This week I’m sharing the story of our miscarriage. You can find part 1 and part 2 here.
As the weeks passed, I began to process what had happened little by little. But life had changed.
We tried to carry on with life as usual. Work, church, youth group, prayer teams, care group. But things slowly started to fall apart. I went to work and did my job, but with little enthusiasm. We slowly dropped events on our calendar. It was painful to see kids. It was painful to see parents leave their children for hours at a time when I had just lost mine and all I wanted was a child.
I’d come home and instead of living life, I’d watch TV and eat. Joe and I watched an hour or two of TV a week before the miscarriage. Afterward, we’d eat dinner in front of the TV and spend at least 3 hours there. It was a coping mechanism. I didn’t have to think about real life in front of the TV. I didn’t have to deal with my emotions. I just had to figure out what the missing letters were on Wheel of Fortune. In the next few months I’d gain at least 10lbs.
In the month after our miscarriage, I had been hiding something from Joe. I thought I was still pregnant. An outsider might recognize this as the denial stage in grieving, but I had convinced myself I was still pregnant…that the doctor didn’t know what he was talking about. It was all a big mistake.
When I shared with Joe that I still had all the symptoms of pregnancy–tired, nauseous, hungry, weight gain–he gently told me these were also signs of depression. I started to cry. It was time to ask for help.
It felt like everything was falling down around me. I was exhausted from acting like everything was fine. I was discontent, unhappy, and indifferent to life.
One of the reasons I struggled with asking for help (other than I’m a stubborn, proud sinner) was few people even asked how I was doing in regard to the miscarriage. So few that one hand has too many fingers to count them. Other than Joe, the only people who ever said anything were my mom, my boss, and a single friend. I felt lonely.
I felt like no one really considered my baby real and a loss. To me it was huge, but the lack of voice in my family and friends said the opposite. It got back to me that one person was told we weren’t ever really pregnant. I struggled with thinking that maybe others didn’t really consider our miscarriage a loss because it was so early (9 weeks) or there wasn’t a physical baby to hold or there was no proof other than my own word. I felt alone in carrying the burden of our miscarriage. I felt that Joe and I had to be the ones to make Addison’s existence real.
It was then that I was surrounded by a group of amazing and dearly loved women in prayer. My heart was not only encouraged, but I didn’t have to carry the burden of grieving alone. These women were willing to journey with me.
Things weren’t fixed after this. My struggles were revealed. God’s goodness was reinforced. I had women who were regularly and purposefully asking me how I was doing. But life still happened. In late October we were evacuated due to fires. That same day I shared publicly the question that was burning within me: Am I a Mother? and my fears for Mother’s Day. Even though it was months away our baby would have been a few weeks old and we’d already talked about how wonderful it would be to be able to take part in the baby dedications on that day. Then in November/December we went to Ethiopia for a mission trip, where God continued to engrave on my heart His goodness.
One thing I’ve neglected to share up to this point is the condition of my heart. Yes, I was hiding. I was pretending everything was okay. I was depressed, but I was also bitter.
I didn’t know how to respond and bitterness is what came out.
Bitterness unchecked is suffocating.
It consumed my life. Maybe that’s why I had to repeat to myself that God is good all the time. I struggled with understanding His goodness and living in my bitterness.
I didn’t enjoy being around children anymore. It was only a reminder of what I lost. Baby showers were a painful experience. All the oohing and aahing as I’d sit quietly by myself fixing the food trying to hid my own tears. There were two baby showers within weeks of our miscarriage that I attended.
And then…there were all the happy pregnant women. It seemed so unfair that women who weren’t even trying to have babies or shouldn’t (ie, unmarried) were pregnant. I was unhappy and I didn’t want others to be happy either. In some way, I felt if they were happy and had what I wanted then I could never have it too. Then there were the awkward baby conversations where I use to be included and after the miscarriage ignored.
Every day was a struggle. Every day was a battle to breath. I hated life. I hated that I lost my baby. I didn’t understand God’s purposes. I knew He was good, but still my heart screamed in agony of losing the life I never got to hold. I wanted to yell at every mother that complained about her child. I wanted to tell them to enjoy the sleepless nights, because at least that means they have a breathing, living child! I wanted people to feel my pain.
