This Is Your Loss, Too

MISCARRIAGE FROM A DAD’S PERSPECTIVE

- Elliot Acosta

It was the night of Christmas. While our son was dreaming of the presents he had just opened that morning, my wife, Sara, and I were in the hospital receiving grim news:

“Sorry, you are having a miscarriage.”

I held Sara’s hand as she fought back tears while the doctor explained the low human chorionic gonadotropin levels and blank ultrasound.

The next few days, as my wife endured all the aches and pains of pregnancy, knowing there was no longer a baby growing inside her, I fielded the uncomfortable and inconvenient conversations that come with miscarriage. Some conversations were seemingly routine, like making the follow-up doctor appointments; while others were emotional, like telling our closest friends we were no longer expecting. But each conversation reminded me of our devastating loss.