GRIEF AND PREGNANCY: UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING GRIEF AND

GRIEF AND PREGNANCY: UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING GRIEF AND LOSS ACROSS THE PREGNANCY CONTINUUM KATHY BRIGLIA, MSW,LCSW CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER INTENSIVE CARE NURSERY DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

GRIEF

TYPES OF GRIEF: 1. Delayed 2. Disenfranchised 3. Ambiguous 4. Inconclusive 5. Complicated 6. Average Response 7. Resilient

COMMON GRIEVING EMOTIONS -Numbness & Shock -Denial & Yearning -Guilt/Resenting others -Depression/Disorganization/Despair -Resolution **these emotions/stages/steps are NOT linear, they do not go in a particular order**

RESOLUTION

DIFFERENCE IN GRIEF Men and Woman Children and grief

PRENATAL PALLIATIVE CARE

GRIEF/LOSS ISSUES EXPERIENCED IN THE INTENSIVE CARE NURSERY

EMPATHY You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view COMPASSION “Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” defined by Henri Nouwen Atticus FinchTo Kill a Mockingbird

Empathy: The Human Connecti on to Patient Care - YouTube

W Expectations versus . Reality

Gerber vs. Sick Anticipated/Expected Nursery is ready early in on pregnancy Established birth plan Anticipation of a typical delivery Immediate bonding/breast feeding Home in 2-3 days Maternity leave with your baby at home Critically Ill Infant Parents are in shock/in crisis Don’t retain information Scared to touch their child Only able to visit for a few minutes Overwhelmed, scared At times, Mother is not able to see her baby for some time Complete opposite of birth plan Unknown length of hospitalization, ie separation from one’s baby Parents feel completely out of control

The Impact of History Everyone has a Story Unplanned with initial ambivalence about the pregnancy History of one or more full term births Planned pregnancy with detailed birth plan 3rd round of in vitro fertilization, first successful pregnancy Being told “you can’t get pregnant” History of a stillbirth of neonatal death