Pregnancy Loss and Stillbirth Support: How a Bereavement Doula Can Help
Holistic Heritage Birth Services offers birth and bereavement doula services for families experiencing pregnancy loss, stillbirth, infant loss, or a life-limiting prenatal diagnosis in the Piedmont and Triangle areas of North Carolina.
A bereavement doula is a trained, non-medical support person who walks alongside individuals and families. During a time that can feel overwhelming and isolating, a bereavement doula offers compassionate presence, emotional support, and gentle guidance. Rather than trying to “fix” grief, a bereavement doula holds space for it — honoring each family’s unique experience and choices.
Bereavement doulas may support families during medical appointments, labor or birth related to loss, and the days and weeks that follow. This care can include listening without judgment, helping parents understand their options, advocating for their wishes, and supporting meaningful memory-making and rituals that honor their baby at any stage in pregnancy .
Grief has no timeline, and loss deserves to be acknowledged with care and dignity. A bereavement doula helps ensure families do not have to walk this path alone — offering steady support, compassion, and presence during one of life’s most tender moments.
Early pregnancy loss birth support:
We believe that a “miscarriage” is still a birth, support is available for families experiencing a “missed miscarriage”. This is a pregnancy loss that can occur without the mother knowing because she may not have symptoms like bleeding or pain. Oftentimes, a family may enter their first ultrasound appointment and be unable to find a heartbeat. Our bereavement doula is available to you to talk through birth options and support your early term birth, just as they would a full-term birth of a living baby. This can include physical, emotional, and spiritual support. This may also include facilitating memory-making with your baby.
Stillbirth support and life-limiting fetal diagnosis support:
If you have received a life-limiting fetal diagnosis, or discover that your baby may be still-born, our bereavement doula is available for immediate on-call support. Cayt can provide a calming presence, help facilitate informed decision-making, provide physical, emotional, or spiritual comfort measures, coordinate with medical staff, and facilitate memory making.
Postpartum support:
Postpartum support is available for families who have experienced loss with or without the presence of a bereavement doula. This can include practical support such as making meals, tidying around the home, supporting milk donation or suppression efforts, providing assistance and education around physical recovery, or packing up a nursery if desired. This support can also include processing grief and your birth; as well as providing resources for funeral services, support groups, trauma therapists, or grief counselors. We firmly believe that support should be made available to all grieving family members- so support may include assisting with living children, or processing with other members of your family.
The Holistic Heritage Comfort Fund
We believe that support services should be available for any family who is expecting the loss of their baby. Our Comfort Fund allows families to receive this support, without financial burden in addition to their grief. At the same time, we believe that our team members deserve to be compensated for this valuable work with a living wage. By gifting money into this fund, families experiencing a stillbirth or pregnancy and infant loss can receive bereavement services at no charge.
How can you contribute?
Community members are encouraged to help make our Comfort Fund thrive. Anyone who is able to gift money to this by can contribute on our website.
Contributions to our Comfort Fund are a meaningful way to honor or recognize the loss of a baby you make personally know, or a way to “pay it forward” to families who may need this support in the future.
All gifted money is used to pay our team for services provided. Holistic Heritage Birth Services does not monetarily benefit or profit from this fund. As we are not a non-profit- donations are not tax deductible.
Meet Our Bereavement Doula…
Cayt Rose-Williams, SBD
After two pregnancy losses, we welcomed our rainbow baby in March 2025. Long before that first loss, the Lord gave me a verse during prayer that I didn’t fully understand at the time — “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” – Genesis 50:20. When we lost our daughter, Elora, I finally understood why He had spoken that word to me. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside other women who have experienced pregnancy and infant loss.
I completed my birth and bereavement doula certification through Stillbirthday. In addition, I’m currently writing a book to help the Christian community better support families who have babies in heaven.
My faith shapes every part of my work. The Lord carried me through three pregnancies – anchoring me in His Word, filling me with peace, and using my husband as a vessel of support and strength. Our daughter, Clara – whose name means “bright light” – truly lives up to her name. After a high-risk pregnancy, she entered the world with strength and joy. She is already fiery, independent, intelligent– a miracle, a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3), and being her mother, as well as the mother of my baby in heaven, is my greatest honor.
If you are a parent who has lost a baby, or knows that their baby will soon be born into the arms of Jesus, I am deeply sorry for your loss. I am praying over you and your family as you grieve.
Many blessings,
Cayt
Ready to reach out for support?
It would be an honor to support you and your family. You can read more about our bereavement services here.
Click here to complete an intake form. Cayt will reach out to you upon recieving the form to begin services.