You are not alone, dear one!
I've lost 4 pregnancies.
I felt devastated, helpless, and totally alone.
This journal is everything I wish I'd had. A loving hug.
A promise that you'll find your new normal.
Permission to want the world to stop turning for a while.
And so much more.
This is my heart to yours. Let me hold your hand through this journey.
Inside Mourning Retreat, you'll find . . .
Support
It's hard to find support from people who really "get it," and this journal & exclusive online community provide just that.
Validation
Our grief is often minimized or compared to those who had it worse, but your experience is yours and your grief is valid.
Action Plan
Together, we'll create an action plan to help you move through your pregnancy loss journey in a way that is authentic to you.
3 Items You'll Receive
Guided Journal
Mourning Retreat: A Journal for the Sisterhood of Pregnancy Loss
Exclusive Private Facebook Community
A supportive space of women who have been through similar experiences who will validate grief and provide loving support and advice.
Miscarriage Support: 15 Days of Love from Me to You
Enjoy even more support with a bonus 15-days of exclusive miscarriage support from me right inside your inbox.
*No advice from this journal or the private Facebook group should ever be a substitute for medical advice.
Testimonials
“In a year, this has been the most helpful conversation I’ve had.” - M.
“My heart didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, and that’s honestly because of you.” - A.
“All your points were extremely validating . . . . your advice has been invaluable.” - E.
Testimonials
“In a year, this has been the most helpful conversation I’ve had.” - M.
“All your points were extremely validating . . . . your advice has been invaluable.” - E.
“My heart didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, and that’s honestly because of you.” - A.
A hand-held walk through your journey with a loss mom who understands
Here's everything you'll find inside Mourning Retreat: A Journal for the Sisterhood of Pregnancy Loss
Move through these 100 pages slowly. Walk your journey at your own pace. Here's what you'll find inside.
A warm welcome from me to you, explaining just how not alone you are, no matter how it may feel.
A space that validates your emotions. All of them. Even the conflicting ones. we'll understand why you ARE a mother and allow you to freely express your overwhelm of emotions.
In addition to being a support system, this journal will help you develop one made of real people who understand. You'll learn how to choose the best support people, how to ask for help (and what to ask for), and more.
One of the biggest struggles we face after miscarriate is overcoming guilt. There's no reason to feel guilty because THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT! But many of us still do, and this section helps you work through and overcome those feelings.
Many women struggle with whether to announce their loss. Here, we work through all of your circles of friends, family, work, and social media, and determine who you want to tell and the best way to tell them that will be healing for you.
We so often find ourselves dealing with hurtful situations after loss. In this section, you'll learn to turn hurtful comments into useful ones and release your emotions over hurtful comments. You'll create new ways to talk about your feelings with your partner, and what to do if your partner grieves differently than you. You'll practice accepting negative feelings when they come, and you'll develop a system for working through difficult subjects like seeing someone who's pregnant, dealing with baby showers, being around children, hearing people complain aobout their children, and returning to work.
It's hard to recognize loss in the full context of your life, as it often feels like grief will always be your center. You'll practice viewing your life through a larger lens, rediscovering joy in hobbies and relationships. You'll also have the opportunity to vent your frustrations about the unfairness of your experience, and determine a path for reclaiming your body after loss.
After you've taken the time to grieve, you'll eventually have to determine if/when you want to try to conceive again. This section will help you determine when you're ready, and you'll learn proven systems for coping with anxiety during that process.
More About
Mourning Retreat: A Journal for the Sisterhood of Pregnancy Loss
by Katy Huie Harrison, PhD
Mourning Retreat: A Journal for the Sisterhood of Pregnancy Loss is a guided journal to help you move through the arduous experience of miscarriage grief. This journal uses experience-based approaches to help you process your emotions and work through practical decisions as you learn to live with this new normal.
Through the accompanying exclusive online community, you'll find a sense of belonging and the feeling of a warm hug from sisters in loss who understand what you're going through.
Katy discussing miscarriage on CNN's Headline News
Mourning Retreat: A Journal for the Sisterhood of Pregnancy Loss is a 100-page guided journal.
It combines methods from Katy's
personal experience extensive time in therapy teaching background
With concrete approaches to processing your grief, you'll find journal pages, worksheets, checklists, creative exercises, and more.
About Katy
I’m a recurrent pregnancy loss mama. After a year-and-a-half of infertility, I lost 4 pregnancies before finally birthing my son, Jack. Through that time, I underwent extensive therapy both for grief and anxiety, and I learned so much about myself, moving forward through grief, and creating helpful (not obsessive) plans of action.
I also have a PhD in English Literature. When researching Victorian motherhood, I was stunned to see how little we’ve progressed in the last two centuries in the ways we talk about women’s bodies and experiences.
The importance of this problem really hit home when I went through the lived experience of recurrent miscarriage—when everyone had things to say, and almost all of it hurt more than it helped.
Ultimately, I left my teaching job at Georgia Tech to pursue writing full time.
My passion is helping women through difficult times like these, using the tools I learned along my journey to make everyone else's a little bit easier.
Have questions? Let me answer them!
Q: Do I have to go in order, or can I jump around?
This journal is yours to do what you want with. It’s set-up in a way that guides you through different process and emotions in a logical order, but all of our experiences look different. So, while I suggest going through the journal in order, you may choose not to. If there are parts that don’t speak to your situation or that you find distressing, opt to skip entire sections completely. This is yours to be used in a way that helps you.
Q: Do I have to print it?
The PDF is editable, so it’s designed to be used on your computer. That said, some people may choose to print it. It is long, so if you print it, I suggest printing in black-and-white to save ink, and making sure you want all the pages before you print them.
If you aren't shy about your experience, it's beautiful when printed and bound somewhere like FedEx Office.
Q: How does on editable PDF work?
Everywhere you need to be able to write or draw gives you that ability. Simply click the space where you want to write or draw, and a textbox or drawing box should pop up. If it doesn’t, and you’re working in Adobe, you can also click “Tools-->Annotate” to open a new textbox or drawing box.
It is editable on a phone or tablet, but due to the size, it's easiest to use on a tablet or computer.
Q: How much time will it take me to complete the journal?
It depends on how you use it. Ideally, you’ll use the journal over time, dedicating a few minutes each day. Some people will dive right in and finish it within hours. Others will take weeks. Go at your own pace and do what works for you.
Q: Where should I use the journal?
Make sure you’re in a space that’s comfortable for experiencing your emotions. Not all parts of the journal will evoke a strong emotional response, but some might.
I recommend somewhere comforting--your bed, couch, or in a hot bath. (Obviously, don’t put your computer in the tub!)
Q: Can I purchase this as a gift for someone else?
Absolutely! If you are unsure how to do this, click here to check out this tutorial.
I've been featured discussing miscarriage in:
© Copyright Undefining Motherhood | 2019