There is a particular season
at the end of pregnancy.
A liminal space.
Life fully formed within you.
But not yet resting on your chest.
In German, they call it
‘Zwischen.’
Meaning “between.”
Suspended in transition.
The in-between
is where a body prepares to open
while still protecting what is inside.
Where time feels stretched.
Where everything is about to change…
but hasn’t yet.
For me, this in-between
carries another layer.
Because this pregnancy
once
held two.
There was a rupture in our story.
Loud on the inside.
Invisible to most.
A pregnancy that fractured.
Two heartbeats that had begun together.
And in its wake
a pause
we did not choose.
Time moved forward.
But something inside me
rearranged permanently.
To hold
loss and continuation,
grief and gratitude
in the same womb.
To mourn one child
while safeguarding another
in the same breath.
Is not something
life prepares you for.
Loss rearranges you.
It humbles your certainty.
It exposes how little is guaranteed.
It teaches you
that love does not wait
for safety.
And now, in these final days,
both sisters are held here.
Together.
They share their rest
in this little nest.
Zwischen
For a little while longer.
Not only a moment before birth
but a space I may always carry.
Between absence and presence.
Between grief and continuation.
And what remains
does not cancel
what was lost.
She is not replacing what was lost.
She never will.
No life replaces another.
She carries a sister
in the architecture of her becoming.
An absence
woven into presence.
Lize Helsen
Heartcore Therapist & Beeldend Kunstenaar
Lize Helsen is a clinical sexologist at Heartcore, where she combines therapy and photography. She focuses on Erotic Intelligence as a foundation for healthy relationships and enhanced self-awareness. Her deep passion for nature and visual art finds expression in the *All Things Wild* photo series, where she uses the power of nature to reveal deeper layers of human emotions, growth, and connection.
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