The Joyful Mourning - A Podcast for Women Who Have Experienced Pregnancy or Infant Loss

Welcome to our 4 Part Holiday Series – a discussion about finding hope when the holidays hurt and our first ever virtual book club. Kristin Hernandez, author of Hope When the Holidays Hurt, is joining me for this series and our book club discussions. Whether you ordered the Advent Journal ( you can order here ) and started this morning or you just ordered and it hasn't arrived yet or you don't pla...

To my grieving friends on this Thanksgiving Day.  I wish I could pull up a chair beside you and sit with you in person. To give you a look of understanding when someone you love says a hurtful thing or squeeze your hand under the table to remind you that you aren't alone. Or cover for you when you need to hide away for a bit. To tangibly remind you that you're not alone. Even if I can't be there w...

A very helpful and hopeful resource for navigating life after loss is a book called, When Your Family's Lost a Loved One by David & Nancy Guthrie. In today's episode I am going to share with you my favorite takeaways, practical and helpful wisdom, from the chapter in this book about how to navigate the holidays. Along the way we are going to hear from women in our own community sharing their favor...

Listen into a special episode where you will hear from 7 different women answering the same question, what wisdom, encouragement, hope or advice would you give to a grieving mom as she navigates the holiday season. The clips shared here are all from previous episodes but their words still ring true and resonate deeply today. I've linked the full episodes for each of these interviews below in the o...

Listen in as I chat with Megan O'Neill, a mama to a baby in heaven. Megan experienced a 2nd trimester loss and shares with me the story of her baby and her journey of grief, life after loss and what it has looked like for her to find healing. Megan shares honestly about the unique challenge she experienced being an unmarried christian woman at the time of her pregnancy, how difficult that was to n...

This week on the podcast I am interviewing Emily Stinemetz and Tate Drew – sisters who have both experienced baby loss. Emily experienced a first trimester loss followed by a season of unexplained infertility and Tate experienced a third trimester loss at 34 weeks. This conversation is really beautiful and tender as you hear their obvious love, empathy and compassion for one another even as their...

This week on the podcast I am interviewing Nikesha Dillon. A mama to 3 precious sons in heaven. Listen in as she shares her story of motherhood – her sons Liam & Legend, identical twins who passed from twin-to-twin transfusion at 20 weeks' gestation, and Louie, born at 24wks and 5 days as a result of cervical incompetence. Louie lived, fought and brought so much joy and laughter for 13 days in the...

You're listening to a special bonus episode, an excerpt from our newly released Navigating Milestones Grief Workshop. Listen in to hear a few quick thoughts about one of the reasons that navigating milestones are so challenging and difficult – because we don't know what to do and how to do it – specifically i'm talking about how to navigate those bittersweet days like birthdays, due dates, anniver...

This week on the podcast I am interviewing Tori Underwood. A mama to a precious daughter in heaven. Listen in as she shares her story of losing her daughter at 30 weeks with no real answers as to why – I know many of you will be able to relate to her story of being an invisible mother.    We discuss what it was like for Tori to pursue answers and solutions from her medical team to hopefully preven...

Listen into the third and final bonus episode in our Conversations with a Grieving Mom series. If you have been tuning in this week to the first two bonus episodes you know that October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness month and this week I have shared 3 short mini bonus episodes to help us kick off this month.    These short episodes highlight specific topics surrounding pregnancy and infan...

Listen into the second bonus episode in our Conversations with a Grieving Mom series. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness month and this week you will hear 3 short mini bonus episodes to help us kick off this month. In these short episodes I will be highlighting specific topics surrounding pregnancy and infant loss in order to give you a voice, to acknowledge your loss and  to help othe...

 Listen into the first bonus episode in a series I have titled Conversations with a Grieving Mom . October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness month and this week you will hear 3 short mini bonus episodes to help us kick off this month. In these short episodes I will be highlighting specific topics surrounding pregnancy and infant loss in order to give you a voice, to acknowledge your loss and...

