Life after death: the bereavement midwife's role in later pregnancies

The ‘Clinicians in the Classroom’ series of articles explored the value of expert clinicians sharing their expertise in the classroom setting (Power, 2016). One of the articles featured Tracy Rea (Bereavement Midwife) who regularly contributes to the pre-registration midwifery programme at the University of Northampton and who invited Chris and Kate to a session to share their experiences of the loss of their son Stanley and their subsequent pregnancy (Power and Rea, 2016). This article will follow Tracy back into the clinical area to look at her role in supporting bereaved families through subsequent pregnancies and will include the reflections of a second year student midwife (Sharon) who spent time with Tracy in her specialist antenatal clinic and peer support group ‘The Butterfly Group’.