A miscarriage is a particularly silent sorrow since others often fail to recognize the agonizing emptiness it leaves behind. When you lose a baby early in the pregnancy, you may have to deal with a lack of concrete memories about your baby and the absence of established rituals to mark this sad event in your life.

You may take some comfort in learning that you are not alone since most pregnancy losses occur in the first three months, or trimester, of pregnancy. Miscarriages account for almost 95 percent of all early losses up to 20 weeks gestation, after which they are considered to be live births or stillbirths.

A miscarriage ends the pregnancy just as it was beginning, sometimes only weeks or days after you and your partner realized you were going to become parents. Your joyous expectations were suddenly turned to grief, and the pregnancy may now seem unreal, even to you.

–Perry-Lynn Moffitt

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