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Hannah Stone has published her second book, Remembering Our Angels: Personal Stories of Healing from a Pregnancy
Loss. Order your copy now on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Borders.com and Lulu.com!
Correction: On page 39, the title of Kathleen Gray and Anne Lassance's book was incorrect. The correct title is "Grieving
Reproductive Loss: The Healing Process." It was published by Baywood in 2003.
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Organization News
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"Remembering Our Angels: Personal Stories Of Healing From A Pregnancy
Loss" is a perfect title for Hannah Stone’s book. Each child that was lost in this book was a little
angel. It just
was not their time to take their place on this world just yet, for whatever reason it may be.
The first few chapters
were very informative, while the last chapters were tear jerkers. Some entries were written by doctors that have experienced
child loss on a personal basis or have had patients that have suffered through the loss of a child. Other entries were written
by mothers or fathers that have also experienced child loss. I found a lot of information there that I had no idea even existed.
I
did not know that there was a thing called a perinatal grieving kit. It includes sometimes a plaster mold for the parents
to have a little hand or footprint, a container for a lock of hair, and a couple other little things to help remember the
child instead of trying to forget what happened. The day a parent loses a child is forever scared on their hearts, and nothing
will ever make that day disappear.
In "Remembering Our Angels," it tells of ways parents grieved in their own ways.
Most have found Internet support groups, talked with other parents that have had a loss, and have even found what works for
them in order to help the grieving process. One thing that touched me was a balloon release ceremony. It, in a way, is like
sending a gift up to your child in my opinion.
Having had a miscarriage of my own, this book brings to light a few
things I’ve never thought of before. It is a great help to any who have lost a child no matter the age even if it was
only a couple of weeks along or at the end of the nine month gestation period. If you or someone you know is hurting pick
up a copy of "Remembering Our Angels," as well as Hannah Stone’s other book "Forever Our Angels." It has a lot of information
between the pages for helping to heal the heart. 5 Hearts
Crystal Adkins
www.bookreviewsbycrystal.blogspot.com
I have read and reviewed two books written by Hannah Stone, "Forever Our
Angels" and "Remembering Our Angels" and I feel that these companion books should be added to everyone's list of resource
reading for understanding and gaining support for the pain experienced during child loss.
"Forever Our Angels" is a
collection of personal stories told from the heart of fathers and mothers who have experienced the pain we know all too well,
the pain of losing a child through miscarriage. The stories are easy to read, and you will relate in a way that makes the
stories seem personal and will leave you feeling like you have a friend who is walking this path with you.
"Remembering
Our Angels" is a book that is written sincerely and has language that every parent who has experienced loss will understand.
The emotional ties, the physical pain, and the trauma of loss are all dealt with in the stories. After reading this book you
will never feel alone in your pain again.
Hannah Stone does a beautiful job of writing in a way that helps a grieving
parent know that this pain is real, but it is a pain that others have felt and have gotten through, and so will you. You will
have a better understanding of grief after reading these books, and you will be left with a feeling of compassion for your
grieving heart.
Clara Hinton
Author - Silent Grief
"Forever Our Angels" by Hannah Stone is a collection of heart-felt and heart-wrenching
stories from men and women alike that have all suffered child loss. Whether it be from miscarriage or still birth, each loss
is unexplainably hard to deal with. I personally don’t think it can ever be just dealt with. That child will always
hold a special place in your heart and there will be days when you remember something about that day and hurt all over again.
Each story
explains how the person felt when they found out they were expecting, how they started to feel when something was not quite
right, and the denial and guilt when they were told the horrible news. “ I’m sorry, there is no heartbeat, your
baby is dead.” Crushing all hopes for some that it was not meant to be, and then for others that keep their hopes up
of still conceiving in the future.
Miscarriage is more common than most think.
1 in 4 women suffer miscarriage early on; that saying about making it past the 12th week is not always true. The women in
this book lost the children at different times throughout the pregnancy; some had to have D&C’s when it was still
early enough and then others were faced with birthing their dead child.
I am one
of the one in four women that have had a miscarriage and I know personally how hard it is once you’ve lost the little
life growing inside of you that you yearn to snuggle with one day. I had the support of my husband and family, but they could
not really console me because it was me that had lost the child. I wish I had found this book right after my miscarriage,
I believe it would have helped ease the pain knowing that others have experienced the same kind of loss.
