SHARE Atlanta

Dear All,

SHARE Atlanta's BUSY last 6 Months...

WOW!! What a six months we have had at SHARE Atlanta! We got the Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth (CBRS) passed, two important hospital inservices (over 150 nurses/social workers) completed, the March for Babies done on April 26th and subsequent first places: Top Downtown Family Team; First Place in Class 1 (150 employess or less..we have NO employees), and a wonderfully meaningful and fun first Mother's Day Celebration experience on May 3 (We had moms from the past and present, grandmothers, and a great grandmother join us! If you were there and would like to add your thoughts to our Mother's Day News Review, send them to me!). I can't wait to share pictures, thoughts and hopes about all of these times. These will come later this summer. My mother-in-law's two strokes in May has backed me up a great deal. Thank you for all your notes. She is doing well!

CBRS

Parents are asking about the CBRS. The bill was signed by Gov. Perdue on May 12, 2008!! We are very excited about this!! We then had a private ceremonial signing with Gov. Perdue and our two legislative sponsors, Sen. Dan Weber and Rep. Fran Millar on May 29. It was very, very nice. We will be sending out a "how to receive a CBRS" and "general information about the CBRS" pdf this summer. It is not going to be an instant easy path to receive these certificates. We will be working with the Office of Vital Records to smooth out this process. The pdf will tell you everything you will need to know to make this happen if you or someone you know has experienced a stillbirth. We will be connecting with our hospitals about the CBRS as well. As with any new event, it take some work to make this a smooth process. Please give all of us time.

GA's CBRS

June and July's Meeting

May's meetings were well attended and we were blessed with many precious mementos, pictures and memories. Thank you to all of those who participated. I will be sharing some of these pictures soon, too.

"Grief and Secondary Losses" is our topic for June.

Our primary loss is our dear baby...secondary losses are feelings and concepts like the loss of: innocence, hope, communication with others, self-worth, role of parenting, and a host of others. We will share what these are, how they influence our grief pattern and ways to cope with them. Grief is "doable" as we learn how to better cope. Consider joining us - no manner where along your path of healing you are. We gather insight from those who are at different places on the path.

"Grief and Your Emotions" is our topic for July.

We will talk about how grief influences our emotions (sadness, anger, guilt, fear, etc.) and ways to identify our feelings and cope with them. We are on the "yo-yo" pattern of grief from the moment we learn about the loss of our child. These emotions tied with the secondary losses are what carry us down the path. Learning to understand what is happening *to* us and how to cope with these feelings and reactions makes grief "doable." We each feel that our pain and subsequent grief is unique to us. In our pain, we often believe that what we are experiencing no one else *really* could share. Our reality is different than others who are grieving. Society would like for us to believe this (and we are a part of that society). Yes, there are parts of each person's walk that are unique, but there is much common ground...more than most understand. As we come to appreciate our new reality and our new *normal*, we don't feel so alone and afraid. Healing gradually happens. While healing is an individual effort, joining together helps us sort through how we might travel our path!

SA's Forums

SA's Forums

SA's Forum is in full swing. Our members are what make it humm...so please come and join our moderator, Adrianne. Julie is facilitating our new Subsequent Pregnancy forum for those who are pregnant once again. They are all healed and healing bereaved moms who wish to reach out and support. On this page you will find a pdf with their pictures and stories.

Our group is a group because of the parents who join us.

We care about each other and support each other as healing/grieving move along. We each bring to the group our own life story, our baby's story, and our grief. Together we work to make our grief "doable" so we can survive the tragic death of our babies. We learn ways to cope. We begin to see that life does gradually become easier to cope with. Together we support each other through our grief as we gradually heal.

Take care,

Marcia

The love stays...forever in our hearts.

Pregnancy and Newborn Loss Awareness Pin
Available at our events and groups.