A Beacon in the Dark Night of Grief: Glow in the Woods

Glow in the Woods is a warm and welcoming haven for parents who find themselves lost and wandering in the dark and lonely night of baby loss, craving the company of others who truly understand the depth and breadth of what has been lost.

The site was created to provide babylost parents with a place to read the stories of other parents who have walked this path and to tell their own babies’ stories so that other heartbroken mothers and fathers who follow in their footsteps will experience the reassurance and validation that comes from knowing that someone else thought those thoughts and felt those same emotions.

The site also features helpful advice for friends and family members who want to support grieving parents, but who don’t know what to do or what to say. The advice is bang on, as you would expect. After all, it is being provided by the true experts in surviving the unthinkable, the death of a baby: those parents themselves.

Particularly valuable is the advice on dealing with a breastmilk supply that is no longer needed. (My milk came in at my stillborn daughter’s funeral -- one of Mother Nature's cruelest possible jokes.)

The writing on the site is incredible. The blog postings remind me of the essays in Jessica Berger Gross’ book About What Was Lost: 20 Stories on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope (a book I reviewed for Literary Mama).

If you are a parent who has experienced the death of a baby or your heart is breaking on behalf of a friend who has, you will want to know about the online beacon of light that is A Glow in the Woods.

Related:

Still Unanswered, Always Remembered: The Powerful Legacy of Stillbirth by Ann Douglas (article published in The International Doula based on this presentation I gave at the 2005 conference of the Canadian Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths)

Perinatal Bereavement Services Ontario: Helpful information about the sometimes confusing and worrying symptoms of grief after the death of a baby.

Trying Again: A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss (a book I co-authored with John R. Sussman, MD). Reviewed by @JuliaRosien

Article about Trying Again After a Loss, for parents of multiples (co-written with Lynda P. Haddon).

Comments

[sweetsalty kate]

Ann, thank you so much for the encouragement - such kind words. We do tend to think of Glow as being by and for parents, a gathering of voices that's comfortable with flipping the bird to the typical, linear, pamphlet-style depiction of grief.

Together we're mucking our way towards a new sort of light. Sometimes that effort is messy, and explosive, and passionate. Sometimes it's quiet and intellectual an reflective. No matter what, the gift of Glow (to us as equally as to readers) is the familiarity we all share. Company has a way of making a mama (and daddies too) feel sane. Most days, anyway. :)

[crunchy carpets]

Finding Glow in the Woods was a lifesaver for me.
In fact reading ANY of the bloggers out there who were willing to share their pain, was a HUGE part of the healing process for me after we lost little Scott at 26 weeks.

Finding a community that can understand what you are going through is what makes the internet so freaking fantastic