A Campaign For More Rainbow Clinics

The Rainbow Clinic is a specialist service for pregnant women and their families after having suffered a stillbirth or neonatal death.

Since approximately half of all stillbirths are unexplained, parents feel powerless in a following pregnancy and need help to prevent it from happening again.

Unfortunately, the standard of care given to these families varies a lot across the country, generally with no continuity.

At a Rainbow Clinic, families will find differentiated services, intended to build a clear prospect of a better outcome.

Families will have a diagnosis for their loss: Some future losses can be prevented with simple measures taken at the pre-conception stage or early on in the pregnancy.

The mother will have access to as many appointments as she wants for reassurance, or more exams, such as ultrasounds. She will also participate actively in the plan of her prenatal care, have access to emotional support and be taken good care of by staff that will have been trained on the topic of loss moms in order to learn sensitive communication.

The Rainbow Clinic model has proven to:

Prevent 90% of stillbirths | Reduce prematurity by 50%

Reduce NICU stay by 50% | Reduce the number of moms going to the emergency room

Fernanda Sheridan (mother to Natalie) is the mother that brought the rainbow clinics (the preeminent model for treating pregnancy after loss) to the US from the UK. She launched the first ever US rainbow clinic with Dr. Joanne Stone at Mount Sinai. The second rainbow clinic in the US will soon be launched at Columbia University.

My story

In 2018, I lost my daughter Natalie at 38 weeks of gestation after a completely healthy pregnancy. I had an ultrasound on a Wednesday, which Natalie passed with flying stars: she weighed 6,8 pounds, was learning to breathe and getting ready for birth.

That night, she made wild movements, but I didn’t think much of it. The next day, she didn’t move much and I hesitated to look for help – I failed her. That same day, I went into labor and heard the most horrific phrase a new mother can hear: “There’s no heartbeat”. It was the first time I heard the term “stillbirth”. The following morning, I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Natalie, with big lips and a button nose.

After my loss, I obsessively started researching about stillbirth and I found out that other developed countries were doing much better in preventing this heartache of loss.

Fernanda Sheridan

Statistics

22,000 babies die of stillbirth in the USA every year – 15 times more than SIDS.

The USA has one of the worst stillbirth rates among developed countries.

Black women are 2 to 3 times more likely to suffer a stillbirth.

Women who have had stillbirths are 5X more likely to have another.

Facts

After one stillbirth…

… the mother is 5x more likely to have another stillbirth.

… the next pregnancy has an increased risk of other complications, including pre-eclampsia, placental abruption and low birthweight. Pregnancy after a loss is also associated with increased psychological, emotional and social challenges.

For more Rainbow Clinics

In order to improve outcomes, a model of OBGYN care was created in 2013 by Dr. Alex Heazell at the University of Manchester. Clinics adopting his standard of care are called Rainbow Clinics. A Rainbow Clinic is a specialist OBGYN service for women and their families in a pregnancy following a stillbirth or neonatal death.

In partnership with Mount Sinai, under the leadership of Dr. Joanne Stone, the first Rainbow Clinic was founded in the USA.

At the Mt. Sinai Rainbow Clinic, women have access to more frequent appointments, higher continuity of care, and an empathetic approach by a highly trained staff. The clinic also attempts to diagnose the cause for the previous loss so the team can try to address any potential problem from the beginning of the pregnancy. In addition, the clinic provides families with emotional support throughout the next pregnancy to help reduce fear, anxiety and stress that, by itself, can impact the pregnancy.

Our goal is to help build more Rainbow Clinics throughout the USA so any family that has endured a loss will have a place to go for specialized care and a better chance to bring a living baby home.

Ultimately, Mt. Sinai Rainbow Clinic team are fighting to improve the standard of care for all mothers, so that no one has to needlessly endure the loss of a baby to have access to better care.

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