Pregnancy can bring joy, but for families who have experienced the loss of a child, it can also bring fear and uncertainty.
For Liz Hernandez, helping patients navigate those emotions is deeply personal.
“I was a patient of maternal fetal medicine for my entire pregnancy,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez was carrying monochorionic diamniotic twins, who shared one placenta. She gave birth at 35 weeks. A few weeks later, one of her daughters died of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
“So that was an incredibly hard time for our family...It was incredibly hard to continue to care for another baby that needed me and needed my family.”
Her experience now informs her work at the Pregnancy After Loss Clinic at Intermountain Medical Center, where she helps others feel safe and supported during a pregnancy shaped by grief.
Pregnancy after loss can involve complicated emotions. Along with grieving a child, some families experience an abrupt end to the medical care and support they received throughout pregnancy. A subsequent pregnancy can bring anxiety alongside hope.
Hernandez said her own experience helps her understand how important it is for patients to feel safe sharing their fears.
“Knowing that they can come to us and that they can feel comfortable and safe is, is huge.”
Sharing her story with colleagues wasn’t easy.
“That was something very vulnerable for me...It’s something that I hadn’t openly shared before.”
Now, she wants patients to know that some of the people caring for them have experienced similar losses. She hopes that shared understanding helps families feel comfortable expressing their worries and asking for support.
Even routine parts of an appointment can bring back painful memories.
One example is ultrasound gel left on a patient’s abdomen after a technician finishes an exam and steps out.
For someone who experienced a pregnancy loss during a previous ultrasound appointment, that moment can prompt fears that something is wrong.
Hernandez said explaining what is happening can help patients understand what to expect.
“And that’s just standard process for our techs to do... And it’s completely normal. However, we don’t know what we don’t know... ‘I’m gonna leave the gel on your belly. Please don’t worry. That doesn’t mean anything.’... But for a parent that has had a loss, that’s something that they think about consistently.”
The clinic’s work includes recognizing those concerns and creating space for patients to share them.
Loved ones can also help by supporting someone as they seek care, especially when anxiety makes taking that first step feel overwhelming.