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Two years ago, I experienced the biggest heartbreak that I had ever gone through. In a week, I went from planning to move to another state with my (then) boyfriend & being pregnant to being single and having lost my baby.
When it first happened, I was afraid to mourn because I was afraid that I would cry for days-on-end and that my life would come to an end. Two weeks later, I shared a bottle of wine with a friend and I realized that I had some healing to do. Although the healing process wasn’t easy, I made an effort every single day to come out stronger than before.
And, thank God that I did because I learnt so much. This experience had to happen, if I could re-do, this is what I wish I had known about having a miscarriage:
1. Some people will doubt you.
One of the most hurtful things you can ask someone who has gone through a miscarriage is if they were pregnant to begin with. A few people asked me this question and it messes with your mind, especially because of your hormonal imbalance. I wondered how people can be wreckless with their mouths and not truly understand what it feels like to be full of love and, then the next moment, be empty of love. The point is that they don’t understand and, they don’t have to. As long as you know the truth, someone else’s opinion does not matter.
2. You might get blamed.
I’m not sure why society is so cruel to women? But this is a reality that we, as women, have to face. When I told a former friend what had happened, she said that it was my fault and that I needed to look at who I was surrounding myself with. I made a decision to release toxic things and people out of my life and she was one of them. It seems so ludicrous to me that a woman going through so much pain is at fault when something is done to her. This is extended out to harassment, assault and different gender biases in the world. The best thing that you can do is surround yourself by supportive people who genuinely care and are not keeping you around to make themselves feel righteous about their existence and experiences. We are all human and we fall. Surround yourself with people who will help you get up, not people who will keep you down.
3. You will be okay.
I have never expressed to anyone the amount of pain that I felt finding out that I was pregnant and being left by my partner to have to deal with it myself. Some of the people that I told a hint of what I was going through, had so much to say about what I should do- particularly men. Which is very interesting to me. I made a decision not to tell others because I knew in my heart that God had a plan for me. I knew that having the miscarriage was what was best for me at that moment and that my baby’s soul had touched my life and my heart for a reason.
4. Everything happens for a reason.
I am a firm-believer that everything is exactly the way that it is meant to be. Easy to say when things are going your way; however, not easy to say when the life that you thought that you wanted has been taken away from you. Truthfully, my boyfriend (at the time) suffered from a mental illness and was verbally abusive towards me. I didn’t tell anyone how manipulative, cruel and vengeful he was because I didn’t want people to judge him for his struggles. Looking back, I can’t imagine having put a baby through being treated the way that I was. I am grateful for this lesson because, even though it was difficult to learn: when the time comes to have a baby it will be with someone that I know is mentally, physically and spiritually capable of being responsible for another human being. I made a promise to God that until that day comes, I will focus on being the best version of myself and if I don’t have a child, that is okay. Like The Course in Miracles says, ‘Nothing real can be threatened.’