Blogs, Videos, Shredding, and Winners

I’ve sat here staring at my monitor trying to figure out how to start this post, and nuthin’.
Don’t know where to begin.
Oh no, nothing’s wrong.  There’s nothing amazing to tell you that I can’t find the words to express.
Just that I literally can.not think of how to open this blog post of random that I’m about to share with you.
Writer’s block and such.
So I’ll just dive in, kay?

* * * *

Denise used to write a blog called The Cottage Chick.
And then she decided she wanted to change things up a bit and start a blog where:

The mission of Denise In Bloom is to provide an uplifting place where we as girlfriends can grow, thrive and learn from each other and bloom where God has planted us!

What you will find

• Faith Inspiration
• Mom Tips
• Work at Home Ideas
• Encouraging Stories
• Homeschooling Helps
• Yummy Recipes
• Homemaking Support

There’s lots of fun stuff planned over at her new blog Denise in Bloom…and she asked little ol’ me to be one of her contributing writers!
Today I’m introducting myself over in her space.
Maybe you can pop by and say hi?
And realize that the photo I posted is like a million years old.
(Okay, like 1.5 years old…)
But you wanna know what?
I literally have 2 pictures that have me and all three of my kids in it.
And probably 6 pictures that have me in it total.
I should probably book some family pics soon…it’s pretty ridiculous.

* * * *

Video #2 of the WilsonArt kitchen update is now up.
And oh boy.
Again, I wanted to throw up.
::cringe::
Go ahead and toggle between the video and the picture on Denise’s blog.
Ugh.  How did I let that happen????  Annoying.
Good thing I’m abstaining from carbs and me and a group of girls on twitter are keeping eachother accountable on doing the 30 Day Shred by using the hashtag #dailyshred.
Wanna join in?  It’s about as fun as it can be (which is negligible being that it’s exercise and all).  Kinda nice to see girls checking in: “I’m off to do it!  I’ll let you know how it goes!”

(If you want to see Video #1, it’s here.  For anyone new here, I had my kitchen updated…see this before/after post for more pics.)

* * * *

Remember how I asked for you to share your story of infant loss/miscarriage here?
Did you notice that I told you there might be a little surprise?

It’s probably not shocking, but I was going to give away one of Lisa Leonard’s Marked by Love necklaces to one of you who shared.  :)

This is Jodi‘s story:

My son is almost 6. My husband and I decided to have a baby and conceived instantly. I had a textbook pregnancy and enjoyed it in the naive way that you can only experience when you haven’t experienced a loss.

We knew we wanted 2 children and ideally we wanted 2 boys born 2 years apart. As luck would have it we instantly conceived again on the first try and my due date was just 2 years shy of my son’s birthday. The pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

I was optimistic. I had a reassuring doctor and felt that we would conceive again. I knew that often miscarriages are the result of a defect with the baby. I felt like it was meant to be and perhaps it was for the best. That came with some feelings of guilt.

We struggled a bit to get pregnant for the 3rd time and were thrilled when it happened. Everything seemed to be going great so I was completely blindsided at 10 weeks when an ultrasound detected no heartbeat. This was a much harder loss.

I was faced with uncertainty. I feared we wouldn’t have any more children. I felt there was something wrong with me. I was afraid to even try to get pregnant again.

But we did.

I wish I could say I was happy, but I wasn’t. I was scared. I thought it would end badly and never let my guard down. I scheduled my ultrasound on a Friday afternoon assuming that it would bring bad news. I set up a week’s worth of subplans in my classroom before I left because I figured I would be scheduled for another D & C sometime in the following days.

The tech took her time and had a serious face.
She asked, “Was this a naturally occurring pregnancy?” Yes.
She asked, “Have you had bloodwork done?” Yes.
She asked, “Were all your results typical.” A sad and defeated yes.
I knew what was coming next. At least I thought I did.

She said, “I need you to look at the screen” and she pointed out the heartbeat.
I was surprised and annoyed that she had put me through that.

And then she said…”and here is the other heartbeat.”

TWINS!

Only this made things more complicated. We took a high-risk pregnancy and elevated the risk.

And then at 13 weeks we found out they were identical.

Which increased the risk all the more.

Every ultrasound (and there were many) brought anxiety. Every twinge brought fear. But alas, at 35.5 weeks our perfect identical twin girls were born. In hindsight it was a textbook pregnancy, a perfect delivery and our daughters are now happy and healthy 20 month old toddlers.

I can’t help but notice the balance in the fact that we lost two little souls and gained two little souls. While, I wish women didn’t need to go through miscarriage, I will say that I often think about the fact that we wouldn’t have our girls if it were not for the miscarriages.

Comments will always be open to your stories, so feel free to jump in.  There just won’t be another necklace giveaway.  :)

* * * *

I hope you all found some comfort in the infant loss/miscarriage series.
I love how it turned out.
I think it was even better than I anticipated.
And thank YOU for giving to the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation!
We raised $1, 765.00!!!
Sooooo awesome you guys!
I’ll be taking a series/fundraising break over the summer (but still be blogging regularly) and then do another series on Special Needs in the fall.
I hope you’ll still be around to read?
Awesome.

Happy Tuesday!

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.

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