Katie walked 300,000 steps in September to support the Miscarriage Association
Katie walked 300,000 steps in September to support the Miscarriage Association.
I am not a jogger or a runner, but walking is something I could do, and every step was for the women who walked the miscarriage path before me, the ones who are walking it now, and those who will sadly come after us. At the end I felt like a weight had shifted on my shoulders. There are other people out there who will also need the support of the helpline, and I’m proud that I have helped contribute to keep it running so others can get the support I had.
In October 2020 I had a late miscarriage. As you can imagine it was an unpleasant experience, featuring a rush to hospital in a taxi at 11pm and an admission to A&E with very heavy bleeding, culminating with being discharged from a ward at 4pm the next afternoon.
My miscarriage was caused by a subchorionic haematoma. I was 15 weeks and 6 days pregnant when I lost “Tiny Human”, as we had named our baby. The 12-week scan had revealed the haematoma, but it had also shown a healthy baby with a good heartbeat. The loss came out of the blue and hit me and husband like a bus.
The lack of research around subchorionic haematomas left us without the answers we needed. And without these answers it became easy for me to find ways to blame myself. I would play over my actions in the weeks of my pregnancy, questioning what I should have done differently to prevent the haematoma and save my baby.
One afternoon in early December I found myself sobbing at my desk as I tried to work from home. Eventually I called the Miscarriage Association helpline and I’ll never forget the kindness I received from the woman at the end of the line as I cried my questions at her. Every reason I could think of to blame myself was carefully explained away with sympathy and understanding. I had been crying for about 3 hours at that point, but she calmed me down and helped me see that I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Sadly, I had another miscarriage back in April. So in September I decided to walk 300,000 steps to raise money for miscarriage charities including the Miscarriage Association.
It was hard work, I had to dedicate about 2 hours a day just to walking around. I am not a jogger or a runner, but walking is something I could do, and every step was for the women who walked the miscarriage path before me, the ones who are walking it now, and those who will sadly come after us. But at the end I felt like a weight had shifted on my shoulders. There are other people out there who will also need the support of the helpline, and I’m proud that I have helped contribute to keep it running so others can get the support I had.