137: How to Survive Mother's Day After Losing Your Baby

Send Jen a Text MessageAre you already dreading Mother's Day? You are not alone — and you are not doing grief wrong.If your chest gets tight just thinking about Mother's Day... if you're already noticing the ads, the brunch promos, the "best mom ever" posts, and your body is bracing weeks before the day even arrives — this episode is for you. That heaviness has a name. It's anticipatory grief. And it's so much more common than anyone tells you.In this episode, I'm not going to try to fix Mother's Day or hand you a list of ways to "get through it." I'm just going to sit with you in the truth of it — share my own first Mother's Day after losing my twins, and give you permission to feel exactly what you're feeling.What you'll hear in this episode:Why the weeks leading up to Mother's Day often feel heavier than the day itself- and what anticipatory grief actually isThe story of my first Mother's Day after losing my twin daughters, and the conflicted feelings I never expected to haveWhy you can feel like a mother and feel completely inadequate at the same time- and why both are validThe guilt that creeps in when you don't want to celebrate a day that's "supposed to be beautiful"What to do when your family wants brunch, your friends send cheerful texts, and your partner has no idea what you needWhy feeling alone in a room full of people who love you is one of the loneliest parts of this dayPermission to say the things you're already thinking - "I hate this day. I wish I could skip it. I don't feel like a mom."How to start deciding what this day looks like for you- not for everyone elseWhy planning ahead for hard days is a game changer (and not the same as "powering through")Read the full blog post here: https://navigatingbabyloss.com/post/mothers-day-after-stillbirth-dread-137If you want gentle, bite-sized support for moments exactly like this, the Stillbirth Roadmap Experience is open to you. Ten days of lessons delivered straight to your inbox, plus a personal call with me at the end. You can find it at navigatingbabyloss.com/roadmap.https://navigatingbabyloss.com/workshopFree workshop for moms grieving stillbirth or pregnancy loss. Learn simple, trauma-informed practices to release guilt, calm the what-ifs, and honor your baby's memory with love instead of pain. Includes bonus Grief & Guilt Release Journal.Download my FREE "Guilt and Grief Release Journal" at navigatingbabyloss.com/journalWHERE TO FIND AND FOLLOW ME!Website-  https://www.jennifersenn.comTik Tok-https://www.tiktok.com/@navigatingbabylossInstagram-https://www.instagram.com/navigatingbabyloss/You Tube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz-2MCEY5PRiF6p6VB_2lxA