Sisters in Loss Podcast: Miscarriage, Pregnancy Loss, &amp; Infertility Stories

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262 - REWIND Sonhara Eastman's Black Girls Guide to Fertility and Why our Stories need to be told! Jul 14, 2022

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There is a new webseries that has been all the buzz on Instagram, and its called Black Girls Guide to Fertility, created, written, and based on Sonhara' Eastman's own battle with infertility. Black Girls Guide to Fertility tackles infertility in a profoundly intimate way that's both dramatic and comedic without ever feeling rigid. It focuses on Ava, a 37-year old romance novelist, who faded into obscurity after finding love–and now finds herself on the rise again after self-publishing a diary detailing her fertility woes. Each episode is a recreation of Ava's diary entry, adding a unique and compelling touch to the everyday struggle of infertility. I had the pleasure of prescreening the first two episodes and when I tell you, you do not want to miss this webseries. In this episode we discuss Sonhara's vision, her personal infertility battle, and what is next with Black Girls Guide to Fertility. Become a Sisters in Loss Birth Bereavement, and Postpartum Doula Here Living Water Doula Services Book Recommendations and Links Below

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261 - Missed Miscarriage and Fertility Treatments with Whitney McCoy Jul 06, 2022

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Have you heard of the term Missed Miscarriage?

A missed miscarriage is when a baby has died in the womb, but the mother hasn't had any symptoms, such as bleeding or pain. Any type of miscarriage can cause shock, but a missed miscarriage can be particularly difficult because of the lack of symptoms.

Today's guest experienced a missed miscarriage and has battled infertility. Whitney McCoy is a wife, mom, and business owner of beauty brand NoirGirlbyJWhit and is a miscarriage survivor. She went through 2 rounds of fertility treatments and IUI one that lead to a missed miscarriage. In today's episode she shares her journey to motherhood, her missed miscarriage, and her beauty business.

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260 - Loss and Overcoming Grief moving towards Healing with Turia West Jun 29, 2022

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Do you know what TFMR or Termination for Medical Reasons is?

Termination for Medical Reasons, or TFMR, is when a pregnancy is terminated due to a chromosomal, genetic or structural fetal abnormality, or where continuing the pregnancy would risk the health or life of the mother.

Today's guest experienced 14 losses. Yes, this isn't a typo. Turia West is a wife and mom and is still on the journey of healing from grief and profound loss. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl in 2008 and then went onto have a 16 week twin loss in 2013. This twin loss revealed the balanced chromosome translocation. This means that a piece of one chromosome breaks off and attaches to another chromosome. Sections of 2 chromosomes hence switched places. Turia has this same translocation and learned that this could potenitally lead to miscarriage up to 50%. Turia continue to try to grow her family and suffered more losses and miscarriages along the way.

In today's episode, Turia shares her journey through IVF, getting an amniocentesis to confirm unbalanced chromosome translocation and being offered to Terminate for Medical Reasons (TFMR), but her and her husband decided against it.

This episode is for you to listen to if you have experienced profound losses, TFMR, IVF, or want to learn how to overcome profound grief and loss and work towards your healing.

Listen to this episode here: sistersinloss.com/ep260

259 - 10 Years of Male Factor Infertility, Missed Miscarriage and Twin Loss with Senoria Cain Jun 22, 2022

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Today's guest experienced secondary infertility due to male factor. Senoria Cain is wife and mom to a 13 year old daughter. She always knew her husband had a low sperm count and was able to see a urologist who recommended surgery to assist. After 10 years of no protection and experiencing secondary infertility she was able to get pregnant. At 12 weeks she was able to see the doctor for an ultrasound and found out she was having twins, but also that she was miscarrying them. Senoria had a missed miscarriage and took medicine to birth her babies opting out of a D&C. In this episode she takes us back on her journey to motherhood with her daughter, losing twins, postpartum recovery, cycle changes with grief, and moving forward with the possibility of trying again.

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258 - REWIND - Trauma after loss due to PPROM and Inadequate Maternal Health Care with Kimi Farrington Jun 15, 2022

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257 - Miscarriage and Single Motherhood with Kourtney Mcgowan Jun 08, 2022

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Today's guest is a doula, student midwife, and single mother who has experienced racial disparities in the hospital that has affected her and her son. Kourtney Mcgowan experienced a miscarriage after thinking she wouldn't be able to conceive anymore children due to her endometriosis diagnosis.

In today's episode she takes us back on her journey, the prejudice she faced, and how being a single mother is challenging, especially raising a Black son.

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256 - LGBTQ+, IVF, and 2nd Trimester Loss with Dr. Gloria Pope Jun 01, 2022

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The road to parenthood looks different for many of us Sisters in Loss. This can be especially difficult for our masculine presenting LGBTQ+ sisters. Today's guest has experienced parenthood in many forms, from step kids, birthing her own with a sperm donor, IVF, loss, and a successful birth with her partner.

Dr. Gloria Pope began to document her journey through her partner's fertility treatments and IVF loss experience. She realized the importance of sharing her perspective as a partner and documented this in her book Hero: Memoirs of Infertility.

In today's episode, Gloria shares her different perspectives on parenthood including carrying her own son via a sperm donor, being a supportive partner to her wife who lost a baby at 18 weeks via IVF, and then having a successful pregnancy of her daughter through another round of IVF. She shares her journey as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, how she was treated while pregnant with her son, how she supported her partner through infertility and IVF, and how parenthood is shared between both partners.

This episode is for you to listen if you identify with LGBTQ+, want to hear the perspective of someone who has given birth and supported their partner through loss and IVF, and want to be empowered about how to combat systemic racism for those masculine presenting in our healthcare system.

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255 - Turning Child Loss into Sunsets with Ariane Oyere May 25, 2022

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Motherhood is what today's guest calls a "Rites of Passage" to the best hoods on Mother Earth. Ariane Oyere is a wife and mother of 7. She experience the lost of her 3rd born at 9 years old and then two miscarriages after his Sunset. Her babies she refers to as the Summer Solstice.

In this episode, Oyere takes us back to her greatest obstacles in losing her Sunsets. She reframes child loss and miscarriage into sunset experiences. We also discuss lactation through bereavement and other spiritual modalities for healing. This episode is for you to listen to if you have experienced a miscarriage or loss and want to learn how to reframe your thinking into naming them sunset experiences.

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254 - Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR) with Hadeer El Hindawi May 18, 2022

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Have you heard of the term Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR)?

Today's guest was able to conceive her first child naturally and had a healthy pregnancy and delivery. The journey to baby number two has been full of loss and heartbreak. Hadeer El Hindawi had 4 consecutive losses including a miscarriage, TFMR, another miscarriage, and a stillborn full term baby. The last pregnancy was a frozen embryo transfer via IVF after being diagnosed with low ovarian reserve and her partner has high DNA fragmentation.

In this episode, we discuss how she has coped and grieved with secondary infertility and these consecutive losses, how she has hope, and how she is moving forward in spite of her current circumstances.

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