Isaiah's baby sister

I've waited for quite some time to say anything on here and that is mainly the reason I have been staying away from here and not posting much in the past couple months.  Isaiah is going to be a big brother soon.  Layla Rae is due to enter this world just 4 days after Isaiah's first birthday.  This has been such a surreal experience this time.  The joy overwhelms the fear most of the time...but occasionally I get worried and stressed and wonder if I am actually going to get to look into her eyes and touch her.  Her original due date was the SAME day as Isaiah's birthday...that was NOT a coincidence, none of this is.  I believe he made it to Jesus and told him that his mommy and daddy are really sad and I think he asked Him to give us another gift, another baby.  Not every baby that is born gets and extra special angel in heaven, but mine does.  She has an angel that knows what mommy's heart feels and sounds like from inside. Her angel knows what mommy's voice sounds like.  Her angel knows the love and care mommy takes to keep her safe.  Her angel knows the love that both mommy and daddy still feel and will always feel. They already share so much. 

We have had many doctor appointments and everything is right on track and absolutely perfect.  She is going to make it, I just know it!  She is going to keep on our toes for the rest of our lives.  And she always has a big brother that will watch out for her every step of the way!

Isaiah, please take care of her while she is waiting to get here.  I am sure God has already told you what great plans he has for her, You are doing a great job taking care of her so far.  We love you and miss you everyday!

Meeting

I am planning the very first meeting of the Faces of Loss Friendship group that I started in my part of the world.  2 wonderful women who share the same sorrow I do will be meeting with me for dinner to talk about our babies!!  I am actually very excited about this....I am in a place now where I can talk about my losses and I would love to hear what other women have struggled with as well.  Hearing what other women have had to endure puts so many things in perspective.  I will update how the meeting goes, I am sure it will be amazing and wonderful to be with other women who share my feelings.

A Memory Collage of My Precious Boy

I requested to have a word collage made in memory of Isaiah recently and just received it.  It turned out beautifully.  I have made a nice little collage on the wall in what would have been his nursery of all the beautiful memorials I have had made in his memory.  I have included this one as well for you to see.  Courtesy of Abiding Hope Collages.

Mommy misses you every day! I love you!

Isaiah's Butterfly Footprints

I have to thank Butterfly Footprints for Isaiah's beautiful photo.  I sent in a couple months ago a photo of his tiny footprints and she turned them into a butterfly.  I think it turned out beautifully and my little "Isaiah art collage" is turning out amazing!

I miss him so much sometimes my heart literally aches!! I have faith and I know that one day we will be together again, but I can't stop thinking that he should be here with me, he'd be just over a month old!  God gives us challenges in our lives and it is up to us to learn and grow from those challenges.  It is up to us to decide how we are going to react to the challenge and what we can and will do to overcome it.  I don't think I will ever overcome this...I am just learning to live without my children!  I loved my first baby from the moment I knew I was carrying such a precious gift, and it pains me to say this, but I had so much more of a bond with Isaiah.  I knew him longer, I felt his movements, I heard his heart beating.  I feel guilty for having a closer bond with one more than the other, but I can't help how I feel!  Maybe I would feel differently if I had known the gender and could have named that baby.  I may never know if that would have helped.  I love both my babies and I hope they feel the same way about their mommy! 



Five Months

I can't believe it has been 5 months since we said goodbye to our precious baby boy!  Oh how things would be so different now if he had come (and stayed)...he'd be nearly a month old by now!  I try really hard NOT to think of the "what ifs?" because they put me down in the dumps.  I try to focus on all the good I have going on in my life right now and all the loving and caring people I am surrounded by every day.  My sister-in-law was described to me the other day by my mother-in-law as "just like you were, like a zombie"  I was a little set back by that description of myself during that time.  I tried so hard to put on my "big-girl pants" and be as cheerful as I emotionally could when other people were visiting after Isaiah was born.  I guess I probably was "like a zombie" I know I felt it, but I tried really hard for others not to see it, apparently not very well! 

Losing Isaiah and the previous baby were most literally the hardest thing emotionally and physically I have ever had to go through in my entire life thus far!  I pray I never have to do either of those ever again!  I pray every night for healthy children that I get to hold, love, and raise to old age!  I also pray that my sister-in-law has some sort of way (a person, a support group, etc.) to talk to and work through this grief.  It is possibly the most complicated kind of grief there is (if that makes sense).  It sucks every day that I never got to see him and hold him, kiss him and tell him that I loved him, while I was looking into his face.  We chose not to see him after he was born since he was so "disfigured".  We didn't want to remember him in that way, but I somehow feel like I missed out on something.  I am sure that my heart would have seen a beautiful baby boy that was beginning to look like his daddy, even if my eyes didn't.  My brother-in-law and sister-in-law held their little boy and had some pictures taken of his perfect, but too little, self.  They were able to kiss him and tell him goodbye, and in a way I feel as though I missed out and I feel a twinge of jealousy about that.  I know I shouldn't regret the decision we made, but every once in a while I can't help it! I know that I will see Isaiah again one day and he will be perfect and whole when I meet him and in my imagination, when I get to heaven he will forever be a small boy of maybe 5 years old.  He will know who I am the minute he sees me and he will have so much to tell me and I can't wait to hear all about the life he spent in heaven! I wish I could have gotten to keep him, but he is safe in Jesus' arms and that gives me peace.

Happy 5 month birthday Isaiah, mommy and daddy miss you everyday!