Contents:
Medical Video: Understanding Early Pregnancy Loss
Pain due to loss can be very strong if your partner has a miscarriage at week 6, or if your baby dies after birth.
The focus of attention is often on the mother during hospital treatment and the first few days back home. Men may often be expected to be strong and support their wives. So, you might put aside your sadness when supporting your partner, and this can make you feel isolated and lonely.
Family, friends, and coworkers may not know and do not provide support for a grieving father. Interaction between men may not be the same as that of women who may be accustomed to relying on their partners to get emotional support. This might make you feel that nobody can talk to, especially if your wife is struggling to share her feelings with you. As a result, you may harbor your own feelings.
Grief is very individual, and some couples often find that their feelings and reactions are different from each other. Your partner may want to "go back to normal" long before you are ready:
For you, it might be easier and better to avoid talking about your feelings to protect your partner.
Grieving couples may experience difficulties in all aspects of the relationship, including their sex life. For example, couples might consider sex as a source of comfort and closeness. On the other hand, maybe for those who are not physically ready, sex is considered a reminder of losing a child, or may feel that their sexual appetite is wrong or doesn't feel anything.
Recovery from grief is a long and difficult road. You may be surprised by the length of grief and the intensity that never diminishes. If so, you are not alone:
Even though it's difficult, the most important thing is that you and your wife can talk to each other. This is easier if you are both aware that:
- Your wife's needs and feelings will not always be the same as yours
- Every individual has their own way of expressing and dealing with their feelings
- This difference does not mean that one of you is sadder than the other
