachary, I have learned that sharing stories is key for families to turn their pain into joyful remembrances and peace. This starts at home with mothers, fathers, grandparents, children, and friends. With one in five pregnancies ending in miscarriage and one in one-hundred-and-sixty ending in stillbirth, there are a lot of stories to be shared. There are a lot of babies to be remembered. And, especially around Mother’s Day, a lot of bereaved moms to be acknowledged.
International Midwives’ Day is celebrated on May 05, 2017. International Midwives’ Day was first celebrated May 5, 1991, and has since been observed in over 50 nations around the world. The idea of having a day to recognize and honor midwives came out of the 1987 International Confederation of Midwives conference in the Netherlands.