Surviving a Broken Promise
How to put one foot in front of the other following a stillbirth
Sinéad Bell
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In the spring of 2023, a beautiful, perfect baby was born.
But her parents didn’t get to take their little girl home. Fiadh Miriam Bell was stillborn. It was an uncomplicated, textbook pregnancy with an unexpected and heartbreaking end. Yet remarkably, three years on, her mother’s message is one of survival, love and hope. “I do not believe,” says Sinéad Bell, “that a baby can enter this world and not bring some sort of light with them, even if they themselves have to leave.”
Surviving a Broken Promise offers grounded, practical and honest advice about how to survive losing a baby, especially in the event of a stillbirth. And from the moment you get the devastating news, survival is what it’s all about. How did it happen? What happens next? Who do I tell and how do I tell them? What about a post-mortem, a funeral? What about work, maternity leave? Then what? How do I put one foot in front of the other? What does this mean for us and our family, our future? What future? Sinéad Bell addresses these questions head-on. In sharing what she has learned from her own experience – and that of others – she provides not just a detailed and pragmatic pathway for parents who have suffered baby loss, but also a candid and hopeful account of how, despite everything, it is possible to think positively about the future. Obstetrics is the most extraordinary privilege, but in the rare times when we face profound moments of loss, our responsibility is to stand strong beside our patients and offer them compassionate and unwavering support. No parent should ever walk this path alone; this book offers the compassion, clarity and courage that every bereaved family deserves. Mr Andy Catton, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist
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The book that makes you feel less alone, from a mother who understands. Maeve Lynn, Bereaved mother
This is a book I will guide people that have experienced a stillbirth to for the rest of my midwifery career. Letitia Stainer, Midwife
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