New online miscarriage resource
A new website will provide medical and sensitive information to people who have experienced a first trimester miscarriage.
It’s a collaboration between the Pregnancy Loss Research Group and Infant Research Centre at UCC and is designed to guide users through what to expect when a miscarriage happens, what to do and how to access appropriate services.
Corkmiscarriage.com will be used alongside the care and support women receive in maternity hospitals and it will also be a helpful resource for clinical staff who care for bereaved parents through the difficult journey of miscarriage.
The team behind the website say it the first of its kind in Ireland.
Anna Maria Verling, who was involved in setting up the website, said: “We identified a particular gap in the information and support available to women and their partners who experience first trimester miscarriage.
“Couples need to have access to reliable, medically accurate information when healthcare professionals may not be available to answer their questions and alleviate their worries. Developing an online resource meets this need.”
Rachel Rice, a parent advocate who was also involved in the website, said: “It wasn’t until I experienced pregnancy loss, that I realised how unprepared I was for the physical and emotional reality of miscarriage.
“It is not always possible at the time of diagnosis to take in all the information that is provided by healthcare professionals.
“It would have made such a difference to have had access to understandable and reliable information that I could have referred to at any time, day or night.” Dr Keelin O’Donoghue and her team at Infant in UCC are investigators in the area of pregnancy loss and perinatal death.
Dr O’Donoghue said: “This website highlights the importance of the research group, bereaved parents, clinical staff and the Infant team working collaboratively and applying expertise from different backgrounds and perspectives to create a resource to support the women, partners and families that we care for.”
The website will provide information on pregnancy, pregnancy concerns, miscarriage symptoms, miscarriage types, management and services, feelings and emotions as well as pregnancy after miscarriage.
While the website is specific to the services operating in CUMH, the information is relevant to parents and maternity services nationally and internationally. See Corkmiscarriage.com for more.