Maria Moynihan: The trauma is living without Danann..but it was a golden time, the time we had with him
What A Woman PodcastShow Notes
Content advisory - this episode covers miscarriage and baby loss
Maria Moynihan is a Features Editor with Irish Country Living of the Irish Farmers Journal and a columnist for Irish Country Magazine. As an accomplished writer and journalist, Maria is used to telling other people's stories but today she is telling us her own very personal and moving story about her beautiful son Danann who was diagnosed with Trisomy-18, a life limiting condition, during pregnancy and was stillborn in October 2019. This is a heartbreaking story but one that is also filled with hope as Maria talks about how she learned to stay in the moment as she made the most of Danann's short but very precious life and how the kindness of friends, family and strangers and the amazing care she received at Cork University Maternity Hospital from the clinical bereavement team helped Maria and her husband Danny find a way through it.
We also talk about coping with pregnancy after loss after Maria had her daughter Fallon fourteen months after Danann was born and how she has coped with two recent miscarriages which she describes as a lonely experience and hard to talk about, even though she has been very open about her grief before. One in four pregnancies end in loss and yet there still seems to be a lack of information and openness about miscarriage that can allow people to be more prepared to cope when it happens.
This is a very special conversation that will stay with us and we feel privileged to share it with you and be part of seeing Danann's legacy continue.
To find more information and support you can go to: trisomy.org; miscarriage.ie; pregnancyandinfantloss.ie
Follow Maria:
Instagram: @mariamoynihan
Twitter: @MoynihanMaria
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