July 27th Newsletter
Ok, let’s get real for a moment. With this past Wednesday, July 25th, being officially known as #BumpDay (in order to help raise awareness about the need for maternal health), as well as the fact that I have passed the 32 week mark in my pregnancy (where baby now has a “great” chance of survival if she was born early), and I had my last ultrasound before our little girl arrives, I thought it important to share more about this pregnancy – including my excitements and the emotional roller coaster that it has taken me on.
For those who didn’t know me before, last year was tough. Probably the toughest year of my life. Not to say there weren’t some great moments – because there definitely were – but to just put it out there: I lost a baby at 12 weeks last July and was forever changed from that moment on. You can read about my full story, (although I never got around to writing Part 2 because I just couldn’t bear to experience it all again); but basically I went in for my 12 week ultrasound thinking I may learn the gender of our baby and instead was told the heart had stopped beating and that the baby didn’t make it. [Cue my tears…] To say I was shocked was an understatement… From that moment on my entire outlook on pregnancy had changed.
Fast forward to December (after months of taking herbs, supplements, etc. to help clear out my body and re-prepare my body for pregnancy) and once again I found out I was with child, only to quickly learn it was a Chemical Pregnancy and once again, the baby wasn’t viable. Fortunately, because of my previous miscarriage, this wasn’t quite as hard, and I still had tattered hope that I would soon become pregnant again. I immediately started taking it easier on my body, began going to acupuncture and started to relax more, and before I knew it, come January, I once again found out I was pregnant! [This was also the day I found out my son was accepted into the Charter School that I was praying for, so to say I was a bag of emotions is an understatement!]
Cautiously optimistic, I decided to immediately start doing consistent rounds of blood tests so I would be prepared early if anything was to go wrong. (Mind you, I had not done these with any of my previous pregnancies, but again, I never had this fear of losing a baby before). While obviously super excited about this pregnancy, I was also quite scared and did a boat load of ultrasounds in the first 2-3 months as well, again, just hoping to know sooner rather than later if the baby wasn’t going to survive – because the shock of what happened last time was just too much to bear another time.
I was hoping that I’d feel some sense of peace after seeing my growing fetus a couple times, but hearing she didn’t grow a ton from week 7-8 and then being told I had a Subchorionic Bleed (which I had never heard of before), only caused me more angst. I was also hoping that by my 2nd Trimester I would feel more at ease, but again, learning that the baby was genetically a boy at 13 weeks and then finding out at my 20 week ultrasound that it was a girl, also threw us for a huge loop. Fortunately, it was just a mishap by the first round of genetic testers, but still! After many additional tests, appointments with specialists, etc., you can see why my anxiety didn’t have time to settle!
Now take me to today. Here I am at 32+ weeks with my Rainbow Baby! Baby Girl couldn’t be healthier or happier, kicking away like there’s a UFC match going on inside my belly a good 10+ hours per day! She’s also measuring a week ahead of schedule, and there’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll be making an early appearance (2-3 weeks in my mind would be just perfect)! This isn’t to say I’m not still a bit hesitant about being overly excited, or that my fears and anxieties don’t set in every now and again, but overall, I feel pretty good about it all and know that it is all in God’s hands – and he knows what is best for my family…
So there you have it. These are the reasons (plus some) that I think it’s so important to embrace pregnancy with all we have. Carrying a baby is truly a gift and sadly there are many women who don’t have that luxury. Whether it be infertility, miscarriages, or the fact that some women live in unhealthy and/or unsafe environments, I know that I am one of the lucky ones and try to treasure that gift as much as humanely possible! These are also some of the many reasons I think it’s so imperative to take as good of care as humanely possible of your body and growing belly while pregnant: from eating right and exercising to trying to relax and get enough sleep (when your insomnia allows!).
This is also why I think it’s so important to ‘embrace the bump’ and all of the other not so glamorous things that go along with being pregnant. Because hey, I consider myself extremely blessed to be in this position and hope that other moms-to-be all feel the same way too!
Want to learn more about the herbs I used and steps I took to help prepare my body for pregnancy, both before and after miscarriage, then please reach out to me – because I am here to help!
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