Eliza’s Story

Eliza comes from a family full of reproductive and hormonal issues and was diagnosed with PCOS in her late 20’s.

Married the love of her life, Jek in April 2023

Eliza got her Mirena IUD removed that September and started on prenatal vitamins. Got a positive pregnancy test and told just Hubby and Eliza’s Mum on December 16th. Straight away found a midwife and booked in a dating scan for early January 2024, the earliest available. Had some light bleeding but was reassured that it was normal in early pregnancy for some people.

Went away with family for Christmas and on the afternoon of Christmas day 2023, Eliza started to miscarry. Baby was around 6-7 weeks along.

She had to hide her pain and depression from all her family celebrating together for a week, even lying about misjudging her period dates to get pads and tampons from people as the shops were all closed. Bleed through her clothes and bathing suit more than once with the level of bleeding.

After a negative pregnancy scan and nearly two weeks of bleeding, it finally stopped and Eliza finally felt like she could start to heal.

A week later the bleeding started again. She called a doctor who told her to go straight to A&E.

Eliza spent 11 hours waiting and going through tests and exams. Her HCG was at a 10 despite having miscarried a month prior. Nothing could be seen in the exams so she was discharged late that night. The Early Loss Clinic would follow up over the phone from there. She needed weekly blood tests to check her HCG was going down. After a month more of bleeding, it stopped and her HCG was below 5 which meant she no longer needed monitoring.

Valentine’s day 2024 came along and despite not feeling ready to try again and wearing protection, Eliza conceived her rainbow baby girl – due mid November 2024

I went into pregnancy completely naive to pregnancy loss and any of the statistics around it. Resources like this Instagram page were a lifeboat in the sea of loneliness and depression. Knowing that other woman had been through loss and had overcome gave me strength to do the same. I am proud to share my story and destigmatise the shame that often surrounds miscarriage. I openly say to people who ask about my belly “it’s my first child but second pregnancy” and have had some beautiful conversations with other mums from that. I even broke out of my introverted comfort zone and recorded for a NZ birth podcast. Thank you for giving me a chance to share my story here!

Photos taken by Phoenix Dawn Photography.

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