CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The loss of a baby at birth remains a heartbreaking reality for so many families in the Carolinas, and nationwide.
According to the CDC, stillbirths affect about 1 in every 175 births, which is about 21,000 families a year. Ahead of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day on Oct. 15, one Charlotte-area woman is turning her own grief into action to help families heal.
"I wanted to give up," Carlo Dawson said, describing when she lost her son, Cade, in December 2006.
Dawson said Cade's heart stopped beating while he was still in the womb. She had to immediately prepare to deliver him.
"I remember having to give my baby back," Dawson said. "My world came to an end. I had to learn to love myself again, and learn to love life again."
Dawson said after burying her son, she was left with a small box of his items to ease the pain in her heavy heart.
"I have his birth gown, his birth bracelet and death certificate," Dawson said.
She went through several stages of feeling alone, hurt and angry. All those emotions fueled Dawson to help other women cope with the tragedy of losing a child.
"Through my son’s loss I have been able to write music, and I wrote the song 'Only God Knows,'" Dawson explained. "I call it 'Cade's Lullaby.'"
She says it's a song she hopes brings other women and families who are facing the same issue.
"As I kept going through the song I started speaking to all those who didn’t have a voice through all those years," Dawson said.
She's also written poems and books to show support and help grieving families. Her message is to remind folks that stillbirth is still birth and a miscarriage is still a carriage.
"A lot of times, people just want to know someone has gone through it and oftentimes, people and families feel alone," Dawson said.
She says surviving grief is a process, and her book highlights the different stages for those who've held their child's hand only for a while, but their hearts forever.
You can listen to Cade's Lullaby here for free, or you can purchase the song or poem on Amazon. Click here to visit Carlo Dawson's website to learn more.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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