Welcome

Welcome to the Mending Babyloss Website. We are so glad that you found us and we want you to know that our site contains:

• Ways to reach us
• Support group information
• Resources that we offer
• and many other useful bits of information that we hope will be helpful to you at this time.

We are a non-denominational group. All are welcome.

For information about the Remembrance Walk and Ceremony on October 15, 2011, please click on the Remembrance Walk tab above.

We hope to see you again in the days ahead.

In Support,
Christine Gibbs, Mary Adler, Marguerite Johnson, and Tracy Pippard

For the Parent on the Death of a Child, John O’Donahue

For a Parent on the Death of a Child

No one knows the wonder
Your child awoke in you,
Your heart a perfect cradle
To hold its presence.
Inside and outside became one
As new waves of love
Kept surprising your soul.

Now you sit bereft
Inside a nightmare,
Your eyes numbed
By the sight of a grave
No parent should ever see.

You will wear this absence
Like a secret locket,
Always wondering why
Such a new soul
Was taken home so soon.

Let the silent tears flow
And when your eyes clear
Perhaps you will glimpse
How your eternal child
Has become the unseen angel
Who parents your heart
And persuades the moon
To send new gifts ashore.

~ John O’Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)

In memory of PFC Shane M. Reifert,

101st Airborne Division,

Killed in Action, November 6, 2010,

Afghanistan

October 15 – National Infant Loss Awareness Candle Lighting

October 15 is National Infant Loss Awareness Day.

If you, or if someone you love, has lost a baby, show your acknowledgment of this loss by lighting a candle at 7pm, your time wherever you are.

There will be a wave of light blanketing the earth, a world-wide reaching out and showing of support for those infants lost.

May this be a gentle night,

m.

Remembrance Walk & Ceremony 2010

Remembrance Walk & Ceremony for Infant Loss

Sunday, September 26, 2010

4:30-6:30 pm

Cornwall Park Shelter, Bellingham, WA

Acknowledging, Honoring, Remembering

Please join us for the Mending Babyloss 2nd Annual Remembrance Walk & Ceremony, taking place Sunday, September 26, 2010 at the Cornwall Park Shelter in Bellingham. All the details can be seen on our Remembrance Walk and Ceremony page.

To see images and read about last year’s walk, click on the October, 2009 posting:

Remembrance Walk – Memories & Photos

May today be a gentle day for you,

m.

Shelter

Recently, on a very chilly winter morning, I was walking through the Cornwall Park. Filled with Western Red Cedar, Hemlock and Douglas Fir trees, Cornwall is a gorgeous walking place any time of year. Well, on the far side of the park, it started to rain, and rain and rain and rain (yes, this is Bellingham), and then it started to sleet – frozen, icy rain, falling like daggers on my hair. (I did not yet mention that I didn’t have a hat on – just a fleece headband – it wasn’t raining when I left home…). Anyway, my hair and head were getting drenched, pelted. I tried to cover up my head with my glove, with two goves, and the rain slid off my gloves and into my face and eyes.

I stopped for a respite under a large cedar. It’s branches held the rain awhile so I could rest, catch my breath. It was one of those moments that I was absolutely sheltered. I looked down, and the ground beneath my feet was dry, yet just outside the reaches of the tree branches, it was pouring and sleeting. But here, a gorgeous 200 year old cedar held the space for me, to rest, to catch my breath, to wait for the storm to pass.

It reminded me of our Mending Babyloss Support Group, which I hope will always be the cedar tree, holding space during the storm, for travelers on a grief journey to stop, rest, seek out, catch their breath.

Welcome, With Love

Hello,

Thank you for visiting Mending Babyloss. We are glad you came.

Please take some time to look around this site, as there are many treasures to find. We have just finished up our first Mending Babyloss 6-session support group, to an incredible group of 9 parents, who found friendship, community, commonality in shared experience. We talked, cried, shared, listened, laughed, poured… and we are all richer for our time together.

If you have lost a baby, and are looking for support in the Bellingham area, please consider coming to our next group, which begins March 1, 2010. Pre-registration is required. See our Groups link for more info.

Blessings on your journey,

mary.

Remembrance Walk – Memories & Photos

Thank you all who participated in Sunday’s Remembrance Walk and Ceremony for Pregnancy and Infant Loss. What an amazing day…

We had about 40 people show-up for the event – Mothers, Fathers, Siblings, Grandmothers, Nurses, Social Workers, Midwives…such a beautiful community of support we have in our sweet Bellingham.

