Miscarriage Ministry
Miscarriage Ministry: A partnership between Jill Elizabeth Art (Jill Rund) & Small Things Great Love (Allison Seitz)
As mothers intimate with the pain of losing a little one in miscarriage, we came together as artisans to create products meant to offer a bit of comfort for other women who are just beginning their personal journeys through this immense suffering.
Product Offerings:
Visit Miscarriage Ministry – Jill Elizabeth Art to view and order products in this collection.
For other products from Small Things Great Love, please visit Rosaries and other handmade goods by Allison by smallthingsgr8love (etsy.com)
Ministry Recommendations:
It is our desire to minister to women as soon as possible after a miscarriage, and that often happens when they are with a medical professional. Our recommendation based upon feedback from other healthcare providers:
- During the first interaction with the patient who is miscarrying, give them the keepsake and small card (rosary if Catholic, bracelet if not).
- A week or two later, send the sympathy card signed by the staff with condolences.
As mothers who have personally grieved this loss, having a sympathy card come later was balm for our weary hearts. After the rest of the world seems to have moved on, it is nice to know our providers remember our broken hearts and our precious children.
Personal Testimonies:
My name is Jill Rund and in July of 2018, my family gained a little saint in heaven. We had only learned of my pregnancy just 3-weeks prior; but in those short weeks, I had felt our Vivian Martin grow within me, change everything about my eating, sleeping, thinking. My baby had already lived many lifetimes; every inch, every giggle, every future gaze into this mother’s eyes had been imagined and re-imagined.
A doctor on call, told me that “the product of my pregnancy” would likely pass on its own. This was a Catholic hospital; his words pierced my heart. As I waited for my body to naturally miscarry, the world went on. There were meals to make, kids who needed to be played with, groceries to buy, family responsibilities to complete. I marched in a funeral procession, in which I was the coffin and no one else in the world seemed to realize it. In this darkness, I met Our Lady of Sorrows and she, on one side and Jesus on the other, held me up, sobbed with me, and eventually, led me to joy again.
When I envision my sweet Vivian in heaven, I see her opening her eyes for the first time, not to bask in the love of this heartbroken mother, but instead, opening her eyes to the profound, all-encompassing love of our Father. Truly, this is the only peace I have, and because I believe, this is enough.
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My name is Allison Seitz and I have a little saint in heaven. We named our baby Christian Peter Maria. He was not yet 9 weeks when we had learned of his birth into eternal life. My husband and I were crushed; we were devastated. It took us 7 months to conceive this little one and all of our dreams and joy came to a halt when they could not find a heartbeat. That was May 2020.
Since then, we have found moments of comfort in knowing that our sweet boy is with the Lord. We have found a place to live where deep pain and true joy can exist together. We still have moments of trembling sadness that result in tears at a Verizon store or having to kindly decline an invitation to a baby shower.
We have found the most peace through celebrating the Sacraments, sharing about our loss and pain, and then doing what we call, random act of kindness to remember Christian. This ministry was born out of a desire to honor and remember our baby and to walk with women who suffer the loss of a little one in miscarriage or infant death.