Laura Whitmore shares her experience of pregnancy loss

Laura Whitmore and Katherine Ryan talk openly about pregnancy loss

On the latest episode of her podcast Castaway, presenter Laura Whitmore and comedian, writer and presenter Katherine Ryan talked openly and honestly about pregnancy loss.

“I felt embarrassed and shameful,” said Katherine Ryan, “not that I had the loss, but I felt embarrassed for getting excited before the loss. I felt all these things, and I looked for stories and I really couldn’t find many of them.”

“Girls need to know that you can have this secret, silent miscarriage. I’m 36 and I thought I was very well-versed on women’s issues and I genuinely didn’t know a miscarriage could happen in this way. So I think, the more women who tell their stories about this and so many issues, and the intimacy of doing that through a podcast was important for me to share that, even if it helps one person.”

“I’ve never told you this,” said Laura, “but I remember in my situation about two years ago when we went for our scan, it was supposed to be our first proper scan, and it was that night I was going to see your show. We had gone to go for the scan and there was no heartbeat. The doctors, it happens so much that they’re quite used to it, I didn’t realise the figures until afterwards. I didn’t know how I was supposed to react. Was I supposed to be upset? Was I supposed to be ‘oh, ok’ and move on?” she continued.

“I remember Iain saying to me, ‘should we just go home?’ and I said, ‘I can’t go home. I want to go to the show. I want to have a little bit of escapism for an hour and I want to laugh and I want to watch a show and then I want to deal with it.”

“Everyone reacts differently,” says Laura. “I remember, I just was like, I’m gonna have a glass of wine, cause I haven’t drank in 12 weeks. For me, that was so important to see your show and I had a little bit of escapism that night.”

Listen back to the Castaway podcast here.

Photography by @thewhitmore.

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