Confessions of a Grieving Mother

Listen as Tracy and Julie talk more with Shawn Betts, Courtney's Mom. Shawn found purpose in her pain of losing her daughter Courtney, by connecting with other loss moms to form the missing angel bill . A bill that would allow you to get a birth certificate for your baby that died after 20 weeks gestation. Shawn dives into how she worked tirelessly with those moms to get that bill approved by...

Type of Loss: Stillbirth More about Shawn's Story: Listen as Shawn shares Courtney with us. At 42 weeks gestation, Shawn went to the hospital to be induced, after about 7 hours of laboring doctors decided to send her home because she wouldn’t dilate past 3 centimeters. She woke in the middle of the night with horrible contractions and returned to the hospital. The doctors tried to find her bab...

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss More about Alex's Story: Listen as Alex shares Sky with us. Alex and her husband David were so excited when they found out they were pregnant. At her first appointment, doctors confirmed Alex was pregnant, but she tells us she had a strange feeling leaving her appointment. At her next appointment, her unsettled feelings were confirmed when she was told her baby no...

In this episode, Tracy and Julie chat with Peter Burton and Karen Burton Horstman President and Vice President for Burton Quinn-Scott Cremation & Funeral Services here in Erie, PA. Over the past 10 years, they have truly become our friends in the business. They walk us through the process of handling a baby loss and answer all of our interesting questions.

Type of Loss: Stillbirth More about Miranda's Story: Listen as Miranda shares her sweet Piper with us. Around 32 weeks gestation, Miranda noticed decrease fetal movement. Out of precaution, she went to the hospital to be monitored. After observation, she was released being told everything looked normal that Piper was just running out of room. A few days later, Miranda realized she hadn't f...

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss, Ectopic Pregnancy, Multiple Losses More about Erin's Story: Listen as Erin shares her sweet babies with us. Erin and her husband, Andy, were ecstatic when they found out they were pregnant for the first time. However, just three days later, she began bleeding. Her doctors told her that her pregnancy had been an ectopic pregnancy. Since her first pregnancy had bee...

Type of Loss: Infant Loss, Life Limiting Diagnosis [Restrictive cardiomyopathy] More about Sara's Story: Listen as Sara shares her sweet June with us. Sara describes June as the perfect baby in every way. That all changed when June was four months old, she started making a strange sounds and just seemed sick. Thinking they were overreacting, Sara and her husband took June to the ER where their...

Taboo Topic Series: This season, we are kicking off our Taboo Topic series where we discuss the uncomfortable topics that go hand-in-hand with losing your baby. If you have a suggestion for this series, please reach out to us at khristina@emmasfootprints.com. Episode Warning: This episode discusses intimacy and sex after loss. Due to the nature of this topic, this may be an episode you chose to li...

Type of Loss: Early Term Loss More about Kristyn's Story: Listen as Kristyn shares her early term loss with us. Kristyn and her husband Nate were so excited when they got pregnant with Baby Ross #2. Their first pregnancy was what Kristyn described as a 'textbook pregnancy' that lead to their healthy son, Wesley. Their second pregnancy was going according to their life plan and smooth s...

Type of loss: Multiple Losses, Early Term loss, Stillbirth Connect with Nelida: Instagram: @Nel0528 Learn more about Emma's Footprints: www. EmmasFootprints.com Facebook: EmmasFootprints Instagram: @emmasfootprints

Type of Loss: Multiple Losses, Early Term Loss, Stillbirth More about Brittanie's story: Listen as Brittanie shares her multiple losses with us. Brittanie and her Husband were ecstatic when they found out they were pregnant with their first, but their excitement quickly turned to heartbreak when they experienced an early term loss. When they got pregnant again, the fears diminished when Britta...

