Every year, 26,000 babies are stillborn in America. In 2003, one of them was my son.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Still Here

One of my Facebook friends, Janel Atlas (editor of the anthology They Were Still Born: Personal Stories about Stillbirth, in which an essay about Ben's death will appear) (now available for pre-order on Amazon! And Barnes & Noble!) posted a link to this interesting article about how fetal cells remain in the mother's body for years after the baby's delivery.

Dr. Diana Bianchi (not to be confused with the Diana Bianchi who broke up Christie Brinkley's marriage to Peter Cook) is a pediatrician and researcher in fetal cell migration. She discovered, a decade ago, that fetal cells remain in a mother's body for many years, perhaps forever, after a pregnancy, whether that pregnancy is full-term or not. These cells somehow assist in healing the body, providing a therapeutic effect, migrating to the site of an injury or source of an illness, doing what they can to fix the problem.

Amazing, no?

They're still here, our babies. Still with us, still residing in our bodies. Not them, but part of them. And that makes me feel much differently about losing my son.

3 comments:

Monica H said...

I love the thought of that. After all, they do "assist in healing" no matter where they are.

Anonymous said...

I lost my sweet baby just 10 days ago. It is such a blessing to read your words. I know she will always be apart of me. Thank you for the affirmation.

Virginia said...

Coley, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'll be thinking of you in the hard days ahead. Your darling girl will always be a part of you, no matter what. Hugs.