Marriage After Baby Loss & How the 5 Love Languages Can Help a Grieving Couple | Episode 166 with Candy McVicar

Episode 166

This week on the podcast I am honored to be talking with Candy McVicar, author, speaker, and devoted advocate for families who are grieving a baby or child. After experiencing the stillbirth of her daughter Grace, she founded and became Executive Director of Missing GRACE Foundation, whose mission is to provide support, resources, and education for families and professional care providers when there is loss of a baby, infertility, or adoption challenges.

Candy is joining us today to share her motherhood journey with us and also to talk about navigating marriage after the loss of a baby. Candy is the author of the book: Holding on to Love After You've Lost a Baby: The 5 Love Languages® for Grieving Parents and during our time together she explains what the 5 love languages are and how knowing them and implementing that knowledge into your marriage after loss can help you grieve with your spouse or partner, find healing and be stronger as a unit.

Candy not only shares her personal experience of navigating marriage after the loss of her baby, experience that will remind you that you are not alone in the difficulty of grieving with your spouse or partner but she also shares incredibly practical and helpful wisdom about how to grieve and grow together – I am sure it is going to bless you.

QUESTIONS DISCUSSED IN EPISODE 166

How did you/do you grieve differently than your husband and how have you navigated those differences?
What was different about grieving together after you lost your daughter Grace & after you lost Promise? What was similar?
How did you learn to grieve together as a married couple? What practical tips do you have for couples as they grieve together?
You mentioned that “Learning the love languages and how to apply them has been foundational for the health of my marriage. I've been married for twenty-two years to Stephen, and though we've gone through some of the most painful experiences, we are so close and I'm incredibly grateful to do life side by side with my beloved." - Can you tell us what the love languages are in case anyone is unfamiliar with them and how understanding them has impacted your marriage?
You wrote a book called: “Holding on to Love After You've Lost a Baby: The 5 Love Languages® for Grieving Parents.” Will you share a little more about using the five love languages through grief?
You also write about the importance of understanding your spouse’s unique grieving needs and what it looks like to support him/her – what wisdom would you give to another grieving mom about what it looks like practically to best support her spouse?
What is one final word of encouragement you would give to a couple navigating grief and life after loss?

Resources mentioned

Intimacy after Baby Loss, Episode No. 117 with Libby Marler
5 Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman
Holding on to Love After You've Lost a Baby: The 5 Love Languages® for Grieving Parents by Dr. Gary Chapman & Candy McVicar
Love Languages Quiz

MEET CANDY

Candy McVicar is an author, inspirational speaker, and devoted advocate for families who are grieving a baby or child. After experiencing the stillbirth of her daughter Grace, she founded and became Executive Director of Missing GRACE Foundation, whose mission is to provide support, resources, and education for families and professional care providers when there is loss of a baby, infertility, or adoption challenges. Candy has been a featured guest on Fox News, Focus on the Family and Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and their two daughters.

Connect with Candy