🕊️ Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day: Holding the Unheld

Geri Watson
Jan 9
3 min read

Every year on October 15th, candles are lit around the world; tiny flames flickering in windows, on porches, in bedrooms, in hospital rooms, in quiet corners where grief has lived unspoken.

This is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day, a day to honor the babies who never took a breath, the ones who lived only moments, the ones who were held for too short a time, and the ones who were never held at all.

It is a day for the parents whose arms ache with emptiness.

A day for the families who carry love without memories.

A day for the grief that is often invisible, but never small.

This day matters because they mattered.

🌙 The Grief That Lives in Silence

Pregnancy and infant loss is a grief that often goes unseen.

There are no public rituals.

No obituary.

No milestones to mark.

No language that feels big enough.

Parents may carry:

A nursery that was never used
A name that was never spoken
A due date that still lives in the body
A heartbeat they once heard
A future they had already begun to imagine

This grief is not measured in days or weeks or months.

It is measured in love; love that had no place to land.

🌸 The Babies We Carry in Our Hearts

Every loss is unique.

Every story is sacred.

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day honors:

Miscarriage
Stillbirth
Infant death
Termination for medical reasons
Ectopic pregnancy
Molar pregnancy
Loss through surrogacy or adoption journeys
Loss of multiples
Loss after infertility

These babies may not have lived long, but they lived deeply; in the hearts of the people who dreamed of them, hoped for them, and loved them before they ever arrived.

🌧️ The Weight of Invisible Grief

Parents grieving pregnancy or infant loss often face:

Silence from others
Minimizing comments
Isolation
Confusion about how to mourn
A sense that their grief is “too much” or “not enough”
A longing that feels endless

But grief does not require permission.

Love does not require proof.

Your baby’s life; however brief; is worthy of remembrance.

🕯️ The Wave of Light

At 7 p.m. local time on October 15th, families around the world light candles in a global Wave of Light — a chain of remembrance that circles the earth.

Each flame represents:

A life that mattered
A love that endures
A family forever changed

If you participate, know that your candle joins thousands of others; a constellation of grief and love woven across the world.

🌿 A Gentle Ritual for Holding the Unheld

If you are remembering a baby today; your own or someone else’s; here is a soft ritual to honor their life:

1. Light a candle.

Let the flame represent the love that still burns.

2. Hold an object that feels meaningful.

A stone, a blanket, a piece of jewelry, a letter, a photo, a name written on paper.

3. Speak one truth aloud.

It might be:

“You were wanted.”
“You are loved.”
“I carry you.”
“You mattered.”

4. Place the object somewhere sacred.

On an altar, in a drawer, under a tree, beside your bed, wherever your heart feels held.

5. Close with a breath of compassion.

For yourself.

For your baby.

For every parent walking this path.

This ritual is not about closure.

It is about connection.

🌤️ You Are Not Alone

Pregnancy and infant loss can feel isolating, but you are not alone.

There is a global community of parents, families, and loved ones who understand this grief; who know the ache of empty arms, the weight of unspoken dreams, the tenderness of love without time.

Your grief is valid.

Your story is sacred.

Your baby is remembered.

🕯️ You Don’t Have to Carry This Grief Alone

At Orion’s Legacy Editing, I believe in honoring the quiet grief; the grief that lives in the body, the grief that reshapes identity, the grief that is both love and longing.

Whether you’re writing your story, creating ritual, or simply trying to find language for what this loss has shaped in you, I’m here to walk with you.

Your grief matters.

Your love matters.

Your baby matters.

Your story deserves space.