Page 38 - October 2022 Issue.indd

Pregnancy and Infant Loss due to medical reasons but I never understood the gravity of
this pain until it happened to me.
Awareness Month
My husband and I were trying to have a baby and were patients
of Shady Grove Fertility because of my endometriosis and
By Shannon Pinder Hannawald
the damage it had cause to my reproductive organs. We went
Endo Warriors of the Eastern Shore for our first ultrasound at six weeks to see if the treatments

www.endowarriorsoft heeasternshore.com had worked and see if there was a heartbeat for our precious
Endo Warriors of the Eastern Shore | Facebook
baby. There it was, on the screen for all to see. Th is little tiny

spec with a heartbeat, a sweet little angel that had been prayed
You are not alone. The most important
for was right there. Through fertility treatments you fi nd out

thing to remember this month and all
information about your pregnancy much sooner than you
year long is you are not alone. One in
would if it was just a natural pregnancy. We knew at 14 days
four women are faced with this tragedy.
we were pregnant and got to see this precious baby at six weeks.
Losing a baby is not supposed to happen. We had to go back at eight weeks to “graduate” from Shady
How can you be given this amazing gift Grove. I laid on the ultrasound table like always. My husband
and then have it taken away? Its not fair and I were smiling, so excited to see this little angel and how
and there shouldn’t even be a month to
big he or she had gotten, but that did not happen. I will never
acknowledge this group of people that have
ever forget the room was silent and I knew something wasn’t
had to experience this horrible loss.
right because the ultrasound tech wasn’t saying anything. I
Growing up and dreaming of having your own family you looked over at the doctor and I will never be able to erase the
never think that this is even possible. You hear about it on memory of him saying, “Shannon, I’m so sorry there isn’t a

television and in movies but it doesn’t happen to you or heartbeat.” I said what? That’s not possible we just saw it two
anyone you know or love but I can promise that you know at weeks before, I hadn’t felt bad, I hadn’t had pain or bleeding.
least one person who has had to deal with this tragedy. More He said it could have happened while we were sitting in the
than you will ever know because most people do not want to waiting room, or when I was sleeping the night before. Th e
talk about losing a part of their heart, soul and family. I had date of November 22, 2016 will be etched into my memory
heard of a few people who had a miscarriage, stillbirth or loss forever, not as an exciting memory or celebration, but as the
date that will forever remind me of the little angel that I once
had growing inside of me.
I remember him telling me that normally the body causes a
miscarriage when there is something wrong with the fetus.

“That it takes care of it itself.” That may be true but it was not
in Ridgely what I wanted or needed to hear. Who said that I didn’t want
that baby? Or that we couldn’t take care of that baby? I know
in reality it’s the truth but it still will never make those words
AFFORDABLE HAIR CARE easier to hear. I remember laying there with tears streaming
down my face looking at my husband and the pain that fi lled
Cuts – Color – Hi-Lites – Foils his eyes was crushing. I also knew I was going to have to tell
Perms – Nails – Waxing = Pedicures my older son, who at 10 years old was so excited to have a
sibling. The thought of telling him made me physically sick.

410-634-9200 • 7 N. Central Ave., Ridgely, MD Knowing I had to crush his heart the way mine had just been
crushed was just as bad as the news we just received. I don’t
PLEASE CALL FOR

AN APPOINTMENT Tues.-Fri. 10-7; Sat. 10-3 remember much of the appointment after that, some nurses
talking to me about getting blood work done so I could have
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my D&C to remove the baby and any other tissue in my uterus
in a few days. I just remember it hurting to breathe and the

Redken tears running down my face felt like fire. Two days aft er we

Crew • OPI received this news was Thanksgiving. I did not want to go
Sebastian because I honestly didn’t feel very thankful for anything at
Happy Paul Mitchell that moment and knowing the next day would be the last day
Halloween Kenra I would have the sweet angel all to myself, the last day I would
ever be able to know that my sweet baby that was loved and
prayed for was still physically with us. At that time only our
HELP WANTED parents and closest friends knew that we had been pregnant
and had lost the baby so I wasn’t really in the mood to pretend

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