S3 Episode 8. Bleeding, Vaginas, Grief and Loss: Changing the way we approach miscarriage.

Isabelle, a journalist and writer, has a son, a daughter, and seven angel babies. For women wishing to conceive, miscarriage is sadly a common experience. Around 40% of women with children experience a miscarriage at some point along their pregnancy journey. But for Isabelle, the pain of loss occurred not once, but seven times, with five of these miscarriages occuring back-to-back. In this episode, Isabelle shares her story of recurrent hope followed by heartache. She explains how the lack of attention and research into early pregnancy loss, combined with the current systemic failure of the medical system to recognise the impact of early pregnancy loss, let her down again and again. Recurrent miscarriage is fortunately rare, affecting less than 1% of the population, but it is a devastating condition that, with our current knowledge, often remains medically unexplained. In addition, there is often some social discomfort when people choose to share their stories with friends and family. As Isabelle notes, miscarriage combines everything we are uncomfortable about; Bleeding, vaginas, grief and loss. Isabelle is on a mission to change that.