Sarah Bachand, right, and Caroline Labrie in a photo on the cover of their book, Words from the Heart

Sarah Bachand, right, and Caroline Labrie in a photo on the cover of their book, Words from the Heart

Words from the Heart: The book for pre-natal loss

‘Words from the Heart’ began with two women, working together, both expecting babies. These women were nurses, working in the Intensive Care Unit of LaSalle Hospital, in a suburb of Montreal.  Both of them expecting boys, Sarah expecting twins.

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They compared dates and observations, and Sarah was not having an easy time with the twins.  Despite her best effort to rest, she lost the boys at 19 weeks.  And Caroline lost her baby a few weeks later.

Sarah Bachand remembers the great support she felt at work, it was going home that was so difficult.  Empty-handed, in a bedroom that was not going to be used the way she imagined, was very challenging.

As she tells it, she awoke one morning with the book in mind.  She new exactly what she might have wanted to hear and to know. “I just envisioned exactly what I thought a family would need.”  And then she called Caroline Labrie.

I just envisioned exaclty what I thought a family would need

‘Words from the Heart’ is the book the women know they could have used in some of their darkest hours seven years ago. The hospital director agreed and supported their fund-raising efforts to create the book.

Originally available in French, and handed to every woman who’d experienced a loss, the time came to make it available in English. With the help of a doctor, translators were found and publisher Borealis became involved, thrilled to be helping make such an important read, available.

As Sarah Bachand envisioned, the book includes 41 memoirs, from a miscarriage at 10 weeks, to a stillborn baby at 38, Sarah wanted to offer a solace at whatever week a woman, and her family might experience the end of a pregnancy.

The two women continue to work tirelessly on this project and have been warmed by the positive feedback. Bachand says they have received accolades from doctors letting them know the improvement they see in patients with time.  They get letters from people expressing their gratitude

She says it’s as simple as being able to give someone something, even if just in an effort to acknowledge the mourning.

“I would sort of like that book to become like a standard guidebook for families that go through perinatal loss.”

And as Sarah Bachand says, “our hospital is already a big start.”

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