'Baby Loss Is So Often Unacknowledged': Miscarriages More Common Than Many Would Think
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Tori Foles, whose husband is former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, revealed Wednesday that she had a miscarriage over the weekend. Miscarriages are more common than one would think with about 3 million happening each year in the United States.
Between 10% to 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Doctors say it's often a traumatic experience, especially emotionally.
On Instagram, Tori Foles said it was a "pretty devastating process," describing the miscarriage she had on Sunday.
Foles said she was 15 weeks pregnant with their second child – a boy – when she went into sudden labor.
"The emotions go back and forth from immense and overwhelming sadness, confusion and anger," she wrote in her Instagram post, "to a firm belief that God has this fully in his hands and will use this for good."
Kim Morrison, a therapist at Main Line Health Women's Emotional Wellness Center, says anger, confusion, deep sadness and anxiety are common among women who go through a miscarriage.
Morrison also commends Foles for revealing what's often kept secret.
"Baby loss is so often unacknowledged," Morrison said, "and when it's unacknowledged, I think a lot of the emotions that naturally arise from it, women can question themselves. It contributes to a lot of isolation, which obviously in terms of loss, we need to envelop a woman with support."
"That makes it very difficult to do when it's not being recognized to begin with," Morrison added.
Tori and Nick Foles have a daughter, who he was holding during Super Bowl LII celebrations.
In the Instagram post, Tori Foles wrote she learned that she had pneumonia and a blood infection after the miscarriage.
"We have so much compassion and sensitivity to those who have gone through a miscarriage at any point and in any circumstance," she wrote. "We know they all happen very differently."
Foles wrote that she's finally home from the hospital recovering physically and now on antibiotics. She says she's feeling better, but emotionally it'll take some time.
The Foles live in Jacksonville now after Nick Foles, the former Super Bowl MVP quarterback, signed with the Jaguars during the offseason.
