Today, We Remember

Zion and Resurrection Sunday

What a beautiful Easter we enjoyed this year! The weather was perfect. We went to church with Honey, Poppa, Uncle Tyler, and Aunt Kayla. Then we had a scrumptious lunch on the porch and soaked up the sunshine and spring flowers. Here are a few photos for your enjoyment...


(couldn't show you JJ's face, so this sticker will have to do!)





Each year I enjoy celebrating Easter more and more--this extended pause in the calendar as we observe the Lenten season. Even when all hope seems lost, to remember that Resurrection Sunday is coming. This year held special significance as Easter fell on the same day as Zion's heavenly anniversary. To sing hymns of Christ's victory over death and His promise of eternal life is a joyous way to remember.

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O Death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Dying once He all doth save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O Grave? Alleluia!

When it seems like you're stuck in Friday, remember that Sunday is coming.

Belated Mother's Day/The Bikini Crash Diet (or, how I learned to love the stomach bug)

We had all kinds of fun plans for last weekend. We were going to see old friends, have dinner with new friends, and go see my brother and work on one of his house projects. Ahh, the best laid plans. I was so looking forward to them. Till the Gent came home from work with a delightful stomach ailment. Bye, bye, visits with old friends. The next day I woke up with it. Bye, bye, dinner with new friends. Saturday I was still running a fever. Bye, bye, trip to see brother. Sunday I was still feeling a bit puny and Annie has had a nasty cough, so we stayed home from church and spent Mother's Day watching lots of baseball and reading and being lazy. It was a nice weekend, once our unwelcome bug left. And thankfully Annie didn't get it. We do have a beach trip coming up (!), so I'm just going to count last weekend as my getting into bikini-shape routine.

they brought me flowers for Mother's Day


so pretty and happy!


love being her Mama, what a gift


my sweet baby girl


warms my heart . . . baby kisses


she loves her Daddy, too (she's also fascinated with sticking out her tongue right now, can you tell?)


and other things that warm my heart . . . my necklace is back. the sweet folks at Lisa Leonard Designs added Zion's name to my necklace. and now it is back, close to my heart, where it belongs. so blessed by all my babies this Mother's Day.

Zion Chandler and Natural Miscarriage

We decided on a name for Munchkin: Zion Chandler. Zion is from the Bible and means "heaven." Chandler is a family name. Every couple has to make their own decisions, but I like having names for all my babies--no matter how long they live all our babies are part of our family. A name is something solid to remember, and to reference. So much more personal than "my third pregnancy" or "it."

A few words about natural miscarriage for those who want to know (if not just stop reading now.) We found out at seven weeks that Zion was not growing; this was confirmed with another ultrasound at eight weeks. My doctor offered us options of surgery (D&C), pills, or waiting it out. I didn't even have to think about it, I knew I would prefer a natural miscarriage. Again, this is something that is different for every woman, but these were my reasons. 1) lower chance of complications (surgery and the pills are generally safe, but in the rare event that things go wrong, they can go really, really wrong, resulting in problems with later pregnancies or even loss of fertility. not to say things can't go wrong naturally, but it typically happens more slowly and there is time for medical intervention if necessary) 2) eliminates any doubt about whether or not the pregnancy was viable and you opted for surgery or pills when the baby would have been okay (again, rare but it does happen and I couldn't live with the what-ifs) 3) waiting it out gave me time to emotionally accept Zion's loss and prepare for it before the physical loss occurred. When I opted to wait I knew I could be in for a wait of several weeks, though miscarriages generally occur by week twelve. I thought at first it would be hard to wait but it really wasn't. At ten weeks I started spotting and miscarried a couple of days later (April 20). I had some cramping and heavy bleeding for about an hour and that was it. It really wasn't bad at all. I've definitely had worse menstrual cramping and compared to natural childbirth it was nothing. I'm still spotting a little and that should taper off in a few days.

About trying again . . . my doctor said whenever we are ready, no medical reason to wait the 1-3 months that used to be the standard recommendation. We aren't at any higher risk in future pregnancies (three miscarriages in a row is when doctors start to get concerned). The statistics keep changing, but the latest study I saw suggested miscarriage rates as high as 40% of all pregnancies (lots of those occur really early, before you even know you're pregnant), and most miscarriages are because of severe genetic defects. Both of our miscarriages are assumed to be in that category, especially since I've carried one pregnancy to term.

Anything I forgot to answer? I tried to be honest but not overwhelm with detail. :)