So I realized that like 1/3 of my posts start out with something like "this isn't like my usual posts." This makes me wonder if I have a "usual" style of post? If 33.333333333% of my posts are not like the others, this barely qualifies the other 66.66666666666666% of posts as "usual." But, majority rules, so.....this isn't like my usual post! :-)
Anyway, I'm so excited about a new project I have in the works that I had to share with the blogosphere. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by putting this out there. I'm afraid that by writing this post, I'll totally tempt fate or whatever and then somehow this project will not materialize and then I'll have this post to look back at and be like "Oh remember when I was going to do that? Yeah, not so much anymore I guess." But I'm really motivated to get this going. It's something I really believe in and I just had to let you all know about it.
A few posts ago, I talked about wanting to write a post about something that was very serious and not at all funny. I wanted to write a post about my miscarriage. For a while I've really had it on my heart that I'm supposed to share my story for some reason. So over the last couple weeks, I've been gradually writing my story. But it just wasn't sitting right with me that I was going to post it on my blog. This just didn't seem like the proper forum.
So I started to evaluate and reflect on why I was wanting to put my story out to the masses. (Yes, I'm still under the dilusion that I have "masses" of readers. Whatever, it makes me happy to pretend!) The reasons I came up with were the following.
1) I wanted to let other women experiencing a pregnancy loss know that they are not alone.
2) I wanted to make myself available to women experiencing a loss in case they wanted to ask questions, get support, vent, whatever.
3) I wanted to help people who have loved ones experiencing a loss. This is a big one. So many people don't know what to say or do when someone they love loses a pregnancy, and even though their hearts are in the right place, they end up saying and doing things that magnify the pain of the person suffering the pain of a miscarriage. I genuinely want to help people and give them ways to respond that will comfort their loved one instead of causing more (albeit unintentional) pain.
4) I want to do what I can to make pregnancy loss less taboo. So many women experience it, yet no one talks about it.
After realizing what my reasons are, I decided that a simple blog post is not going to accomplish my mission to the degree I'd like. So I got to thinking and wondering and praying about what I could do to accomplish my goals. And it just seemed clear as can be: I need to start a website.
So I put out a couple posts on some message boards that I frequent and asked women who had experienced pregnancy or infant loss if they would be willing to share their story. I received an overwhelming response. In under 24 hours, I got 40+ offers to participate. So many of these women said to me, "I sure wish I had found something like this when I was going through my loss." So thanks to these wonderful women, it looks like this project is actually going to be a go.
I've bounced some ideas off them, and this website is getting bigger and better all the time. My plans are to have the stories divided up by the type of loss, pictures of the babies these women went on to have (in a different section), a section for friends and family of women experiencing a loss, a section for the daddies who have also been hurt by the loss of a baby...
And so much more. I am so grateful that this website seems to be coming together so easily. We are still very much in the beginning stages, but I just wanted to share with all of you this exciting new piece in my life.
If you are reading this and have also experienced a pregnancy or infant loss, and if you would be willing to share your story, please don't hesitate to email me at memosfromaworkingmom@gmail.com - I would be so honored to include your story.
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