Healing In The Light: This Pregnancy Video Isn’t Like The Others

Social media is often full of women sharing the moment when they first find out they are pregnant.

There are homemade videos of women revealing the news to their husbands, and happy videos celebrating the news of life being brought into the world.

But with October being Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, we are reminded not every video surrounding a pregnancy is joyful. But instead of hiding the devastating news, one woman decided to bravely share the real-life tragedy she just endured.

Her pregnancy started out like all the others.

Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson was excited to announce her pregnancy to her husband and made a video.

But then the unthinkable happened.

Her pregnancy took a sharp turn for the worse, and she started having stomach pains.

Then, Johnson made a video she never hoped she’d ever have to make, but she did so to encourage other women who have gone through similar situations, hoping her story would give them hope and break the stigma.

Sadly, Johnson suffered from a miscarriage and lost her little baby only 8-weeks into the pregnancy.

ABC News reported:

“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Johnson said in a video posted to YouTube. “You go from shocked to ‘holy crap’ to ‘I can’t do this’ to ‘Let’s do this’ and now it’s like, ‘I pray to God I can do this…

“How am I going to tell Andrew?” she said in an early part of the video. “He’s going to be a daddy.”

Later, Johnson revealed that she had “started having really bad stomach pains and a lot of bleeding, which is not good for a pregnancy.”

After several tests, doctors confirmed that Johnson had miscarried.

“It sucks,” Johnson said toward the end of the video. “It’s definitely not fun. I felt like going into it we didn’t even know if we were ready for it…but having a doctor confirm that you miscarried doesn’t feel good.”

Johnson did a brave thing by sharing her story with the world.

Other women who have had miscarriages were able to mourn with her. Other mothers too shared in her pain and grieved alongside her.

Women who have had miscarriages face a heart-wrenching pain that never goes away. There’s often a stigma of shame of not carrying a life to term.

But women shouldn’t feel shame, they need the freedom to grieve.

However, most importantly, women who have suffered from a miscarriage need the freedom to freely mourn as they see fit.

Some women need time to silently process the pain. Others desire to talk about the loss and choose to find a support group to openly grieve.

One of the most important things to remember is every woman grieves differently. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. It’s personal. It’s sacred.

Shawn Johnson opened up one of the most sacred parts of her life, raw and vulnerable, simply to help other women who may have struggled with the same thing.

If you know a woman who has suffered from the pain of a miscarriage, just be there for her. Whether she wants to cry, or just sit silently, the most important thing you can do is show her you are there.

And even more beautiful, Johnson could have used this tragedy to curse life and become bitter, but she didn’t.

Instead, she chose to use her tragedy for good.

ABC News reported:

“We know everything happens for a reason,” Johnson said in that video. “We believe God’s got a bigger plan for us. All we can do is be positive otherwise we just sink into a hole.”

Below is the video of Shawn Johnson sharing her story.

Warning, this may be an emotionally challenging video to watch, and it’s hard to watch without tearing up at the rawness and realness of her struggle.

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month, please take a moment to remember and honor all those who have suffered the pain of losing a child.

What are your thoughts on Shawn Johnson sharing her story with the world?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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