Curious if other bereaved/baby loss mamas have or want remembrance tattoos of their little one?
I'll preface this by saying I have a lot of tattoos (24 and counting). The first tattoo I had done in honor of my Duncan was his footprints on top of my feet. It was a rather impulsive decision about two weeks after having him. I had it done Thanksgiving evening. I also have a half sleeve (forearm) I am still working on. It has his birth date in Roman numerals surrounded by stars (to quote Carl Sagan... "we are made of star stuff."), and then I had the "I Love You Forever" quote added to it (from the I Love You Forever Children's book. Still my childhood favorite). And on the side of my forearm the title of one of my favorite contemporary classical pieces from a favorite composer Clint Mansell "Death is the road to awe." I listened to the score, along with a couple others, a lot after losing him. I turned to music for therapy, and that piece resonates with me on such a deep level. After I have this baby I will get it completed.
I also have a quarter sleeve with my kids' birth month flowers. His is the orange chrysanthemum. Citrine is the November birthstone, so I wanted it to be that orange-y color (though he was due in December). I have a "tree of life" on my upper right arm that I eventually want to add bird silhouettes to.
My chest piece is highly symbolic as well. I love Eastern philosophies, and study them (especially Buddhism and Taoism). In Japanese culture cherry blossoms symbolize the impermanence of life.
Most of my chest piece can be seen in this photo.
G 12.04 | E 11.06 | D 11.08 | H 12.09 | R 11.14 | Expecting #6 2.16.18.
I don't have any Memorial tattoos yet, but I've been trying to think of a fitting design for my Fenix. Once my husband's tattoo heals I'll post his phoenix tattoo that he got in honor.
Following.
BFP #1 12/19/13 We lost our Fenix 7/31/14 at 36 weeks due to torn umbilical cord
I want one on the inside of my wrist. I don't have any and I'm sure many people will be surprised or think it is out of character when I get it. I think I will wait until March and mark Ben's birthday with it. Here's what I want.
I'm thinking of getting one with the lyrics of "Godspeed" (that we played at their memorial) or something that says "I still carry you." I think it is great to get a tattoo for your angel!
@Manada and I decided shortly after the loss of Tavin and Casey what tattoos we wanted, but we haven't actually made an appointment to get them yet.
M is bear clan and when we got pregnant with twins she decided that it made sense since bears have twins. So we want to get a silhouette (or maybe not a silhouette) of two bear cubs together with a yellow butterfly flying above them. We are thinking we will get the exact same tattoo and probably in the same place on both of us. As of our last conversation on the subject, we were thinking upper back.
In addition to butterflies obviously being the symbol for perinatal and infant loss, on the afternoon that M was in labour we saw out our fifth floor hospital window that a yellow butterfly was flitting around-- it even seemed like it was trying to get in the room. So, yellow butterflies, in particular, have been special to us since our loss 8 weeks ago.
****loss discussed*****
We're queer. I'm 33, have severe stage 4 endo, and had both fallopian tubes removed. My love ("Manada" on the boards, 32) was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve. We did Partner IVF (my eggs, her uterus). We lost our twins Tavin and Casey at 21 weeks gestation.
Our IUIs with @Manada: IUI# 1-7 (December 2012- September 2013) all BFN. Tried natural, femara, clomid, puregon/follistim, clomid and menopur combo, both the ovidrel and HCG triggers.
Our IVFs: IVF #1 my eggs November/December 2013: Cancelled IVF due to poor response
IVF #2 my eggs/Manada's uterus January/February 2014 BCPs and lupron overlap Stimmed: 1/22-2/2: Bravelle and Menopur (dosage ranged from B300 and M150 to B375 and M150 to B300 and M225) 2/4 retrieved 10 eggs. Endo was much worse than expected. Only 3 eggs fertilized; February 7 transferred two day 3 embryos, froze one. All great condition. BFP eve of 6dp3dt; Beta 1 (11dp3dt): 110; Beta 2 (13dp3dt): 175; Beta 3 (15dp3dt): 348; Beta 4 (19dp3dt): 2222; Beta 5 (21dp3dt): 4255 1st ultrasound (3/6 6w 1d): TWINS!!!! Twin A measuring 6w1d with a heartbeat of 118bpm. Twin B measuring 6w0d with a heartbeat of 113bpm.
***July 18, 2014 we lost our beautiful babies at 21 weeks gestation. They were born too early. Tavin Sara T. and Casey Elizabeth T. are beautiful and precious and we will love them and miss them forever.***
FET #1 December 2014
Intralipid infusion on Dec 10. Transfer of 1 day 3 nine-cell embryo into my uterus on Dec. 19. (acupuncture immediately before and after)
BFP on Dec. 27; Beta 1 Jan 2 (14dp3dt): 665, Beta 2 Jan 4 (16dp3dt): 1859, Beta 3 Jan 6 (18dp3dt): 4449, Beta 4 Jan 10 (22dp3dt): 12,251.
