As Maternal Mental Health Week comes to a close, I feel compelled to share a piece of my journey that I’ve kept mostly private—my greatest fear during my pregnancy after loss— in order to help raise awareness. This is #RealMotherhood, and there is #NoShame. Photo by Katie Donovan I’ve suffered from mental illness [...]
Last week I spent some time with Pregnancy After Loss Support's founder, Lindsey Henke. At lunch before she dropped me off at the airport, we were chatting about our first born children--our stillbirths. She asked if Patrick was buried or cremated. I'm always a little defensive about this topic. I know we made the right [...]
*Photograph by Margaret Belanger Last week, Stitch and I rode the elevator with a very frazzled pregnant mama. She asked how old Stitch was. After I replied she said her babe needed to cook a little longer. Since I had that opening, I asked when she was due. "Three weeks," she replied. "I [...]
I've been quite remiss in updating Meek Manor with our news. We welcomed a baby girl on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 12:31 a.m. She weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces and was 16.5" long. The first six weeks have been quite the ride, but we wouldn't change a thing. She is perfect in absolutely every way, [...]
In early January, I headed over to Quilter's Way to quilt Stitch's grey and yellow star quilt on the Gammill longarm. Towards the end of the day, when I only had one more row of quilting to complete, a couple came into the shop. The husband was quite interested in how the longarm worked and [...]
A week ago I posted my monthly article at Pregnancy After Loss Support--Pregnancy After Loss: When a Textbook Pregnancy doesn't feel like a Textbook Pregnancy. I felt like I'd really turned a corner in acceptance and hope for this pregnancy. Thursday, I headed into my 32-week OB appointment calm and confident, certain it was going [...]
Wow. Last week was a big, stressful week. But like many of the milestones we've reached since we lost Patrick, the anticipation was far worse. Once the week arrived, I was ready to hear the news and know how Stitch was doing. Reaching 20 weeks was probably our biggest milestone in this pregnancy, other than [...]
A few weeks ago I found a video of my nephew when he was quite wee. He had waited through much of December to put Baby Jesus on his advent calendar, which was how he counted down until Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jon, and Auntie Val would all be at his house for Christmas. He almost couldn't [...]
On some level I thought I understood my husband, Lloyd's, anxiety during this pregnancy. I saw him cry with relief at each reassuring ultrasound. I saw him tense when I talked about my worries. I saw his general worried nature increase. But, I didn't fully grasp his level of fear and anxiety until last Wednesday, [...]
One of the things I'm trying to embrace during this pregnancy is the moments where I feel like a "normal" pregnant woman. They don't come often, and sometimes they sneak up on me and are quickly followed by moments of sadness or reflection. Yet, I still try to embrace them. I'm finding it so interesting [...]
