The Statistics

Pregnancy is most likely the single most life-changing experience of a woman’s life. For most women, as soon as that second line appears, her heart changes and grows in ways she never thought possible. She is forever changed from that point forward because she has now transitioned from simply being a woman, to becoming a mother. Her days are spent planning and dreaming of all the things that this new little life will bring… names, clothes, nursery decor, bottles, diapers, & bibs… But, unfortunately, for one in every four women, this dream is shattered.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, about one million pregnancies each year end in some type of loss. Approximately 10%-25% of all known pregnancies will end in miscarriage (loss before 20 weeks gestation) alone. In addition to these losses during pregnancy, about 24,000 babies die during infancy (first year of life) each year.

While pregnancy and infant loss does not affect every woman in the exact same way, it most certainly has a very serious impact on each woman that is unfortunate enough to endure it. Research shows that miscarriages, even those that occur early in the pregnancy, take a huge emotional toll on both women and men that experience it. Research also tells us that parents have an equally strong, and most often times an even greater reaction, to stillbirth, as families struggle to cope and wade through tremendous amounts of grief “for years and even sometimes decades”. And the sad reality is, both women and men often face this heartache alone, in silence, lacking the resources and support they so desperately need.