BBC Radio Ulster broadcaster Steven Rainey reveals pregnancy loss

In a Twitter post at the weekend, the presenter of ‘Sunday with Steven Rainey’, said:“Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to be with you on Radio Ulster today. Me and Zoe got some bad news, so we’re just taking it easy for a few days.But the brilliant @Anna__Q (Anna Curran) is going to be with you instead.

“We’ve had another miscarriage. But we’re both doing fine, and we’ll be back on our feet before too long.”

The broadcaster’s tweet led to a flood of well-wishes for the couple, with one writing: “Sorry to hear. Good to take time to be together at such a difficult and emotional time.”

Steven Rainey had written movingly about miscarriage in 2019 when he was the writer-in-residence in Framewerk for the Eastside Arts Festival.

“Earlier this year, my wife and I suffered a miscarriage. It’s a life changing thing...

“A miscarriage is a difficult pain to capture. As a man, I can only serve as witness to the distress and discomfort that my wife endured, acutely aware of how much pain she’s feeling because of the physical change she’s enduring.... But as hard as it is for me to imagine her physical pain, the emotional suffering will forever elude me.

“This is a true loss, an absence of something that was once there. As a male, I am aware that we’ve lost something, and given that our loss happened a mere nine weeks into the process, that loss is more of an idea, than something tangible. Indeed, rather than losing something, we just didn’t get something.”

*For support and counselling for pregnancy loss, contact the Miscarraige Association on 01924 200799, Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm