EPISODE 12 - Annabel Bower’s experience of stillbirth inspired her to write a book and inspire social change.

The Holistic Baby and Toddler Sleep Podcast

· Trigger warning. Themes of baby loss including miscarriage, medical termination, stillbirth, grief and loss are discussed in length in this episode.

· Language warning .
Annabel Bower is a mother of 5 children a Food stylist with her own business and most recently an Author.

Her book Miles Apart was written after Annabel’s 4th child Miles was stillborn. Having faced the isolation and heartache baby loss brings she was determined to support others, open up conversations and remove the stigma surrounding baby loss and infertility. Miles Apart is a heartfelt survival guide for anyone who has lost a baby at any stage of pregnancy or infancy.

Released in 2020 the book tells Annabel’s story alongside those of other mothers who have endured embryo loss, miscarriage, and the loss of a baby in infancy. Common themes of grief are explored with practical and emotional support for those navigating similar heartache. The book is a heartfelt survival guide and many readers have commented that it feels like support from a close friend.

On this podcast episode we discuss Annabel’s story of Miles’s devastating diagnosis and birth, the stigma and secrecy of medical termination loss, the traumatic grief that is all consuming when a baby is lost in any way. We talk about society’s stigma, shame and potential hierarchy, judgement and comparison between miscarriages, TFMR and Stillborn losses. We discuss Annabel’s motivation and goals for the accessibility of her book as well as improvements that can be made within the medical system to soften the journey for families who are birthing and experiencing birth in the same space as mothers who do get to take home their babies.

The Miles Apart Foundation distributes donated copies of Miles Apart Australia wide and is dedicated to raising awareness of the ongoing emotional impact of baby loss. You can donate a copy and purchase copies of the book through Annabel’s webpage. It is also distributed by Gidget Foundation, the leading mental health support service for perinatal health in Australia.

Listen to this emotion episode and learn about another crucial part of motherhood which is so often filled with silence, shame and judgment. Annabel is paving the way in this space as she so openly shares her journey of loss and grief with such grace and resilience.
· Trigger warning. Themes of baby loss including miscarriage, medical termination, stillbirth, grief and loss are discussed in length in this episode.

· Language warning.
Your Links

www.instagram.com/milesapart

Miles Apart website www.milesapart.online

Gidget Foundation www.instagram.com/gidgetfoundation
-Read the article she wrote for Mamamia on losing 3 pregnancies and the shame and secrecy that surrounded these experiences and how these devestating losses shape her parenting experience here https://www.mamamia.com.au/coping-with-having-only-one-child/
-Learn more about what it is like to raise one child when it is not by choice and the positives and the negatives as a parent of 1 child in the article Georgina got published in Kidspot https://www.kidspot.com.au/baby/do-you-only-have-the-one-the-question-strangers-ask-when-ive-lost-three/news-story/c016fc827b2666177741a