A New Documentary Talks Openly About Pregnancy Loss
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2 min read"Don't Talk About the Baby" breaks the silence around miscarriage and stillbirth.
Of all the women you know, one in every three or four is likely to have lost a pregnancy.
That doesn’t mean you know who they are. They might not have told you — even if you’re close.
They may have felt ashamed of the loss, or not known how to talk about it, or assumed you wouldn’t want to hear about it. They might even have wondered if you’d respond with the kind of well-meaning words that can cut to the bone:
"You’re young — you can keep trying. You’ll have another."
"Did you exercise too much? Didn’t you used to be a smoker? Maybe you should cut back on coffee."
"At least you never got to know the baby, so there’s less to grieve."
Director Ann Zamudio explores the grief, hopes, fears, and frustrations of those who have gone through miscarriage, stillbirth, and infertility in her new feature-length documentary, "Don’t Talk About the Baby,” available to watch online today. The release date wasn’t chosen at random — October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
Zamudio began making the film in the aftermath of losing her first pregnancy. Active in online support groups for people grieving pregnancy loss and infertility, she found that people were eager to tell their stories — but they didn’t have any outlets for sharing them outside of their small groups of fellow sufferers.
“I got the sense that it wasn't something people wanted to hear,” Zamudio told me. “So, I'm not somebody who's content to just have a sad story. I want to research it and look at the roots. You know, why are people feeling this way? Why is this something that people feel embarrassed about? Why is it something that nobody wants to talk about?”
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