On May 4th, 2016, I joined the group of baby loss mothers when my second son, Sidney Louis, was born still.  "Your son has passed," the doctor said to us. With those words, I was thrown into a world that I did not know existed, a world where babies that were otherwise perfectly healthy died, where online support groups of mothers actively worked to help each other memorialize their children in the face of a society that preferred to pretend the children had never existed, where in subsequent pregnancies, doctors informed me that I was still not considered 'high-risk' because I had not had multiple still born babies.  

The still birth rate in the United States has not significantly changed in the past few decades, with 1 out of 160 babies dying before they are born.  There are more still births than there are deaths to SIDS and prematurity combined, and the US is one of the very highest in still birth rates of high-resourced countries.  There is woefully little research on still births, and much inaccurate information perpetuated by providers and practitioners, who give inconsistent advice about kick counts, mislead mothers into thinking that less movement towards the end of pregnancy is 'normal', frequently do not perform ultrasounds during the last trimester of pregnancy, and even suggest that autopsies are not necessary because this is just something that "happens." On September 26th, I will walk to challenge these myths, to raise money for more research and advocacy so that fewer families have to go through the loss of one of their children.  On September 26th, I walk in memory of Sidney and against the shame and discouragement that others face when sharing their still born children with the world.  Please join me in walking and/or supporting this important cause.