Anne Thiele Rasenberger: Our daughter - Jessica Isabel (miscarried)

Jessica Isabel

Our daughter - "Jessica Isabel" (miscarried)
A "symbolic portrait", created by Sue Fernandes suefernandes@activ8.net.au. Miscarried at nearly 12 weeks, 4 December, 2007.
Our baby daughter died of Trisomy 22. I will always appreciate my mother's trip up to Qld to support me through the birth of our daughter in the middle of the night, as I experienced a "delayed miscarriage" Nov/Dec 2007. (A “missed abortion” is when the embryo or fetus has died, but a miscarriage has not yet occurred. It is also referred to as “delayed” or “missed miscarriage”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscarriage) It was a real shock as I didn't have any bleeding, but experienced some cramping one night.
My doctor happened to phone the next day, saying that my progesterone levels were lower than they should be and advised that I go in and have an ultrasound ASAP to check if everything was okay. Well of course, it wasn't, as our baby's heart had stopped beating and she hadn't developed beyond a 5 week, 4 day size baby. (This was at nearly 10 weeks.)

Miscarriage and Stillbirth Support Groups

The two main organisations I found to be helpful after my miscarriage, are SANDS (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Support and Bonnie Babes. SANDS Queensland is now on Facebook and I think it's a great idea

https://www.facebook.com/SandsQueensland/. They also have a Blog Spot http://www.sandsqld.blogspot.com.au/

SANDS also has coffee mornings and holds Remembrance Services to commemorate babies who have died under 20 weeks. They also offer a listening ear, run by volunteer parents who have been through a similar experience.

Bonnie Babes Foundation had a coffee table book which they put out once a year, called "Pride of the Nation" (our son was in the 2008 edition!). They also had a forum on their website (now defunct).