CLEVELAND — Every year a family will mourn the loss of a child through prenatal loss, which includes miscarriages, stillbirths or neonatal loss. University Hospitals says 24,000 or one out of 160 families in the U.S. experience this devastation.
“It's so important that parents be provided with that support. Sometimes parents are told during their pregnancy that they are going to lose their pregnancy and so we have the support right there, even when they are given that information,” said Dr. Sheryl Kingsberg, Chief of Behavioral Medicine OBGYN at UH McDonald Women’s Hospital.
Kingsberg says the level of support and care families need from healthcare providers is unique and required. While UH has various resources to help, the hospital is now presenting a playwright film to help with training, called “I Hate This (A Play Without the Baby).”
The film will premiere publicly at the Playhouse Square Theater on October 15 at 7 p.m. in honor of World Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
“It is profoundly moving. It is very difficult and that's why we have an expert panel at the end of the play to make sure that the audience has the chance to express their own feelings about this and have some guidance as to how to process this,” Kingsberg said. “This is a very impactful play. We're going to use it for training purposes so that our caregivers and our staff have access to it so that we can process what their own feelings may be about watching this.”
While the play turned film comes with a trigger warning, it’s the testimony of Playwright, David Hansen. In their early 30’s, Henson and his wife Toni were expecting their first child. At the 30-week checkup, the couple learned their son had died.
“My wife was suffering pre-eclampsia which not only led to the death of our child at 30 weeks but also was a great health risk to my wife as well,” Hansen said. “It was a shock and it was a surprise to learn all of these things. You’re learning one set of things to prepare for a living child and then you have to make all of these other decisions.”
The autobiographical solo performance is an outward display of Henson’s frustration, recrimination, guilt, sorrow, and ultimate acceptance of the loss of his and his wife’s first-born son. The act also portrays family, friends, and medical staff.
“We went through some extraordinary circumstances. Not just the tragedy that really starts the play but the interactions that we had with family and friends,” said Hansen. “It was that story that we wanted to share with as many people as possible.”
Their grief was felt firsthand by many other families here in Cleveland.
“The arts when they’re at their best have the capacity to bring us together and the capacity to help us heal and to learn and to put ourselves into somebody else’s shoes and experience their perspective. This play does that better than any play I think I’ve ever seen,” said Daniel Hahn, VP of Education, at Playhouse Square.
While tragedy is part of Hansen’s testimony, hope is present as well. The couple has since expanded their family with two kids. Their family aims to allow a safe space for others to grieve and provide a new way of looking at life while coping with prenatal loss.
