(Catherine Pearson/ HuffPost.ca) — Rachel Whalen’s first miscarriage happened fast. Six and a half weeks into her pregnancy, she took a test. Two days later, she started to bleed.
“It was just a really lonely experience and I was scared,” Whalen, now 34, told HuffPost. “Then I was also kind of like, ‘Am I being silly to feel this way?’” She told herself that early miscarriages are common (up to 20% of known pregnancies end in a loss) and hoped it would be her only one.
Several months later, she got pregnant again. Soon after, she miscarried again. Whalen and her husband were driving to their summer vacation. She felt a contraction and passed the fetal tissue in a gas station, catching it in her own hands.
“After that, I have never experienced my body in the same way again,” said Whalen, who has written about her experience on her personal blog and for the support resource PALS (Pregnancy And Loss Support). “Any twinge, any cramp — I’m always waiting for it to be something more.” (…)