Thursday, August 22, 2013

Our Complete Story

Recently, I realized that I had never shared our full story. I originally wrote it for the Lil Angels Hankies blog, and thought I would share it with you.

Our Story

I always knew I wanted to be a mommy. From my earliest childhood I cared for my family of stuffed animals. As I matured I babysat, taught children’s classes at church, and spent time with my younger brothers. I was good with children and could not wait to have my own babies to love and care for.
When I married in 2009, I was excited and we started trying to get pregnant right away. In August we had wonderful news, and although I was not feeling well, I was happy.

Right before Thanksgiving we went to the doctor for the 20-week ultrasound to see how things were going. The nurses found some abnormalities, and the doctor told us that he thought our sweet baby had Turners syndrome. He sent us home and told us to check back in two weeks to see how things were progressing. We were devastated but hopeful. That evening I prayed that if our sweet baby would be going to Heaven that John could feel her kick. On Tuesday, December 1, John felt the baby kick for the first time. It was beautiful. On Wednesday, December 2 we found out that our Melody Hope had gone to heaven. She was born on December 3 at 22 weeks.

The days that followed were dark and sad, but we made it through and in May of 2010 we were expecting again.

Avery John was born in January of 2011. He was beautiful and we were head over heels in love.
When Avery was 7 months old I found out I was pregnant again, but the next day we lost our baby Glory. It was hard, but having Avery to hold helped.

October brought another pregnancy and soon we found out Avery had a little brother. We were excited. Having two boys so close in age was going to be fun!

I spent the spring of 2012 spending time with Avery, taking him to Kindermusic classes, going to the park, playdates with friends and just enjoying being his mommy. It was wonderful.

In May Avery got very ill and was sent to the hospital for what the doctor thought was meningitis. It turned out to be a viral infection, and he was sent home to recover. Two weeks later he was back at the doctor, and this time was sent by ambulance to the children’s hospital in Nashville with low blood counts. We spent 5 days in Vanderbilt Children’s hospital and were again sent home with what they thought was a viral infection.

Memorial Day was a fun day with Avery feeling better, eating a lot, and hanging out with us at home.
It was our last holiday together.

June 1 brought a very sick Avery and this time he was life-flighted to Nashville. He made it to the hospital and was stabilized but later that evening went into cardiac arrest. He fought all night but late morning on June 2 he went to Heaven. He was 16 months old.

We were shocked and heartbroken. Our arms were once again empty.

We went home to a quiet house and grieved while we waited for Henry’s arrival.

Henry was born on July 25 and is a happy, healthy little boy. He fills our home with the sounds of laughter and occasionally, temper tantrums. He is a joy to be around.

We don’t know what the future holds but we are determined to face each day as it comes and enjoy each moment we have together.

Our story has been a hard one, but it has been good. We are thankful for the time we had with each one of our children. They have been such blessings to us, and we would not trade them for the world.

4 comments:

  1. Love you. Love your kiddos. Always will. God is using your story to stir souls & open hearts. Stay faithful. Your children continue to rise up, & call you blessed, even from afar.

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  2. Audra this is beautiful...I felt sad reading it. .and I am sure a story that needs to be told and heard. Loving you, John and Henry and your other babies in Heaven. Kathy P.

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. It's a sad story, but a happy one too.

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