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Pascal says one thing that may help families deal with the loss of a miscarriage is a memorial service.

Twice a year, the Pregnancy and Infant Loss program holds a memorial service for the lost babies. Pascal says it helps the healing process if the families even name the babies.

Psychologist Sophia Lang agrees.

"A miscarriage is a loss of life, it's a death. For a woman, she just doesn't feel it in her heart but her body too since she was carrying the baby," says the Calgary woman.

Lang adds it's very important women who have suffered a miscarriage be "held, comforted and listened to."

Fast facts

A miscarriage is the loss of pregnancy before 20 weeks. Estimates on the frequency of miscarriages vary from as low as 10% to as many as half of all pregnancies, with some women not even realizing they were pregnant. Eight of 10 miscarriages happen before 12 weeks. A loss after 20 weeks is known as a stillbirth.

Some factors can put you at a higher risk for miscarriages, including:

• Age -- Older women are at a higher risk. A 40-year-old is twice as likely to miscarry as a woman half her age.

• History -- If a woman has two or more miscarriages in a row, she is more likely to miscarry again. However, a new study says the combination of prednisone, aspirin, folate, and progesterone can help.

• Smoking, drinking, drugs and certain medications.

Signs of a miscarriage:

• Vaginal "spotting" or bleeding (keep in mind, one-in-four women experience some spotting early in their pregnancy); abdominal pain and cramping.