This week on the podcast Jennifer Tyler joins me to answer your questions about God and faith specifically after experiencing loss and amidst grief. Jennifer is a Bible teacher and founder of SoulCircles Ministries and is passionate about helping women learn how to study the Bible, as she says "not just for information but for transformation."  I am so grateful for the wisdom and insight Jennifer...

This week on the podcast Stephanie Komashin joins me to answer your questions about God and faith, suffering and loss. As someone who has studied theology as a professional career and now teaches at the university level, I am so grateful for the wisdom and insight Stephanie offers us in this interview. We begin our time by Stephanie sharing her story of recurrent pregnancy and baby loss – she spea...

This is part 2 of a 2 part interview with Mikayla Chapparro. Last week in Episode 175 Mikayla shared what it was like for her to lose her son Valor when he was 11 months old – she talked about her grief journey, the  destructive patterns she experienced and what it was like for her to replace those habits with healthier coping methods that led to true healing.  This week in Part 02 we are talking...

This is part 1 of a 2 part interview with Mikayla Chapparro. In this interview you are going to hear the most honest and tender conversation about what it was like to lose her son Valor when he was just shy of his first birthday and the grief journey she would then embark on. We talk about destructive patterns amidst grief and what it was like for her to replace those patterns with healthier copin...

This week I have the pleasure of interviewing Bonnie Bennion about her motherhood journey and specifically her daughter Ella. We talk about regret and guilt and what to do with those feelings after loss. Bonnie shares what has surprised her about her motherhood journey and the different losses she has experienced – what she has learned and the hope and wisdom she has experienced along the way.  Bo...

This week I have the joy of spending time with Carolyn T. – a mama who has experienced the excruciating pain of losing a son at 35 weeks, followed by two more painful losses. Carolyn shares with me her grief journey and how with each loss her grief looked different – offering freedom to us as grieving mothers that our grief can look different from loss to loss or just day to day, but that doesn't...

In this episode I have the joy of interviewing Essence Reid-Oxley about her motherhood journey. During our time together Essence shares with me about her son Micah and what it was like to learn that he had Sickle Cell Anemia and then was later given a life limiting diagnosis called "Fetal Akinesia". We talk about what it was like to receive that diagnosis, what options she was given and what words...

This week I am honored to be interviewing Kaitlyn and David Phipps about their parenthood journey. Listen in as they share with me about their experience of recurrent pregnancy loss – a journey that hasn't ended with a "rainbow baby." They are very much still in the thick of their story unfolding and I am so grateful for their willingness to share in the middle of the story. During our time togeth...

Season 05 is here and I am so, so grateful to be back. In this special first episode of season 05 I am joined by my husband Aaron who is taking on the role as host. In this episode he is asking me all the questions and I am answering your questions! I share about what my grief looks like now nearly 14 years later and how it has changed over the years, I talk about what it has been like for me to r...

This week on the podcast I am honored to be talking with Adam & Amanda Wilcock about their parenting journey and specifically what it has been like for them to navigate marriage after losing their son Sam. Listen in to hear us talk about the challenges they faced within their marriage after losing Sam, how they navigated those challenges, how they grieved differently and navigated those difference...

This week on the podcast I am honored to be talking with Emily Stangl about her experience navigating marriage after losing her daughter Tilly.  We talk about the challenges she and her husband faced and how they worked through, and are working, through those challenges. Emily shares the ways she grieves differently than her husband and what that practically looks like in their marriage as well as...

This week on the podcast I am honored to be talking with Becky Banik about her experience navigating marriage and parenting after the tragic loss of her son Joey. Becky shares candidly and honestly about the difficulties and challenges her marriage faced as well as what has helped in the year since they lost their son.    We talk about the most challenging aspect of navigating the marriage relatio...

This week on the podcast I am honored to be talking with Candy McVicar, author, speaker, and devoted advocate for families who are grieving a baby or child. After experiencing the stillbirth of her daughter Grace, she founded and became Executive Director of Missing GRACE Foundation, whose mission is to provide support, resources, and education for families and professional care providers when the...