It is Infertility Awareness Week and we at The Guiding Star Project would like to join our thoughts with the many who struggle with this issue. Sometimes infertility means being unable to conceive. Other times it can take the form of people who have had children, now being unable to have more. Some who experience infertility struggle to get pregnant; others struggle with being able to carry that pregnancy to term.
In my own case, I have lost three children to miscarriage, and I believe that it honors women when our losses, of whatever form, are honored. I have been mourning the loss of a child and have had medical personnel refer to my baby as “the products of conception”. It felt like I had only lost some miscellaneous products and not a child and therefore I had no right to mourn, as if being sad about losing miscellaneous “products” of conception was just silliness. But families do mourn when a child is lost, even if that child was lost at very young age, even a few weeks old.
Being on staff at Elizabeth Ministry, I have known of worse injustices done to grieving parents: their losses unacknowledged and parents having to fight to get the body of their miscarried baby so they could bury him or her with dignity. Whenever a loved one dies, our culture offers rituals that help the family members mourn and also honors the life of the one who passed away. When it comes to miscarriage, however, parents often find that there are no such rituals for them, which can add to the feeling that they don’t have a right to mourn. Because of this, I wanted to let people know of a resource that Elizabeth Ministry International offers. Elizabeth Ministry offers Miscarriage Delivery Aids for women who are experiencing bleeding and have been told that they will miscarry and others dealing with infertility issues.

The description for these aids reads: Sometimes an unborn baby dies and a woman is told she will soon miscarry. This resource offers a way to deliver the child with as much dignity as circumstances allow. This Miscarriage Delivery Aid Plus Burial Set includes a Complete Miscarriage Delivery Aid Kit plus a small round burial vessel appropriate for miscarried babies up to 11 weeks gestational size. Size of vessel is 5″ x 5″ x 3.75″. The Miscarriage Delivery Aid Kit includes an instruction card, supplies helpful in delivering your baby in honor and dignity, and our exclusive booklet “Mourning A Miscarriage”. The round burial vessel comes with sealant and is a perfect fit for the satin drawstring pouch included in the delivery aid kit.
Overnight or rush shipping is available for a woman who will soon miscarry, but as miscarriage is so incredibly common, as around 10 – 20% of all pregnancies will end in miscarriage, I feel that a miscarriage delivery aid is something that every sexually active woman should have on hand. Although some women will not experience the heartache of a miscarriage, it is nearly impossible for someone to never know someone who will. Although one hopes to never need one, the reality is that so many women will need one (or more) during their reproductive years, and the resources this kit provides will be so valuable if that time does come. This particular kit comes in various sizes, to accommodate early pregnancy loss as well as losses later in pregnancy.
Elizabeth Ministry also offers various other resources for women and their families dealing with infertility and pregnancy loss issues. In appreciation for our many Guiding Star readers, and to offer practical support for the many who are or will experience a loss, if you choose to buy a miscarriage kit, you can enter in this code INFE4202014 at checkout and get a 10% discount. However, this code is not only good for the miscarriage aids, but also for all products within the fertility/infertility section of their web store and all miscarriage items.
I hope the many resources they offer will be of benefit to you and your sisters and friends who experience these many issues.
Elizabeth Ministry Online Store: http://shopelizabethministry.mybigcommerce.com/
Coupon Code: INFE4202014
This coupon is good for Infertility Awareness Week, so order soon!