Conversations on Pregnancy and Infant Loss: Nelle and Iris’ Stories
A Fresh Story, season 4, episode 2
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and we’re honored to hold space for these profound stories. These stories may be of grief, but they are also of hope, resilience, and most of all, unconditional love. As a reminder, be gentle with your heart, and if you are not able to listen to this episode at the moment, we understand and we are holding you close. We know these conversations will change you as they have changed us.
Anna Burgess Yang is a freelance content marketer and journalist in the suburbs of Chicago. I met Anna on Twitter, and she was a guest on the first season of A Fresh Story. When I was editing the podcast episode she was originally on, I noticed that she left out a huge part of her story on the interview: her two daughters that had passed away. I reached out and asked if she would someday want to come back on the show to talk about being a loss mom, and how to support people going through child loss. So, she’s back. And she’s sharing her raw, honest, and beautiful story of her daughters, Nelle Claudia Dej (born 09/04/2015) and Iris Madeline Hnub (born 02/13/2016).
Anna discusses the moments she found out that there was no heartbeats, how she processed her grief in the early days, and the support she received and sought out that helped her keep going. We talked about the things people said to her that hurt her feelings, and the things people did to help her feel loved and seen. And, we talked a lot about how she honors Nelle and Iris every day, in big and small ways.
I was appreciative of Anna’s honesty in discussing her pregnancy after loss, and why having a rainbow baby can bring up so many emotions you wouldn’t often consider. I’m grateful for Anna’s advocacy work to support other loss parents, and most of all, for her tender and honest musings about her daughters, her grief, and her relationship to loss.
You can read Nelle’s birth story here, and Iris’ birth story here.
Anna, thank you for sharing your sweet girls with us all. We will remember them always.
Here are some of the resources Anna mentioned in the episode:
Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support (national support org with local chapters)
Some books Anna recommends:
It's Ok That You're Not Ok - Megan Devine (Refuge in Grief is her website)
There Is No Good Card for This - Emily McDowell
Cry, Heart, But Never Break - Glenn Ringtved (for children)
You can find Anna on LinkedIn and Instagram. You can read more of her beautiful writing on Musings Out Loud by Anna Burgess Yang.