How Strangers On Instagram Helped A Grieving Mother Through Her Darkest Hours

Image: Mikhailla Fitzgerald Instagram

Shevonne Hunt

Trigger Warning: this article contains conversation surrounding infant loss

When fashion influencer Mikhailla Fitzgerald fell pregnant, it was natural for her to share photos on Instagram.

Alongside images of her swimwear line, she now could upload snaps of the early scans, the nursery, her growing bump, and all the steps leading up to birth. But the story that was unfolding on Instagram was not going to end the way she expected.

Her son, Foxx, was born with Group B Streptococcus and sadly passed away three days after birth.

“I was expecting to post a new arrival announcement of my baby, not that I’d lost my baby after the three days that we’d been through with him… That was definitely the hardest thing about showing up online.”

After that first difficult post, Mikhailla discovered that Instagram offered her the kind of support she needed to get through the most difficult days following her baby’s death.

“Instagram really became like a public journal for me. I did struggle to talk directly to friends about this and to support workers but when I was feeling down, I felt like I could really just write about my emotions and somewhere along the line things would spread around Instagram and the beauty of those words spreading is that I would find other parents who were going through the same… It became like an online journal but where I would find real-life people I could relate to.”

In my latest episode of Feed Play Love, I sat down with Mikhailla to talk about how she processed the loss of her baby, and her new books to help children understand loss.

Take a listen:

Catch up on more interviews like this by downloading the LiSTNR app! Enjoy a new world of audio with all your favourite shows and stations in one library.