As many of you know, our daughter Aoife was born still on October 30, 2013. Having a healthy pregnancy, you can imagine the concern when my water suddenly broke at 34 weeks, and then the ensuing nightmare when the doctors and nurses couldn't find her heartbeat at the hospital. Not only was it devastating, but unbelievably confusing. We had no answers - her autopsy was inconclusive and responses from clinicians such as "Sometimes this just happens", felt completely unacceptable.
Experiencing stillbirth is an extremely lonely experience, it's not something people talk about - not even health professionals. Diving into the research, I was shocked to learn how common it actually was - that 23,000 babies are stillborn in the U.S. every year, one of the worst rates among developed nations, equivalent of 1 of every 160 pregnancies. This rate has remained virtually unchanged in the US for over the last 50 years, almost half of all stillbirths occur at or near full term, and often seem to be otherwise healthy babies.
Nearly 2/3 of all stillbirth deaths remain unexplained. It felt less like "sometimes this just happens" and more like "we haven't bothered to figure out why". Pregnancy loss is one of the most understudied areas of medicine, even though it affects many many thousands of women, children, and families in our country.
The Star Legacy Foundation is working hard to change this by leading the nation in stillbirth awareness, research, prevention, and support. In early 2018, I joined with other loss families to found the Maryland chapter of Star Legacy. We are dedicated to implementing the foundation’s mission in the state, which has the 44th worst stillbirth rate in the nation, and frustratingly wide racial disparities.
We welcome you to join our Let's Not Be Still Maryland Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Walk to raise critical funds for our efforts to better understand stillbirth and perinatal loss and why it occurs, and to shatter the stigma, improve mental health care for bereaved families, and empower pregnant women. Together, we can save babies’ lives and create a safe landing space for families when they do experience this ultimate tragedy. Thank you for your support.