New Intermountain Health clinic supports families navigating pregnancy after loss

MURRAY — Becoming pregnant after experiencing the loss of a child can bring up an overwhelming mix of hope, grief and anxiety. For Lizbeth Hernandez, senior practice manager for maternal-fetal medicine at Intermountain Health, those emotions are deeply personal.

Hernandez lost one of her daughters to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. When she became pregnant again about a decade later, the anxiety surrounding that loss remained.

"After experiencing a loss, it's really traumatic to try to have another baby," she said.

Now, what she went through helps shape her work at Intermountain Health's new Pregnancy After Loss Clinic.

The clinic opened in July and is one of only nine in the United States certified to provide this specialized model of care. Beyond standard prenatal medical care, the program offers patients tailored emotional support and resources throughout their pregnancy. The clinic also focuses on training caregivers to better understand how a previous loss can affect a patient's experience with a subsequent pregnancy.

"We have developed this clinic in order for patients to feel supported, for their families to feel included and essentially be able to provide our caregivers with the education and tools needed to navigate some of these very difficult conversations," Hernandez said.

For Hernandez, helping guide parents through that delicate process brings her own journey full circle.

"Being able to provide my clinic and my caregivers with the education of how different losses can impact a person is very, very much healing part of my heart," she said.

The Pregnancy After Loss Clinic is located at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. Patients need a referral and can talk to their provider if they are interested in receiving care through the program.

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