Maternity Pictures and 38 Week Bumpdate

My husband and I were talking earlier this week about some of the things we were looking forward to with the arrival of our baby girl: seeing what she looks like, watching our other two kids interact with her, snuggling her and just having her here with us after such a long time of hoping and praying.  We also talked about some of the less fun parts: feeling like a zombie due to nighttime feedings, buying lots (and lots) of diapers and frequent changes in routines.  *wink*  I also shared with him how hard this last trimester has been for me with this baby.  I've been sick 5 different times (although it feels like one long, horrible cold stretching from Thanksgiving to now) and so the normal lack of sleep and discomfort that comes with pregnancy has just been exacerbated.  This has also meant that the kids and I haven't left the house as much so we've been dealing with a lot of cabin fever.  All this to say that while I'm very grateful to be pregnant, I'm also looking forward to bringing her into this world and getting back to my non-pregnant self.

12

5 Reasons I Didn't Say Anything About My Miscarriage

A few months ago, I wrote about my experience with miscarriage.  It was a hard post to write, as I felt like I was reliving each one of my three miscarriages all over again.  I cried.  I was mad.  I doubted.  I felt hope.  And then, healing begin to happen.  I received text messages, phone calls, messages on Facebook, comments on my post and notes from both friends and people I've never actually met in real life.  It was truly amazing how sharing something so personal and vulnerable made me feel so much love.  Since my most recent miscarriage in January of this year, I've talked to a lot of women about it.  Some expressed their sympathy but couldn't relate having never gone through it.  Others opened up to me about their own experience.  We've hugged, cried and bonded over our losses.  And almost everyone I talked to about it asked me the same question: Why didn't you say something?

43

My Miscarriage Story

I've been trying to think about how to get this all down for a long time.  I actually started a different post in December 2015 that's just been sitting in my drafts for the last year because I just haven't known where to start.  I am generally a pretty private person and I often prefer to bear my trials in silence, not involving other people beyond my husband, close family members or friends.  Maybe this was something I learned growing up in a less than ideal environment.  I didn't want other people to know I was struggling, so I put on a happy face and dealt with trials away from the public eye.

33