Listen as Tracy and Julie recap 2023 at Emma's Footprints. They share their high's, low's and most memorable moments of the last year. In 2023, Emma's Footprints served 356 families and spent over $200,000 on mission related expenses. Learn more about the Farewell Gala here: https://bit.ly/farewellwintergala

Type of loss: Multiple Losses, Life Limiting Diagnosis - Trisomy 18 Listen as Amber shares her multiple losses with us. Amber has 5 children including 3 losses and 2 living children. Amber's first pregnancy in 2016, with her baby Archimedes ended in an early term loss. Her second pregnancy was with her living child Killian, born in October 2017. During Amber's third pregnancy with her daug...

Type of loss: Life Limiting Diagnosis - Trisomy 18 Kelly and her husband Nick found out their baby girl, Blaney, had Trisomy 18 from doing 10 week genetic testing. When Blaney made it to full term, they were hopeful that she'd be their miracle baby and survive this life limiting diagnosis. Unfortunately, Blaney passed away after just 7 hours after birth. Connect with Kelly on socials: Instagra...

This is the final episode of our 2023 Holiday Series and the final episode of the year! In this episode, Tracy and Julie discuss how to create new traditions to honor and memorialize your baby. As we move into a new year, it can can stir a wave of emotions. We are starting something new with a huge piece of our hearts missing, our babies. Tracy and Julie discuss things have done over the years tha...

Listen as Tracy and Julie talk with Pam Presler about How to Navigate Your Emotions This Holiday Season. *Spoiler Alert* ...it is not possible. Listen as Pam gives us the tools and coping mechanisms to deal with our grief this holiday season. She reminds us that grief will show up and shares how we can prepare ourselves on how to best handle our grief. If you are interested in learning more from P...

In honor of Wyatt's birthday, we are shaking up the Holiday Series to share his story. Hailey (Wyatt's mom) shares she had a pretty uneventful pregnancy, until the end, when she developed gestational hypertension around 34 weeks. Her doctors scheduled an induction for 37 weeks, however, she went into preeclampsia the day of her induction. Hailey shares that her induction failed and she had...

This is episode two of our 2023 Holiday Series. In this episode, Tracy and Julie talk about how to set healthy boundaries and how important it is to your grief journey. They give examples of healthy boundaries they have set for themselves and ask you to share what boundaries you have set.

In this episode, Tracy and Julie talk with Falon Gervais Emma's Footprints Director of Support Group about the Importance of Community During the Holidays. They talk about surrounding yourself with a positive, healthy support community and how to effectively communicate your needs this holiday season.

Listen as Ashley shares how her text book pregnancy got flipped upside down at 33 weeks gestation when she went into preterm labor. When Ashley's water broke the doctors discovered it to be foul-smelling and discolored, meaning there was an issue. Ashley was rushed into an emergency c-section and Harper was born at exactly 34 weeks gestation. The doctors believed that Harper was without oxygen...

Listen as Tracy and Julie dive into this special Thanksgiving episode 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳: 𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘴? They share how they navigate their grief through the holidays, the difference between happiness and joy and they share inspiring ways for you to honor your baby this season.

Listen as Nicole shares her stillbirth experience. She was 37 weeks pregnant with her son Jack when she noticed decrease movement. She went to triage where she was told the devastating news that Jack no longer had a heartbeat. To learn more about Emma's Footprints and the recourses we provide, please visit emmasfootprints.com.

Listen as Tori shares how her first two pregnancies both ended in loss. Her first loss was at 9 weeks gestation. She ended up getting pregnant very quickly following her loss and says she had a false sense of security thinking - it couldn't happen again. Unfortunately, when she went in for the anatomy scan, she was told her baby no longer had a heartbeat. To learn more about Emma's Footpri...

Listen as Sarah shares her daughter Georgia who was stillborn. In late March of 2021, Sarah and her husband Rob, discovered they were pregnant. While this pregnancy came as a surprise they were excited to welcome a baby girl to their family because their other two children were boys. Sarah describes her pregnancy as a textbook pregnancy. On November 30th, when she was 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant...

Teri and her husband, Jay, thought they were done having kids after their second child was born. Jay had a vasectomy, however they felt like they had made a mistake and had the reversal. They got pregnant immediately after trying again for their third child. At Teri's first sonogram the baby wasn’t measuring correctly. Doctors told her that her dates were probably off and they scheduled a foll...