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Here
are some of the articles we have been in The Grimsby Evening
Telegraph.(Our thanks to the Grimsby Evening Telegraph for
allowing us to use them.)
Caring
hand in times of need
By Gemma
Towle
Women
in North East Lincolnshire who have suffered the tragedy of
miscarriage have got somewhere to turn for help and advice
thanks to the work of a young Grimsby mother. Elly Dolan,
who suffered a miscarriage herself last year, has set up Grimsby
Miscarriage Support which meets every month to give people
the chance to talk about their experiences and offer advice.
The latest initiative of the group is a library of books available
to loan to women wanting to learn more about miscarriages.
Mrs Dolan,
who now has an eight-week-old daughter Molly, said: "When
you have had a miscarriage the last thing you want to do is
go looking for somewhere that can help. You just do not have
the strength. We decided that by making these books available
people could have easy access to help and advice." Mrs Dolan
said when she lost her baby, 23 weeks through her pregnancy,
she found hospital staff extremely helpful, but after leaving
the ward she felt alone and lost and did not know which way
to turn. "I did not know anyone who had had a miscarriage
and did not know who to talk to about it. It was a traumatic
experience and I did not have the strength to go and look
for a service that would be able to help," said Mrs Dolan.
After
receiving donations from local businesses Millennium Inorganic
Chemicals and Tioxide, members of the group opted to buy a
selection of books which will be of use for years to come.
"Some of the titles are quite difficult to get hold of and
a few are from America. It is something we hope to keep adding
to as more titles become available," said Mrs Dolan.
The Grimsby Miscarriage Support group is held
on the first Monday of the month between 7.30pm and 9pm off
Ward B1 and books can also be borrowed then.
Easing
pain of baby loss
A Grimsby
woman is attempting to offer more support to expectant mothers
who have lost previous babies at the early stages of pregnancy
by launching ante-natal miscarriage awareness stickers.
Elly
Dolan, of Birch Avenue, runs Grimsby Miscarriage Support -
a group aimed at offering help, advice and a listening ear
to women who have lost babies through miscarriage. The group
is hoping to raise awareness among medical staff of previous
miscarriages by using the brightly coloured stickers on women's
ante natal notes when they fall pregnant again after suffering
a miscarriage.
The use
of the sticker would be at the discretion of the patient,
but by choosing to use the small sign she would be informing
her health care professional that she wishes the loss to be
acknowledged. Mrs Dolan, who has one daughter, Molly, said
it can be upsetting if medical staff are unaware of previous
losses.
She said:
"I found being asked 'Is this your first pregnancy?' when
I was expecting Molly really painful and I felt I had to then
go on to explain that it was not my first pregnancy and that
I had actually had a late miscarriage, which I found really
hard."
Mrs
Dolan said the idea of the stickers is to alleviate the sort
of discomfort she experienced. Midwife with a lead role in
early pregnancy loss at Grimsby Maternity Hospital, Elaine
Boothby, said the idea was a good one.
"The
idea is to alert other health care professionals that there
has been a loss. Some ladies are very anxious about it and
it will make things easier for them," she said.
Grimsby
Miscarriage Support group meets on the first Monday of every
month off ward B1 at the Diana, Princess of
Wales Hospital, Grimsby, between 7.30pm and 9pm.
Article
and picture courtesy of The Grimsby Evening Telegraph.
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