One day at church a family friend grabbed my arm as we were passing in the hall. She is a woman who has never been able to have children even though she desperately wanted them. As she took my arm and looked me in the eye she said, “I just got to the point where I wanted to be happy. I was tired of being bitter. I just wanted to be able to go to a baby shower and bless someone else.”
As simple as her statement was it rocked my world. It didn’t make everything all better, but it was the light I needed to see. I was tired of being bitter. I wanted to be happy. I didn’t want people to feel how I was feeling, because I was miserable. I wanted joy.
It was then that I purposed to repent and let go of my bitterness. It was doing nothing for me, but wrecking havoc on my life. The journey wasn’t easy, but repentance never is. The pain of losing Addison still remained, but changed. Instead of being an all-consuming, searing pain it began to morph into a holy pain. A sadness that also saw God’s goodness. His mercy. His renewal. His covenant.
Because of this I was forced to trust in God more than I had before.
Because of this I learned to say, even through tears, “You give and take away, but my heart will choose to say blessed be Your name.”
Because of this I know and have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Because of this my heart cries,
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
He is my all in all. He is my only thing. He is my life and my death. He is I AM. He knows my pain. He is not helpless, but gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love.
He sees me and holds me in the palm of His hand and there I find my comfort, my rest, and my peace as I gaze into the goodness of the Lord.
Stick with me the rest of the week as I share how you can help a friend grieve and heal and as other women share their own stories.
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“few people even asked how I was doing in regard to the miscarriage. So few that one hand has too many fingers to count them.”- that has been the hardest part in each of my (3) miscarriages. I should be about 10 weeks away from having baby #8 and since the 1st couple days after my latest miscarriage I can think of 2 women who have asked me how I am doing (not just a hey, what’s up? how are ya? but a look you in the eye how are you doing? when we both know what they’re referring to) Sometimes I feel like the due date will come and go this summer and I’ll be the only one who realizes what I’m missing on that day…
It’s such a hard thing, there just isn’t an easy way to go through it, for the miscarrying woman or for the people who love her. There really isn’t anything that people can say to “make it better” so they don’t really know if they should say anything at all…
God is good, all the time, He’ll carry us through. He has, He is, He will.
I appreciate you sharing your story. It’s not something I ever wanted to have in common with other women, but I am grateful that there are so many beautiful women out there who understand and who are so ready and willing (and loving!) to lift each other up.
Ali – Thanks for sharing your experience too. I really do wish that more people were willing to take a chance and ask these women how they’re doing. Having few people say anything was definitely one of the hardest things about miscarrying. Hopefully, the more we share the more people will be willing to come alongside us too.
I appreciate your story and your willingness to share. For women who have not suffered the loss of a child, it’s very difficult to explain the depth of the loss. My husband and I have suffered the loss of 3 babies and are very thankful to have 2 healthy boys now. I held on to the passage in Lamentations, especially verse 25, as I learned and trusted that God was in control of our lives. I remember very clearly coming to a point of understanding that God was enough for me and that He knew the desire of my heart. He may not have fulfilled my desire to be a mother with biological children but He would provide for me. I am the mother of 2 boys on Earth and 3 babies in heaven and how I wait for the chance to meet them some day! God is good!
Thank you for sharing your story, Jessica…
After twenty+ years I can feel the pain of lost children locked away somewhere deep inside. My perpetual condition came about because of an internal sense of unworthiness and because of other people’s response / lack of response. I /we just didn’t talk about it. The issue of unworthiness has been dealt with, but there is still the void of ungrieved loss and pain. I’ll just wait on the Lord and see if he wants to do anything about it now, or if he wants me to keep going forward by his grace. Either way, I will be more sensitive to other moms who have miscarried and lost a precious little one thanks to your honesty and opening, Jessica. Oh, and I am thankful for the blessing of our beautiful daughter, Lani.
Jessica, thanks so much for sharing your story. I came across it after googling “biblical reflections on miscarriage”, hoping to find some comfort as I go through my second miscarriage this year. Your story and the guest posts that followed were really encouraging to me, and I’ll be printing them out to re-read and so I can look up the scriptures you referred to. I feel like I need to come to terms with God, and I really want to avoid slipping into bitterness, while still allowing myself to grieve. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Jess–reading your words is what I feel. I wonder how my friends can not say anything. Their absence of words seems to be killing me. I want joy too. I have four friends who are due in late April & May (right when I would have delivered). My heart is still so tender.