I've got my appointment set for August 24. A friend of mine advised me that when getting a tattoo, her rule of thumb is to plan out everything about it (image, location, colors, etc) and then wait for a year. If you change anything, the year starts over. Once you're happy with the idea for a year, you'll be happy with the tattoo. So I made my rendering and picked my location, and then I was pregnant with my rainbow, so it got pushed back a bit more. But now that we've welcomed him, I'm all set to get my Ellie tattoo. I'm getting an elephant with a balloon on my shoulder blade and a star at the base of my neck. The third pic is an image of a back I pulled off of google to show the artist placement.
My husband and I both have Jack's right foot print tattooed over our hearts. Mine is slightly higher because I would have had a mental break if my boobs stretched it out. We impulsively got them the day I came home from the hospital because I couldn't stand being in the house and tattoo parlors and bars were the only things open.
"I hate the term 'we're expecting'. Expecting indicates that there could be more than one outcome. To me, that term could be properly finished with any number of things, like, 'We're expecting a baby, but it could be a velociraptor..."
For whatever reason, The Bump won't let me upload pictures anymore, but my husband and I both got memorial tattoos about two weeks after we lost our baby, Georgia (in May).
I got the lyrics, "just an old, sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind" in a pretty script on the inner side of my right lower arm. My husband got her foot prints and name/dates on his left lower arm.
Re: Memorial tattoos?
I don't have any Memorial tattoos yet, but I've been trying to think of a fitting design for my Fenix. Once my husband's tattoo heals I'll post his phoenix tattoo that he got in honor.
Following.
October 2011 - DS (7)
July 2014 - Stillborn DD (24 weeks)
August 2015 - DD (3)
April 2018 - 5 week loss
M is bear clan and when we got pregnant with twins she decided that it made sense since bears have twins. So we want to get a silhouette (or maybe not a silhouette) of two bear cubs together with a yellow butterfly flying above them. We are thinking we will get the exact same tattoo and probably in the same place on both of us. As of our last conversation on the subject, we were thinking upper back.
In addition to butterflies obviously being the symbol for perinatal and infant loss, on the afternoon that M was in labour we saw out our fifth floor hospital window that a yellow butterfly was flitting around-- it even seemed like it was trying to get in the room. So, yellow butterflies, in particular, have been special to us since our loss 8 weeks ago.
We're queer. I'm 33, have severe stage 4 endo, and had both fallopian tubes removed. My love ("Manada" on the boards, 32) was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve. We did Partner IVF (my eggs, her uterus). We lost our twins Tavin and Casey at 21 weeks gestation.
Our IUIs
with @Manada: IUI# 1-7 (December 2012- September 2013) all BFN. Tried natural, femara, clomid, puregon/follistim, clomid and menopur combo, both the ovidrel and HCG triggers.
Our IVFs:
IVF #1 my eggs November/December 2013: Cancelled IVF due to poor response
IVF #2 my eggs/Manada's uterus January/February 2014
BCPs and lupron overlap Stimmed: 1/22-2/2: Bravelle and Menopur (dosage ranged from B300 and M150 to B375 and M150 to B300 and M225)
2/4 retrieved 10 eggs. Endo was much worse than expected. Only 3 eggs fertilized; February 7 transferred two day 3 embryos, froze one. All great condition.
BFP eve of 6dp3dt; Beta 1 (11dp3dt): 110; Beta 2 (13dp3dt): 175; Beta 3 (15dp3dt): 348; Beta 4 (19dp3dt): 2222; Beta 5 (21dp3dt): 4255
1st ultrasound (3/6 6w 1d): TWINS!!!! Twin A measuring 6w1d with a heartbeat of 118bpm. Twin B measuring 6w0d with a heartbeat of 113bpm.
***July 18, 2014 we lost our beautiful babies at 21 weeks gestation. They were born too early. Tavin Sara T. and Casey Elizabeth T. are beautiful and precious and we will love them and miss them forever.***
FET #1 December 2014
TTC since 10/2010
IUIs # 1-5 = BFFN
IVF # 1(July 2012) = BFN
IVF # 2 (November 2012) = BFP (MIssed MC D&C @ 8w3d on 1/10/13)
My Blog
BFP# 1 7/7/12 Beautiful DD born still at 36 weeks 5 days on 3/2/13
Diagnosed with PCOS in 2005. Started Metformin July 2013
Please be our rainbow!!
**All AL Welcome**
DS1 - 7/2011, DD 12/2012, DS2 - 4/2014, MMC - 12/2015
DS1 - 7/2011, DD 12/2012, DS2 - 4/2014, MMC - 12/2015
DS1 - 7/2011, DD 12/2012, DS2 - 4/2014, MMC - 12/2015