One in four.

October is not only Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is also Pregnancy, Infant and Child Loss Awareness Month.

Specifically, October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.

One in four couples experience pregnancy, infant or child loss.  We are one in four.  On June 4, 2015 we lost our first baby (D&C).  A girl.  To Trisomy 15 at eight weeks.  She would be turning one in January.  While it was a blessing in disguise (still born had I carried full term), it is still a loss.  We also transferred two embryos in August of 2013 - neither of which implanted.  We transferred another two embryos in October of 2013.  One of those embryos implanted, thrived and turned in to my happy and healthy Hudson, while we lost the other when it failed to implant.

As you go through your day today, take a minute to stop and look around you.  If there are four of you in the same room, most likely one of you has experienced the loss of a child - whether it was during pregnancy, while the child was an infant, or later in the child's life.  If there are eight of you in the room, two people have experienced this.

It is a pretty astonishing statistic that most people do not realize.  I, for one, did not realize how prevalent miscarriages are until I joined the TTC community AND experienced my first miscarriage.  As grateful as I am for these friends I have made, I am also sad that all of these women have either experienced a loss firsthand or know countless other women who have.  I am, however, thankful that we have all been able to find support among one another.  

If you know someone who has experienced such a loss, let them know that you are thinking about them.  Especially today.  And if you want to show your support, I encourage you to light a candle tonight between the hours of 7 pm and 8 pm (any timezone) and participate in the wave of light to remember all of the babies and children taken from us far too soon.