The Remembrance Quilt

Willow, Weeping, Bending, Not Broken - Quilt Close Up

I was, and continue to be, awe-struck by the beauty of the raw human spirit – its courage, its openness, its offering and receiving, and the amount of light and energy that is generated when a community comes together in the spirit of love.

Luminarios

With this, I am also aware of the many Mamas and Dads around the country who did not have an official walk this month – one that specifically acknowledges, honors, and remembers their babies lost. For these parents, and for all parents who have lost babies, we light a candle tonight, Oct 15 at 7pm our time, in honor of your baby, your journey.

We look forward now to our Mending Babyloss parent support group beginning – November 18, 2009.

We also look forward to next year’s walk, which will be either on October 3 or October 10, 2010.

Say It With Flowers – Baby Memorial Site

Oh, this is a beautiful site, and a lovely way to create a memorial for your baby…

http://onlysayitwithflowers.blogspot.com/

Miscarriage, 11 weeks

One of the few comforts I had, at the loss of my baby, was knowing that he died in my womb – and the last things he heard were the beating of my heart, which was so full of love for him. I only wished I had known when it was happening, so that I could have stopped what I was doing, and honored him, told him goodbye and how very sad I was that he was leaving, or sang him a song.

~ Mary Burgess, from Mending Invisible Wings

Remembrance Walk and Ceremony for Pregnancy and Infant Loss

Acknowledging, Honoring, Remembering

WALK IS ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2009 (NOT SATURDAY)

Mending Babyloss Supporting parents who have lost a baby in miscarriage, stillbirth, or within the first year of life
	Dear Mary, So sorry I sent the wrong day for the Remembrance Walk & Ceremony. Drat! Hope to see you Sunday, October 11 (and NOT Saturday!) Please join Mending Babyloss and Laughing Flower Labyrinth Co. for an gentle, healing Remembrance Walk and Ceremony, next SUNDAY, October 11, 2009, at the Fairhaven Village Green. This community event is for parents anyone who has lost a baby, their friends and family, and those professionals who care for these parents and babies, including Midwives, Doulas, Nurses, Childbirth Educators, Physicians, Social Workers… Please forward this to anyone who might be interested… Hope to see you next SUNDAY. Sincerely, Mary Burgess Life Song Perinatal Services, LLC Co-Founding Member of Mending Babyloss, a newly-established bereaved parent support group in Bellingham, WA Remembrance Walk & Ceremony for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Acknowledging, Honoring, Remembering… Fairhaven Village Green Bellingham, Washington Sunday, October 11, 2009 4:30 PM – 7:30 PM Event Details: Bellingham, WA: Anyone who has lost a baby during pregnancy, at birth, or within the first year of life is invited to participate in a Remembrance Walk and Ceremony on Sunday, October 11th from 4:30 – 7:30pm at the Fairhaven Village Green. Registration begins at the event at 3:45 pm. The event will include a memorial walk to the Taylor Dock and a ceremonial scattering of rose petals on the bay.  There will be music, poetry, sharing and community building, plus participants will have an opportunity for a meditative labyrinth walk at the Fairhaven Village Green. Suggested donation is $10 per individual, or $15 per couple. The event is co-sponsored by Mending BabyLoss and Laughing Flower Labyrinth Co. What to bring: Participants should bring themselves and an open heart. Also, please bring a special bead representing your baby, which will be added to our birth loss necklace. This Remembrance Walk and Ceremony will take place rain or shine, so please wear weather appropriate clothing and comfortable walking shoes. Registration for the Walk will be from 3:45-4:30pm. For more information, please contact Mary Burgess: maryburgess555@gmail.com (360) 734-4342 This community event is open to bereaved parents, their family and friends, along with those who care for them, including: midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, nurses, physicians, social workers… Please forward this email to anyone who might want to join in this event… Thank you – and see you October 11 – rain or shine! About Us Mending BabyLoss is a newly-established bereavement support group for parents who have lost a baby during pregnancy, at birth, or within the first year of life, and is facilitated by trained volunteers in Bellingham, WA. This is our first walk and will be the launching fundraiser. Donations will provide books and other resources to grieving parents. Support group facilitators are Christine Gibbs, Licensed Midwife, RN, of the Bellingham Birth Center, Mary Hanson Adler, social worker; and Mary Burgess, MA, perinatal mentor, childbirth educator, doula, and author of Mending Invisible Wings – a healing journal for mothers who have lost a baby. Myra Smith, Certified Labyrinth Facilitator, of Labyrinth Artist of Laughing Flower Labyrinth and Landscaping Co. will be creating a special, healing labyrinth walk for this event.