Hannah Stone is also the author of "Remembering Our Angels," another book on personal stores of healing
from pregnancy loss. Ms. Stone’s novella was heart warming and can bring a sense of peace to the reader that may have
experienced this kind of overwhelming pain. If you are in need of coping or needing to hear other stories to see that you’re
not alone, then please pick up "Forever Our Angels." It will help.
Crystal Adkins
www.bookreviewsbycrystal.blogspot.com
Forever Our Angels is a collection of raw stories from
women who have experienced pregnancy losses, and each story is unique. The book's emphasis is that miscarriages are NOT experiences
to hide or be ashamed of. Each one of these stories describes a much wanted pregnancy and emphasizes that what was lost is
worth grieving.
Readers will feel the pain of these essays; and there are no real words
to remove this pain. The author describes how friends and family may try to comfort with ineffective and actually hurtful
phrases that are meant with good intentions. Rather than saying such things as, "At least you have other children," the author
recommends that friends and family try to comfort those experiencing these losses by saying, "I hope you are comforted by
knowing I am sorry for you and I am thinking of you." Sometimes just being there and providing a shoulder to cry on can be
helpful.
American Society of Reproductive Medicine
Both [of Hannah Stone's]
books were beautifully written and I felt that Hannah Stone had progressed after Forever our Angels, to finding
a much better way of writing about each stage of pregnancy loss; grief and the healing process with her second book Remembering
our Angels. Both books are honest and simply written and will have a big impact upon the reader from whatever walk
of life.
Forever our Angels
gives the reader a chance to read of others’ experience of pregnancy loss, showing just how common it is and letting
us know we are not alone. It is well written and easy to take your time over. Remembering our Angels is written
in much more depth and I think that this would be much more useful for healing and managing grief. I would recommend this
book of the two purely because it covers so much unspoken ground for every aspect of pregnancy loss.
Both books are very touching
and the way they are set out makes them very easy to read and understand. Both have introductions from medical staff –
one doctor in Forever our Angels to many more in Remembering our Angels. I enjoyed reading
the views of the professionals in the first chapter and felt comforted that it is now realised that validating the loss of
all babies at whatever stage in pregnancy they are lost, is so important in the healing process.
Remembering our
Angels felt like more of a journey for me; going through each stage of pregnancy loss and reading of how others coped
with the experience and the grief. I felt that the point of this book is that they are still having to cope often without
adequate support which is needed so much after losing a baby in pregnancy.
There are many good ideas
of how to cope after pregnancy loss and many have had very positive experiences from being part of a group or organisation,
both personally and in helping others. Both books give the message that this should not be a silent grief. As a volunteer
for The Miscarriage Association, I found both extremely useful. They motivated me to appreciate that support for men, women
and families experiencing this hidden grief was paramount, helping me to help them.
I feel that the author
was very brave to touch on a subject so hidden and ignored in so many ways and I do think that many others will gain strength
by reading the stories of loss and survival. It is important to understand that pregnancy loss is a part of our lives and
to grow from it.
Lisa Taylor-Dowle
The Miscarriage Association
July 07
"Forever Our Angels" is a poignant anthology of heartfelt stories that
will comfort and reassure other bereaved parents that they are not alone in their grief."
Marty Tousley
APRN, BC, FT
Grief Counselor
www.griefhealing.com
FOREVER OUR ANGELS by Hannah Stone is a recent addition to the support
literature for parents  who have experienced a perinatal death. With a professional foreword by Dr. Goldman, outlining the features of crisis and
mourning facing bereaved parents, the book is divided into Chapters, each representing the chronicling of events, emotions
and issues facing individual parents who have experienced a loss.
While there are a number of books of personal accounts of perinatal loss
on the market, I found this offering by Ms. Stone to be particularly effective in outlining the complexity of events facing
mourning parents. Written in a facile style with personal essays regarding the whole chronology of each loss, FOREVER OUR
ANGELS presents in clear concise language the crisis of the medical milieu during and following a loss, as well as the
detailing of many emotions which parents are often unwilling to discuss publicly.
I believe this short but moving collection would be particularly effective
both in the hospital and out, especially for mothers and fathers who may be less likely or unable to pursue support-group
options: the book will allow them to verify their own emotions and experiences, allowing them to find common ground without
pursuing discussion groups which for some are impossible because of time, work or travel committments or for those parents
who because of their 'style' of mourning may not feel comfortable talking to strangers, even those who have experienced a
similar loss. Hannah Stone's first foray into writing in this genre is successful and helpful, bringing together her own experiences
of loss as well as the caring eye of a writer.
