Katie’s Story
Our lives were forever changed when our twin girls, Anna and Ella, were born the morning of July 19, 2015 at 27 weeks. Anna was born at 3:31 am and weighed 1 lb. 15.9 ounces and Ella was born at 3:32 am and weighed 1 lb. 15.8 ounces. They were both immediately taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and we were told to expect them to remain in the hospital for at least 13 weeks (until their due date).
We knew we had a long road ahead of us but we were hopeful they would both come home with us. I am a pediatric nurse practitioner so I made it my full-time ...
Andi’s Story
I believe our mess is our message and often, and as a result of experiencing difficult things, we can be a light to those around us who walk the same path. Our first loss was over 8 years ago. I copied many of my original words to share our story.
A few days after a routine (30-week) ultrasound, we were called into the doctor's office for another ultrasound. We went in and our doctor showed us some physical abnormalities that Addie had. We were really nervous and not sure how optimistic to be. He sent us to a specialist. The specialist pointed out a few more things ...
Kara’s Story
I went to the doctor because I had been feeling sick for a couple of days, and my husband Jerimy urged me to go. To my shock and amazement, I was pregnant. I cried big, happy tears at the thought of a third child.
Seven years prior, after over a year of infertility, we had our son, Caiden. We never tried after that for another biological baby. Our daughter, Kylie, was adopted because we knew how difficult it was for us to get pregnant and there were so many children waiting for a family.
I told my husband that afternoon. I remember him saying, ...
Links for Hope Moms: February Edition
We want to share with you links to posts, videos, and resources from around the web to uplift, help, and encourage you in your walk with the Lord as you grieve.
{Interview with Courtney Reissig, via Of Larks}// Over the next few weeks, Courtney will be walking Hope Mommies through a blog series on learning how to help those who are grieving (following along with the series here so that you can share these posts with your friends and family members). Learn more about Courtney and her story in this interview.
{"Maddox," via A Tree Planted by Jennifer Weir} // ...
Allison’s Story
When I was twelve weeks pregnant with my first child, my husband and I learned that something was seriously wrong. The baby had characteristics of Trisomy 18, a fatal genetic abnormality.
The wait to confirm this suspicion was full of both fear and hope. Fear of the future and hope that my God could get me through anything. After several specialist appointments, the diagnosis was confirmed via amniocentesis. Along with Trisomy 18, the baby also had Spina Bifida.
The rest of my pregnancy was bittersweet. I absolutely loved seeing my belly grow, but was dreading the ...
Testimony Tuesday {Katie’s Retreat Experience}
I had just survived the first year without our deeply longed for son and I felt ready to connect with other moms who, like myself, had faced unthinkable tragedy and yet still chose to trust in our Lord and Savior. I wanted to hear from mothers who were further down the road of grief than I was, hoping they would reassure me that the incapacitating weight I’d been carrying would somehow lighten over time. I knew that the burden of living the rest of my earthly life without my son would never go away, but I needed to see in the flesh, these moms who had ...
Anne’s Story
A year after Nate and I married, we found out that I was pregnant with our first precious life. Twelve weeks into that pregnancy, we learned that our baby no longer had a heartbeat, and my heart felt like its own pulse was forever altered.
Two and a half months after our miscarriage, I found out I was pregnant again. There was an excitement and renewed hope I hadn’t tasted in months, and yet a crouching, nagging hesitation left me anxious to grasp onto any certainty that this little one’s life would not end in another miscarriage. My desire to have certainty clouded ...
Get to Know Her: 2017 Retreat Speaker
I sat down to exhale.
The sticky plastic chairs of the Pediatric ICU waiting room offered little comfort, but I didn’t really care. I just needed a place away from the chest tubes and breathing tubes and feeding tubes and the beep-beep-beep of the monitors. For just a minute.
I had been immersed in my own pain for a few days. We had gone in to close the hole that my girl’s first tracheostomy had left in her neck, but recovery did not go as planned. Instead, my baby girl went blue and looked at me with searing panic in her eyes—and I ran into the sterile hallway ...
Asheley’s Story
My husband and I have a daughter, Harper who is 2 years old. I had been diagnosed with PCOS and Endometriosis before my daughter was born. She was actually our miracle baby. We worked for months before she was born on determining a diagnosis. I remember being devastated at the doctor’s office finding out we would need help to conceive our first child. To our great surprise, we were actually pregnant during the consultation with our doctor.
When Harper was 16 months old, we decided we wanted to expand our family. We consulted with our doctor who helped us ...
