Season 05 Episode 41

Holding Space for Quinn: Stillbirth, Grief, and What Comes After with Lyndsay and Nicole — LISTEN NOW

When the World Got Quiet

They walked into that appointment like any other expecting parents would. There was a future already imagined — tiny details held loosely but lovingly. Names spoken out loud. A life mentally rearranged to make space for someone new. And then, in a moment that didn’t announce itself loudly or dramatically, everything shifted. The room grew quiet in a way they hadn’t known before. The kind of quiet that settles into your chest and stays there. The kind that doesn’t feel real yet, but somehow already hurts.

They weren’t leaving with the baby they had already begun to love.

And nothing prepares you for how fast life can divide itself into before and after.

After the Hospital, the World Keeps Moving

After the hospital and the sympathy wishes, the world continued on — conversations, plans, casual questions asked without malice but carrying unexpected weight. How are you? Do you have kids? What’s next? Lyndsay and Nicole found themselves navigating a grief that didn’t have a clear place to land. Their bodies knew what had happened before their minds could fully catch up. There was shock. There was heartbreak. There was a constant undercurrent of something unspoken, even when surrounded by people who cared. Grief showed up in ordinary moments — folded clothes, empty hands, the ache of love with nowhere to go. And it didn’t follow a timeline anyone could plan for.

Naming What Hurts

One of the bravest things they talk about is learning how to say out loud what they were experiencing. Not rushing to heal it. Not trying to put meaning on it too quickly. Just letting it be real. Therapy, somatic work, conversations that didn’t aim to fix anything — only to witness it. They learned that grief doesn’t want solutions. It wants space. It wants permission to exist without being minimized or explained away. And even then, asking for support didn’t come easily. Neither did knowing what kind of support to ask for. Some days it was connection. Some days it was quiet. Some days it was simply being allowed to say, This still hurts.

They’re expecting.

A truth that holds both joy and fear in the same breath. A season where hope doesn’t erase grief, and grief doesn’t cancel joy. Instead, they sit side by side.

This pregnancy isn’t a replacement. It’s not a clean slate. It’s layered — tender and complicated and deeply meaningful. They carry their son’s memory with them even now, even here. Both realities are true at the same time. And neither one needs to be explained away.

The Questions That Don’t Have Answers Yet

There are still moments that catch them off guard. Questions that don’t have neat responses. Feelings that arrive without warning. The ongoing process of figuring out how to talk about their family, their story, their son — in a world that often doesn’t know how to hold space for loss. Some days feel lighter. Some days feel heavy again. Healing doesn’t move in straight lines. It curves. It pauses. It doubles back.

… maybe that’s okay.

Why This Story Matters

This episode isn’t just about stillbirth or grief. It’s about how we show up for people when their lives crack open. It’s about resisting the urge to rush someone toward healing, positivity, or closure. It’s about staying when things are uncomfortable, unfinished, unresolved.

It’s a reminder that love doesn’t disappear just because someone is gone — and that remembering is not the same as being stuck.

An Invitation

If you have a friend walking through loss — listen longer than feels necessary. Say less than feels helpful. Let their story be what it is, even when it doesn’t wrap up neatly.

There is SO much for to this story and I would encourage you to listen. Sit with it. Share it. Let it change the way you love the people around you.

Because some stories aren’t meant to be solved — they’re meant to be held.

Listen to the full episode of Dirty Laundry with Ollie.