Skip to main content

It Still Hurts

I have an admission that I'm not very proud of.

While I was pregnant with Sam, and after he was born, I wanted nothing to do with other pregnant women. Absolutely nothing. Or newborns. I had a frustration and an anger that I didn't know how to deal with when I was around other people who had what seemed like perfect families with perfectly healthy babies. And it was all taken for granted.

And you know what? It still hurts.

I still have a hard time with ultrasound pictures, pregnancy pictures, new baby pictures, that pop up on my newsfeed. I am so incredibly happy for these parents, please don't get me wrong.

But I'm happy from a distance.

It doesn't seem to make any sense though does it? We are waiting on our healthy baby girl in the next 10 or so weeks...and I'm still holding onto these painful feelings of not having a baby in my arms while others have multiple children.

I don't have the bitterness that I used to. Just an extreme sadness for what I missed out on with Sam. What I would give to smell him just one more time, or to hear him cry.

And I'm sure these feelings will resurface even when we welcome this new baby. Feelings of elation mixed with grief. When a new baby comes...it just makes me sad. But then that baby gets older, fattens up a bit...and that sadness melts for me. That baby no longer reminds me of Sam, or having to hand him over to a man with a basket lined with soft pillows.

I worry that my sadness comes off as unhappiness for others, which couldn't be farther from the truth. I love babies, and their beautiful families. They are all gifts from God.

But Sam was too. As his memory seems to fade, and the further we move from his birth, the sadder I get about him.

I do not forget to count my blessings, however. Many are denied the gift of children, and the last thing I want is to seem ungrateful for mine. I just get sad sometimes. And that's okay.

Comments

  1. It IS ok! Jesus cried for the broken, for the loss, for what death steals from us. And one child doesn't replace another as you know and will come to feel with every fiber of your being every time you think of both Sam and your new little one. And that's ok and normal and right, too. I love you, Kaila. Thanks for sharing your heart.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hardest Part

One year ago today I had my very last prenatal checkup. I saw both my maternal-fetal medicine specialist and my ob/gyn. My blood pressure was great. Gabriel was still there and moving. There was no indication that within 24 hours my liver would start to fail. I didn't know that April 13th, 2018 would be the last time I ever saw my baby on an ultrasound. It would be the last time I heard his heartbeat. I didn't know that the next morning a pain would begin. The next day I would meet my sweet little 2-month-old nephew. I wouldn't be able to eat because I just wasn't feeling well. I would stay up late with the pain, sipping water and waiting for it to pass. The next night would be spent in the ER, not knowing we would be meeting Gabriel face to face just 10 hours later. One year ago was the beginning of goodbye to this teeny boy. And I had no idea. Wednesday morning. It's time to get ready to leave. Except it's 3:00am. I keep waking up, worried tha...

A New Way to Celebrate

"But He could have saved my boys.  He could have . I'm so angry He didn't. I'm going to have to work through that with God, and I'm going to need time to do it. This isn't a quick fix, and there is no band-aid big enough to patch this damage. This cut is so deep it's going to take some major reconstructive surgery." I wrote that nearly two years ago. Two years. I wasn't wrong. There has been no quick fix. There was no band-aid. I'm still working through this with God. I still need time. I'll likely be working on this grief until it's my turn to leave this world. What I can  say is the waves have settled a bit; the intensity of the grief not quite so severe. I don't talk about them as much anymore. I no longer desire to go back to the hospital and cradle their cold bodies. We're done having children....even that  thought isn't as painful as it was just a year ago. Sam's birthday is April 30th. Gabriel...

On Not Writing.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash Kaila...why don't you write? I stopped writing, really writing , almost 3 years ago.  Sometimes I share my old posts. Sometimes I just read them on my own, so glad I put words to my feelings at the time.  Sometimes they remind me that the feelings haven't gone away. Last night as I put the kids to bed, Edward said, Mom, I know what I want for Christmas.  What's that, buddy? He paused for a moment. I want a wittle brudder. This isn't the first time he's asked. It likely won't be the last. We're honest with Mira and Edward that we can't have any more kids; and to try would risk my life. There's a bit of confusion just because of their ages, but they're getting to the point where it's really starting to settle in. Mom, can we go get a baby? Like, adopt?  We've walked this thought-road as well, weighing our options. We've weighed every. single. option.  We've considered trying again, rolling the dice...