A woman, who recently lost a baby after suffering a miscarriage, has turned to tattoos to express her grief. She posted the image of her miscarriage tattoo on a social site and it has since gone viral. She received a lot of comfort for her grief as well as compliments for her tattoo design. She also unexpectedly opened up a topic for discussion for something that's not being talked about a lot.
Joan Bremer, 31, miscarried in the seventh week of her first pregnancy and in striving to recover, she decided that a tattoo would help. Getting inked was something she had done before and each of her tattoos has significance in her life. Her miscarriage tattoo marks a painful time, but she told Today, "I still wanted to be able to remember it in some way."
The design she chose is symbolic and she even thought of future additions to her miscarriage tattoo. Joan Bremer said that if she is able to have a successful pregnancy later on, she plans on adding a rainbow to her the tattoo. "Since 'rainbow babies' are babies that are conceived after a loss," she said. If she suffers another unfortunate experience, she will add another heart to her miscarriage tattoo.
I had a miscarriage two weeks ago....
Just like Joan Bremer, plenty of women grieve the loss of their baby by getting a miscarriage tattoo and as online social sites like Pinterest and Instagram will show, this is actually becoming a popular trend. Here are some more examples of how other women have chosen to remember their baby with a miscarriage tattoo:
I am 1 in 4 #miscarriageawareness #miscarriagetattoo #1in4 #pregnancyloss
A photo posted by Lizzie Pagano (@saturdaysgoodbar) on Aug 24, 2015 at 4:25pm PDT
My new tattoo in memory of baby Sj. #miscarriage #awareness #miscarriagetattoo #new tattoo #tattoo
A photo posted by Shayna Jackson (@shayrj92) on Feb 22, 2016 at 6:00pm PST
A photo posted by Christina Williams (@christinalyce) on Apr 21, 2016 at 9:02pm PDT
Per the American Pregnancy Association, miscarriage is common among pregnant women. It happens in 10 to 25 percent of pregnancies. However, talking about miscarriage is uncommon, which is why there are plenty of misconceptions about it. Huffington Post cites the statistics on miscarriage and underscores how 40 percent of women feel they are alone in their experience.
Joan Bremer believes that her miscarriage tattoo is helping in her healing process as she is able to talk about it to other people. She further told Today that it was what motivated her to get inked as well.
On Imgur, where she first shared the image, dozens of women, as well as men with partners who miscarried, shared their own experience. Together, they are all coming to terms with their grief and loss, and it's thanks to a woman who bravely shared her miscarriage tattoo.