Dr. Elizabeth Kirkley Best
Author of "Forgotten Grief"
"Ms. Stone and others courageously offer a glimpse into what they suffered.
They offer comfort by acknowledging that a child did exist. "Forever Our Angels" is written simply and elegantly. It is with
honor that I recommend this book to those who have suffered a loss or those who know someone who has."
Debra Gaynor
"This compact book approaches pregnancy
loss from the perspectives of mothers and fathers who have experienced such a loss. The author put this book together with
the hope that these personal stories will show others who have experienced a miscarriage that their grief is all right and
they are not alone."
Cheryl K. Smith
Managing Editor
"Forever Our Angels" validates
the profound suffering of women who have experienced pregnancy loss. This validation is the first step towards healing."
Christiane Northrup, MD
Author of "Mother-Daughter Wisdom" (Bantam, 2005), "The Wisdom of Menopause" (Bantam, 2001), and "Women's Bodies, Women's
Wisdom" (Bantam, 1998)
"This is a book about pregnancy loss. Specifically, it includes about
17 non-fiction essays written as 1st-person accounts. Each of the essays is written by a real person who has experienced a
miscarriage. The book begins with an an introduction by a doctor of psychiatry, as well as a preface by the author Hannah
Stone.
Hannah's conviction that this is a neglected subject is clear, and she herself describes three miscarriages
that she experienced. The writers of the rest of the essays range in talent and skill, and the end result has the emotional
honesty of a support group, sharing and processing their losses. A few of them are so touching and so honest they're unlike
anything else I've ever read.
Take "Gwen" trying to find meaning from her lost baby, Ellie: "Her short life gave me
an invaluable lesson. I learned to not take anything for granted. We can say life is a miracle, but I never fully comprehended
what a gift it is until it was taken from me. I know Ellie is watching over us. She is my children's guardian angel. And when
we meet in heaven someday, I will finally get to hold her in my arms and tell her how much I love her."
Or "Alan"
discussing his personal loss as a husband: "The conventional wisdom is that men do their grieving alone but for me, the opportunity
to talk to others during the weeks following the loss was crucial. Many people came to me and said things like, 'I know there's
nothing that I can say except that we are thinking of you.' These sentiments are what helped carry me through."
I
feel like anything I would say at this point might trivialize these essays, and I don't want to do that. Each person's heartache,
loss, and honesty deserves more than that, and Hannah Stone deserves praise for bringing this book to publication. It could
not have been easy."
Stacey Cochran
Author of "Amber Page and the Lost Coral Stone"
"As a mother who lost 8 pregnancies before my sons were born, I found
these stories to be most comforting, offering unique insights and some that mirrored my own experience. The message is that
we are not alone, that others share our loss, that they are deeply sorry and thinking of us, offering their stories to help
us handle our own."
Lenore Goldfarb
www.AskLenore.info
Forever Our Angels - A reminder that you're not alone
"What really struck me about them was how they seemed
like such real people. The stories are told without fancy words designed to tug at your emotional heart strings. They are
told by parents who are sharing how they felt and discussing what they have gone through.
And that does give you something
to relate to. You will probably recognize elements of your own experiences in these writers' stories. It's helpful to know
you're not alone. In the fullness of the detail recounted by these writers, I almost wonder if this book is even better for
the friends and relatives and doctors of women who miscarry than it is for the women themselves. A reader would be hard pressed
to get through it without acquiring a better understanding for the experience of miscarriages."
Krissi Danielsson
Miscarriage Editor
www.bellaonline.com
"Hannah Stone's "Forever Our Angels" is a touching collection of first
hand accounts from both women and men who have suffered through the heartache and loss of a miscarriage. It brought tears
of comfort for me from my own personal loss, because it helped me understand that other people were as confused and lost as
I was during such a painful time. While this collection certainly will not give grieving parents and answers or a cure, it
does allow them to not feel alone.
The layout of the book is simple, with large text (large enough for bleary eyes
to read). The accounts are concise and to the point and low on technical terms.
"Forever Our Angels" is a good message
to give when you don't know what to say. Death is never easy to deal with, particularly when combined with the loss of potential
and what might have been. Hannah Stone's collection wraps a blanket of comfort around those grieving by allowing them to relate
to the personal experiences of others."
Julie A. Dawson
“It is a collection of stories from the heart that parents who go
through the loss of a baby will relate too.”
Cathy Fritea
Author of Tiny Hands Change the World
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