My Vow

We went out for dinner tonight and on my way to the door I passed a man with a tattoo on his arm:
"In memory of my son"
Now that could mean his son had an accident, or was ill, but it drew my mind back to the bloggers I've met over the net and I started to wonder, "how many are out here? how many parents who have lost a child to miscarriage, pre-term labour or stillbirth?" I also passed a woman who seemed to be trying hard to ignore the tow-headed cutie in the shopping cart next to her and she made me wonder too. My outlook is changed forever. I will never again ask a married couple when they are planning to have children. I will never again make the assumption that a pregnancy, even in the third trimester, equals a live baby. And if I ever have the heart-breaking task of helping a devastated parent through the loss of their precious baby I will remember what you have taught me.
Midwifery where I am doesn't yet offer many opportunities to do research, but this is my vow to anyone who has gone through the heartrending, life-changing and horrifying loss of a child to miscarriage, silent birth or pre-term labour: If I ever become involved in research I will try, with everything in me, to find out why.