Pregnancy & Infant Loss Program
Overview
UR Medicine Maternal-Fetal Medicine has several programs to help support families who experience pregnancy and infant loss. Our inpatient care includes medical assessments, delivery planning, memory making, lactation support and counseling, and funeral home arrangements. Our outpatient care supports families as they leave the hospital and work through grief and recovery.
Persephone Clinic
Led by Ponnila Marinescu, M.D. (Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Complex Family Planning), the Persephone Perinatal Loss Clinic provides comprehensive care and support for families experiencing pregnancy and infant loss. We offer dedicated time to review pregnancy and delivery courses, ultrasound findings, cytogenetic results, placental pathology, and autopsy results. The Persephone Clinic works with Maternal-Fetal Medicine Behavioral Health Services, providing a much-needed space to explore grief, emotions, and ways to heal.
What to Expect from the Pregnancy & Infant Loss Program
We offer comprehensive care and support for families experiencing pregnancy and infant loss. This may include support during labor and delivery and after discharge. Families will receive MyChart messages or phone calls from their OBGYN office to check in on them and schedule appointments to address medical care and mental health care. You are important to us always, and we want you to know that we care for you and your family.
Persephone Clinic
Appointments are scheduled 2-3 months after a loss event—this allows time and space away from the emotional gravity of the loss. It also allows time for testing results to return. Many families want to know how their pregnancy loss may impact future pregnancies. The visits coordinated through this clinic can also serve as preconception counseling visits.
What Sets Us Apart?
The Pregnancy and Infant Loss Program provides equal and individualized care for all families who experience perinatal and infant loss. The transition from Labor and Delivery care to care in the outpatient setting is designed to support families and facilitate ongoing healing continually. The Persephone Clinic is the first of its kind to provide comprehensive loss counseling and preconception planning.
Maternal-Fetal Medicine Granted AIUM Accreditation 2021-2024
Patient Education & Support
Local Events
The Remembrance Ceremony
This ceremony is held in October annually at Unity Hospital.
A night of memory-making and honoring babies lost due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss.
For more information email: courtney.savigny@rochesterregional.org
Wave of Light
October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day
Light a candle at 7 pm in all time zones, all over the world. Keep the candle burning for at least an hour. We create a wave of light over the entire world.
Keepsakes
Resources
- Bereaved Parents of the USA
- Compassionate Friends
- Don't Talk About the Baby - Documentary
- Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth
- Glow in the Woods
- Grieving Dads
- Hope After Loss
- MISS (Mothers In Sorrow & Sympathy) Foundation
- PALS - Pregnancy After Loss Support
- Postpartum Support International
- RTZ (Return to Zero) HOPE
- Seleni Institute
- Star Legacy Foundation
- Still Mothers
- Still Standing Magazine