Hello! I’m Jennie, a writer and journalist. I started this blog back in 2017, after my second miscarriage, as a way of making sense of what was happening to me (and my husband Dan). To me, back then, it felt as if no one was talking about miscarriage. Despite learning how common it was, I still felt like the loneliest person in the world. I was completely unprepared when it happened to me, twice, in quick succession – and I write about health for a living. There was one question that went around and around in my mind: Why had no one told me about any of this before?
Since then, we’ve had two more miscarriages (and a lot of tests) and this blog – which I never really expected anyone but my mum and Dan to read – has grown and grown. (I’ve recently started a newsletter to run alongside this site, too – you can sign up here if you’re interested). The Uterus Monologues has been featured by Vogue, Grazia, Marie Claire, the HuffPost, the Daily Mail and Red magazine. We’ve campaigned with and raised money for Tommy’s, the baby loss charity. In 2019 I was the recipient of the Tommy’s Mum’s Voice Award, which celebrates someone who has spoken about her experience of pregnancy and loss in order to give hope to others. I was also shortlisted for blogger of the year at the Medical Journalists’ Association annual awards.
You can read our story – in order – here, here, here, here then here and finally here. Whether you find yourself here because you’ve had one miscarriage or 20, or if you’re trying to understand how you can better support a friend or colleague, you are very welcome and I hope you find something that helps.
The words shared here are meant to pierce the silence that so often surrounds miscarriage, grief, fertility, and trying for a baby. Not everyone’s journey to parenthood is 2.4 straightforward, and I want to tell that side of the story. The complicated, messy bits. The bits before and after the fairytale ending.
What else? I love cats (we have three: Saga, Birgitte and Shearer) and books (significantly more than three). And, for me, life is not really living without walking and running outdoors – under the sky and preferably by the water – cake and really good coffee. I live in the hills between Manchester and the Peak District, with my husband, the cats and the books, and – at long last – our son.
This is our story. It is about loss – but also what we found in the process.
As featured in…
Portrait by Alice The Camera; Illustrations by Polly Crossman
The Uterus Monologues: Miscarriage, motherhood and me 