5 Prayers for Pregnancy After Loss

Pregnancy After Loss is a unique time for many grieving moms. Whether in the process of deciding to grow your family, trying to conceive, or long after bringing the baby home, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, anxious, dread, devastation, joy, gratitude,hope and any mix of emotions on any given day.

After hearing from hundreds of moms experiencing pregnancy after loss including our own personal experiences of multiple pregnancies after losses ourselves, we thought we’d share 5 Prayers for Pregnancy After Loss that grieving moms can actually use & remember as they’re on their own journeys.

These prayers are short, the kind of prayer you can say quickly in a moment of overwhelm or need, and are meant to point your heart to where true hope is found – in God and what he offers.

While these prayers may not be fully comprehensive or specific to every situation, we know that in the mix of all that is pregnancy after loss, simplest can be the most profound.

A PRAYER FOR ANXIETY: God, be near.

I recently heard a pastor share something along the lines of, “The antidote to fear isn’t a program or a 5-step process. It’s a person.” That person: Jesus. He’s the one the disciples called out to in the boat when the waves and wind were overwhelming. He’s the one who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

When you’re anxious, fearful, or overwhelmed, you can pray: God, be near.

**A PRAYER FOR NEXT STEPS: Spirit, lead.**

Whether you’re taking the next step of even considering trying to conceive again after loss or you’re making decisions on how you want to prepare for birth, you’re not alone. The Bible tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). We have the presence of the Holy Spirit who is our Counselor, so we can ask him to counsel us and make his steps our steps. No matter how big or small the step is, he delights to lead us.

Spirit, lead.

A PRAYER FOR THE PROCESS: Lord, help.

For the dark days, for the decision to make, for the process of being pregnant and for facing labor & delivery. These two words embody so much of what we need in all of the moments along the way. And just two words, an exhale. God knows what you’re carrying, so simply asking for him is the invitation our own hearts need to hear as we share the burden with him.

Help me face this bathroom trip. Help me face this appointment. This ultrasound, this next wave of morning sickness, this lack of feeling the baby kick. This fear of what’s to come…

Lord, help me.

**A PRAYER FOR THE BABY: God, give life.**

After losing a baby, no matter which stage of pregnancy or infancy, our innocence is lost. No longer is there an assumption that everything just happens like it’s supposed to. Far too often our eyes are wide open to repeating our own experiences or those we’ve met through the loss community. While that can increase our compassion and our care, it can also increase our awareness of all that can go wrong. In those moments where you’re thinking about or worried about your baby, simply pray for him or her.

Sustain her. Grow him big and strong. Keep his heart beating. Protect her. God, give life.

**A PRAYER FOR THE MOMENT: Keep me here, now.**

During pregnancy after loss, and in many other areas of our lives, it’s often simpler to look behind and look ahead and get lost in all of the memories and the future what-ifs. Anxiety grows biggest when what we’re fearing is vague. As Elisabeth Elliot admonished regarding grief, “Just do the next thing.” And the same is true in pregnancies after loss. Bringing your attention to the “right now” can help us to embrace, enjoy, and experience what’s happening in reality with our pregnancies and babies’ lives.

When we can’t do it ourselves, the best thing we can do is ask for help: Keep me present. Keep me in this moment.

Keep me here, now.