Pregnancy

After losing a child, few things can be done to ease the hurt. Quite frankly, most days all you long to do is pull the covers over your head and waste away another day. For a while, this sufficed after the death of my son. If he couldn't see the day, I didn't want to either. Anna's Grace It took time to discover what brought my heart comfort. One of the most unsuspecting was a donation. The following Spring after losing Weston, my husband and I decided to participate in the annual Anna's Grace Marathon in our community. This particular organization was dear to our hearts. I can still feel the tightness in my throat after hearing this organization wanted to show...

With no surprise, the death of my son changed my life in so many ways. The overflow of stolen moments immediately consumed my mind when I heard he was gone. I'll never hold his hand on the first day of school or kiss a scraped knee during playtime. I'll never see him get married or have a family of his own. He will never go fishing with his brother or hunting with his daddy. Those moments I knew were taken from us. But, one thing I did not realize was also stolen was my innocence to tragedy. There are times I find myself physically consumed with envy of an eager new mom, so full of excitement. I watch her as...

Is there a better time to reflect on the seasons of your life than when you are cleaning out your closet? I found so many "seasons" in my closet, surprisingly, since I live in Louisiana. With each "season" I found different memories. Memories that made me happy and sad. Memories of events, people, love, laughter, heartache, and blessings. High School... A box full of high school formals that no longer fit me because I’ve had four kids and don’t have the same hips as I did in high school, which makes me sad. On the other hand, that box made me happy because I have fond memories of those dances and those friends. They even made new memories by putting stars...

After spending our first year of marriage as newly-weds, my husband and I were ready to have a baby. We decided that we should just “see what happens” when it came to starting our family. We wouldn’t prevent, yet we wouldn’t be trying. This continued for a year with no success. After a visit to my OBGYN, being put on Clomid for 4 months, we still had no positive test. No pregnancy. It didn’t make sense. Was it my body failing us? My husband? None of my friends were having any complications. My mother and sisters all had children of their own with zero issues, why couldn’t I? We spent the next few years as regulars at our fertility center.  We were...

Postpartum care for mothers in the United States is under scrutiny yet again as maternal mortality rates in the US rise, all while declining in other countries. How?! How can our wonderful, developed country with amazing medical advances have such staggering statistics? Some of the reasons given by the healthcare industry: hospitals are cutting costs, cutting staff to meet ever-shrinking budgets, and there are nurse shortages across the country. This does not excuse the fact that women who give birth are being marginalized, and in some cases, ignored and forgotten. I know what I would have done differently for both my children’s births in the days, weeks, and months that followed. But I was curious about what other moms would have...