Support after pregnancy -
Healing your birth experience with
Kathy Welter
Support After Pregnancy Loss
You Are Not Alone: Navigating the Heartbreak of Losing a Pregnancy
The loss of a pregnancy at any stage is a profound and heartbreaking event. It is a loss that can be accompanied by a complex web of emotions—deep grief, shock, isolation, and a sense of what might have been. If you are here, you are likely carrying this unique weight, perhaps while also managing the expectations and reactions of others. Please know: your grief is valid, your strength is recognized, and you deserve a safe space where your experience, your pregnancy, and your journey are fully understood and honored.
How This Specific Grief Feels
Pregnancy loss grief is unique. It can feel isolating and overwhelming. You may be grappling with:
A spectrum of emotion: Navigating feelings of sadness, anger, guilt, or numbness, sometimes all at once along with hormonal changes that can add a very different spin to this experience as well
Isolation: Feeling that others don't understand your loss or expecting you to "move on" before you are ready.
Navigating relationships: Managing the well-intentioned but often hurtful comments from others while supporting a partner who may be grieving differently.
Additional life stressors: Often, loss doesn't happen in a vacuum. You may also be coping with family illness, work pressure, or other life demands, making it feel impossible to find space for your own grief.
How I Can Help - Our Work Together
In our sessions, you will find a sanctuary for restoration, and recovery. This is a place to:
Honor your experience: Speak your truth, your feelings and memories and your experience
Process complex emotions: Untangle the knots of grief, guilt, and other feelings in a way that makes sense for you, at your own pace.
Navigate relational dynamics: Develop tools to communicate with your partner, family, and friends so you feel supported, not isolated.
Integrate your loss: We will work to carry this experience in a way that allows for both grief and healing, helping you rediscover a sense of hope and resilience.
Develop coping strategies: Find practical tools for managing anxiety, profound sadness, and triggers, especially when also coping with other life stresses like a family member's illness.
What to Expect - The Practicalities
I offer a compassionate, evidence-based approach to help you navigate this type of loss. We will work together via secure Zoom sessions, creating a convenient and private space for you to heal from wherever you feel most comfortable.
You do not have to walk this path alone. Reaching out is an act of courage. I invite you to schedule a free, confidential 15-minute phone consultation. We can connect, you can ask any questions, and we can decide together if I am the right person to support you.
Reclaiming Your Bond: Recovery After Birth Trauma
The birth of your child is a moment you've envisioned for months, filled with hope and specific plans. When reality deviates sharply from that vision—through unexpected interventions, emergencies, or a feeling of loss of control—the impact can be profound. This is known as birth trauma, and its effects often extend far beyond the birth experience itself.
The birth experience is not the only change your are going through; hormonal shifts and changes, along with the endless sleep deprivation can leave a new mother feeling hopeless and inadequate
The Invisible Wounds of a Traumatic Birth
Birth trauma isn't just about the physical event; it's about the emotional and psychological aftermath. It can deeply disrupt the crucial early connection between a mother and her newborn.
A Fractured Bond: Instead of the anticipated wave of instant love, you might feel numbness, distance, or even anxiety around your baby. This is a common, yet heartbreaking, response to trauma, not a failure of love.
Overwhelming Guilt and Shame: Many mothers grapple with the painful feeling that they have "let their baby down" or that their body failed them. These thoughts are a heavy burden to carry while trying to care for a newborn.
The Fog of Exhaustion: Childbirth is physically depleting, and the severe sleep deprivation that follows new motherhood disrupts your brain's ability to process emotions, heal, and function. Small challenges can feel insurmountable, and joy can feel out of reach.
You are not alone in these feelings. They are a recognized response to an overwhelming life changing experience.
The Path to Healing and Connection
Healing is not only possible; it is within your reach. My approach focuses on first addressing the most critical barrier to recovery: exhaustion.
Phase 1: Restoring the Foundation - Sleep
We start by quickly addressing the sleep imbalance. Using gentle, effective techniques tailored for new mothers and infants, we work to establish restorative sleep patterns for you both. This single change is transformative. When you are rested, your brain can begin to heal. You will quickly regain about 80% of your cognitive and emotional function, allowing you to think clearly, regulate your emotions, and finally feel like yourself again.
Phase 2: Integrating and Moving Forward
With a solid foundation of rest, we gently process the birth experience. We'll work through the feelings of guilt and disappointment, reframing the narrative from one of failure to one of survival and strength. We will focus on techniques to build and strengthen your bond with your baby, finding moments of connection and joy at your own pace.
The Result: A New Kind of Normal
In just a few sessions, you will notice things smoothing out. The overwhelming fog will lift, making space for the life you wanted to create with your child. You will develop resilience and discover a new, powerful normal—one built on healing, self-compassion, and a secure, loving bond with your baby.
You planned for a beautiful birth. Together, we can plan for a beautiful recovery.
I’m here - Contact me to schedule a confidential consultation and begin your journey toward healing.