Choose Hope 2021

The pain of losing a child, whether to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss, is among the most agonizing of sorrows. Whether your loss occurred many years ago or very recently, the ache you carry in your heart is heavy indeed. There is nothing that can prepare you for the devastation of losing a child, and there are no words that can take away the pain that results. But dear one, your grief does not need to be carried alone.

For the past fifteen years, our nation has officially recognized October 15 as an opportunity to honor and remember our precious babies who have gone home before us, and to spread awareness of the tragedy that befalls 1 in 4 women. Every year on October 15, nations all across the globe come together in order to recognize Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. What started in 1983 with a few volunteers from the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Center (PILC) turned into a movement around the world.   

PILC began by calling out to other groups and organizations to join them in raising awareness of infant loss during the month of October. As the movement grew they set about to petition the Governors of each state to follow them as well. Soon many states had declared October as Infant Loss Awareness Month, and their campaign continued to gain attention, support, and success until it finally acquired national recognition. 

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan made this profound proclamation as he declared October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month:

“Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. National observance of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn and newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members and work to prevent causes of these problems… I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.”

Several years later, in 2006, the decision to declare October 15 as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day passed the United States House of Representatives.

Today, countries all over the world recognize October 15 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day through balloon releases, candlelight vigils, memorial services, and other commemorative events.

TESTIMONY

I lost my first born on October 1st 2016, which also happens to be the start of PAIL month. I remember being kind of dumbfounded when the hospital invited me to a butterfly release the day after I was released from the hospital, I was so new to this loss community that it hadn’t quite sunk in yet that I was a part of the loss community. However, in the years since losing Baby P I have loved hosting a Hope Box gathering around his birthday while simultaneously celebrating PAIL month. It is always special to see his short life live on through loving other hope moms and their babies. It’s a beautiful day of remembrance, service, spreading awareness, and celebrating God’s faithfulness.

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Will you join us as we acknowledge National Infant Loss Awareness Day in honor of the precious babies who are now with the Lord and their parents whose hearts ache with a longing to see them again? Let’s fill the skies on October 15 and encourage Hope Families by remembering their precious babies.

Invite your friends and family to join you and meet together on October 15 to release balloons. Write on the balloons, play music or sing, say a prayer, and remember together… let’s bring awareness to this silent grief that affects so many women and families every day.

Then take a photo of your group and share it using #HopeMommiesOct15.  We’d love to see how you shared hope and remembered our precious babies on this day!

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Ashlee is the Editorial Coordinator for Hope Mommies and author of I AM (Hope Mommies, 2017) and Identity (Hope Mommies, 2018). She and her husband, Jesse, live in Milwaukee with their children—five on earth and two in heaven.

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