Navigating medical complications of pregnancy, babyloss and Preeclampsia

Rachel Whalen joins us in this episode of the Glimmer Podcast to discuss preeclampsia, stillbirth and maternal near-death experience in pregnancy. Caitlin Crowley interviews Rachel and asks her what it was like dealing with catastrophic grief while facing her own mortality. 

Rachel is a preeclampsia loss mum and social media influencer who heads the Instagram @unexpectedfamilyouting. She is a writer, mother, griever and advocate. Rachel speaks about just wanting to go home and start the grieving process when Dorothy had died, however her medical condition was very serious. 

There was a sense of ‘why hasn’t the world just stopped? Because my world has stopped. It’s standing still.’ Rachel shares her two prior miscarriages, her diagnosis of HELLP syndrome, preeclampsia and factor V Leiden mutation and the sense of needing to ‘keep going’ because she’d been through 3 pregnancies but still didn’t have a baby alive in her arms. She embarked on her rainbow pregnancy, constant monitoring and a sense of wanting to be empowered but not worried. She explains having a letter in the chart and setting the stage for how she wanted healthcare professionals to interact with her and discuss her past and current pregnancies. 

Rachel explains mentally compartmentalizing during her rainbow appointment and focusing on the ‘right now.’ Caitlin expresses how hard it is to switch off the fear and try to ‘enjoy’ the moment and the rainbow pregnancy.

Rachel gives her 2 ultimate pieces of advice to the listener. She also explains how she answers people when they ask her how many children she has. Rachel explains about the relay race and ‘flying the flag’ for women who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal loss and severe pregnancy complications. 

Links:

https://www.theglimmerproject.com/ 

https://bluehearts.com.au/the-cause.html 

https://stillbirthfoundation.org.au/

Special thank you to: 

- Corey Green (podcast editor - Transducer Audio) https://www.transducer-audio.com/

- Coby Grant (Winter Bear backing sound track)

- Ashleigh Smith (Producer and creator of The Glimmer Project, Podcast and Online group)

Social media: 

@glimmer_project

@bluehearts_au

@stillbirthfoundation

@unexpectedfamilyouting