The bleeding started on the Friday afternoon. I was 10 weeks pregnant.
It gradually became heavier over the weekend. My mums a midwife and was very honest with me, saying that she thought it didn’t sound good, yet I still held onto the hope that when they scanned me, everything would be ok.
It wasn’t and my whole world seemed to fall apart.
I felt robbed.
Nothing made sense.
It was a very confusing time.

Talking about it.

Following my 3rd miscarriage I was desperate for someone to talk to. I contacted The Miscarriage Association and they gave me a telephone support number. I found this helped a lot but I wanted to meet with other people who had also lost a baby.
Unfortunately Bristol had no local support group.

I was lucky that I have a good family and friends, however I found a different level of understanding from those who had also experienced a pregnancy loss. My mother was a pillar of strength, yet when I showed an article in a magazine about one ladies experience of miscarriage, she seemed surprised that that was just how I had been feeling too.
Other well wishers told me not to think about it! But I want to think about it, I want to talk about it.
They were my babies and though they can not be seen, they were a part of me & they were real.

A good friend of mine unfortunately lost a baby son when she was 8 months pregnant. She joined SANDS (Stillbirth And Neonatal Death Society) where she gained much comfort & support. I decided to attend a meeting with her.
It was emotionally exhausting but I came away feeling much better.
All those strange thoughts I had were normal! -I was normal! I was simply going through the normal grieving process. Yet without the opportunity to talk to other ‘normal’ women, I would have carried on walking around feeling like some kind of freak for much longer.

The loss of my babies was very sad but I didnt want it all to be 'a waste'. I want something good to come from my experiences, so I decided to set up a miscarriage support group in Bristol

At the group.

If you decide to visit the group, there will be no pressure to say anything you don't feel comfortable with.
We are not trained counselors, nor do we have medical training, but we do have experience of miscarriage.
What will generally happen is someone will start off by telling their story. I hope to always have at least 2 people at meetings who experienced their loss a while ago, and one of us will generally start. After that, what tends to happens is every one starts to talk about what happened to them and how they felt.
If you simply want to sit & listen & cry that's fine.
Meetings can be very emotional and tissues will be available!

At the end of the day, we've all had our own experience, some similar, some completely different.
What we all have in common though, is we've all lost a child, and there is strength in numbers!

If you are unsure about what to expect and have more questions, please email me.
bristolmsg@hotmail.com