After having a miscarriage and hearing countless stories of loss from fellow mothers, psychologist and mom Dr. Jessica Zucker started the #IHadaMiscarriage campaign in 2014 (which we interviewed her about). Last year, she created a line of empathy cards for people who have experienced miscarriage and stillbirth. Now she’s back with another incredible project.
Zucker just launched a line of “rainbow baby”-themed T-shirts and tote bags for moms and infants on her website in honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. She told The Huffington Post why started this line:
“With approximately 20 percent of pregnancies resulting in loss and many of these women going on to get pregnant again, the number of rainbow babies is enormous.
The shirts aim to: de-stigmatize loss, put a face to the statistics and move away from shame, to own our stories, to foster connection and community. Furthermore, these shirts are not only for women with rainbow babies. They are in fact also for women who themselves are rainbow babies!”
The line includes shirts for adults, babies, and tote bags as a way for women to own their experiences and identities–as well as giving them another way to cope. Zucker understands this pain only too well, as she suffered a miscarriage at 16 weeks in 2012.
Zucker explained why she thinks going public can be helpful to women and their families:
“We need not be ashamed of our reproductive histories. Pregnancy after pregnancy loss can be quite harrowing ― these items also aim to stimulate conversations among women who have been there, who have struggled, who know what it’s like.
If we think our generation doesn’t talk much about pregnancy loss, we can only imagine just how quiet things were in previous generations.”
VAUGHN DABNEY
The rainbow baby T-shirts and tote bags are available for purchase at Zucker’s online shop–and even better, the totes are also included for free with any shirt purchase. All proceeds will be donated to The Birth Hour podcast, and Zucker is offering giveaways through her Instagram account.
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