What have we lost? Infertility, miscarriage, and disenfranchised grief.

This comic presents a personal narrative depicting the disenfranchised grief that comes along with infertility and pregnancy loss. The comic became a way to make sense of the relentless cycles of hope and disappointment that characterize infertility. Rather than focusing on the loss of a particular pregnancy, the grief depicted in this work centers on the endless possibility that a child might still be born. It focuses on the cruel optimism of the always possible child and how mourning is delayed for the next medical procedure. The comic explores the disenfranchised grief and psychological toll that infertility imposes, especially within a medical system that narrowly defines success as the birth of a baby and often overlooks the emotional needs of the majority who do not achieve that outcome. It also grapples with existential rupture that occurs when long-held reproductive stories and imagined futures begin to unravel. This work does not offer solutions or closure. Instead, it invites readers into the unresolved and often invisible emotional landscape of infertility.