The WiSSP Resource Library

CONCERNING A NEXT PREGNANCY

1.   Still to be Born, by Pat Schweiberg, R.N. and Paul Kirk, M.D.; Oregon Health Sciences University Foundation, 1986.

    This book is specifically written for bereaved parents who are making decisions about their future. It includes chapters on living through another pregnancy, labor and postpartum days. Also discussed are the options of choosing to remain childless or investigating the adoption route. An important resource.

2.   Your Next Baby, Centering Corporation.

    A short pamphlet written for parents and families who have experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death and are now expecting a baby. Anticipated emotions are briefly stated, as are parental reactions after the delivery of a healthy baby.

3.   What Next?...After Miscarriage, Stillbirth or Infant Death, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Center of Minnesota.

    Discussion of choices available after a family experiences a loss. Adoption, childlessness and use of new reproductive technology are considered. Also included, for those who undergo a subsequent pregnancy, are suggestions for coping with the feelings they may encounter.

4.    Pregnancy After a Loss: For Friends and Relatives, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, MN, 1991.

    This single sheet pamphlet discusses how friends, relatives and care providers can assist a couple who is experiencing a pregnancy following a loss. Practical guidelines are described.

5.    Pregnancy After a Loss. Abbott Northwestern Hospital, 1991.

    A short pamphlet written for couples who are pregnant after having experienced a previous pregnancy loss. Possible emotions are briefly stated as well as suggestions for dealing with them. A brief list of support groups is printed on the back page.

6.   Another Baby?  Maybe... Thirty Questions on Pregnancy After Loss. by Sherokee Ilse and Maribeth Wilder Doerr; Wintergreen Press, Maple  Plain, MN, 1996.

    This booklet addresses the concerns of parents who have experienced a loss, and are considering another pregnancy.  The authors, both of whom have personally experienced pregnancy losses, share their insights into the questions parents commonly ask when contemplating another pregnancy.  Questions range from Biological/medical aspects of pregnancy such as how long to wait before trying again, to personal issues such as whether or not to have a baby shower during a subsequent pregnancy.  The authors deal openly and honestly with the natural concerns that parents may have when facing this decision. 

7.   After Loss—Parenting in the Next Pregnancy, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Allina Health System, 1998. 

     This book shares the story of a woman born less than two years after an older sibling had died; her experiences led her to an awareness that she was born into a family in profound grief, that shaped many aspects of her life.  This guidebook works from that premise — that any baby born after a loss is born into a family in grief (loss is defined here as death prior to delivery and following delivery, the presence of severe physical or developmental disabilities). 

     Necessary background and theoretical frameworks are provided, as well as practical ideas for meeting with families at this time, to help professionals learn what they can do to help assure the mental health of the entire family.  Pregnancy is presented as the beginning of parenting, and the normal tasks of pregnancy are described along with factors that can interfere with accomplishing them. The authors then outline developmental tasks for a pregnancy after a loss, through which a family can accept and attach to the unborn baby.  A chapter on technology/antenatal testing is included; antenatal testing includes everything from prenatal testing (amniocentesis, ultrasound, MSAFP) to obstetrical monitoring (nonstress, biophysical profile, etc.).  After a loss many parents approach any antenatal testing with anxiety, fearful that results will show something is wrong again.  It is suggested that health care providers offer a perspective that the aim of testing is to validate that the baby is healthy, demonstrate the baby's competencies and help parents "know" their baby.