everyday life and other joyful fiascos
We struggled to conceive our second child for three years. It was a very difficult time for relationships, mental heath, and finances.
How long can I get away with calling it “baby weight” until it’s just weight? Not that I have to “get away” with anything. I don’t owe anyone but myself an explanations about anything pertaining to my body.
Continue reading “When “Baby Weight” Overstays Its Welcome: New Me vs. Old Me”Two weeks before the miscarriage, the doctor showed us the lovely beating heart of our week seven fetus. Then she turned to me and said, “Gina, I’m concerned.” She said a lot of things after that about the size of the yolk sac relative to the other measurements and what this almost inevitably meant for the baby.
Miscarriage. Soon. But not yet.
My neighborhood bookclub recently convened to discuss Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming. It’s so very affirming to sit with other women for a few hours gushing over someone like Michelle Obama.
Plenty of people have already reviewed the book a long long time ago, but some of us were on waiting lists at the library for months, so this is not a review. More like a meditation. I loved it. I love her. I love everything Obama. I have a terrible memory at the moment with two kids sucking my brain power right out of me, so I just want to put down a few thoughts about some of the disparate things I managed to jot down as I listened.
I have a six-month-old. Well, six and a half, as of this writing. As her mother, I can tell you she is gorgeous and incredibly charming and we waited so long for her. I adore looking at her. It’s hard to tear my eyes away from her. It took three years to get her to stick and now that she’s here, she is growing so fast. Just so damn fast. I don’t remember my son growing so fast, although I’m sure he did. But I am older now, so perhaps my perceptions have changed.
When I look at my daughter, I think about my own mortality. I was once a baby like her – not nearly as mind-blowingly beautiful and sweet – all head and cheeks and eyes, everything round and bulging. That was so long ago, but in the blink of an eye, she could be having the same thoughts about her own child.
Continue reading “Till There Was You: Nostalgia & Mortality”Long story short, my husband Fab and I had zero trouble conceiving our son, Sweetie Bird. Then we tried for our second child for almost three years. I had a devastating miscarriage in the middle of that period, but after lots and lots of expensive interventions, we got lucky. Our daughter, Baby Bird, is now four months old and we are thrilled beyond words to have her in our family.
I wish I had known more about infertility and loss before I was neck-deep in it. I hope that the following non-exhaustive list of infertility dos and don’ts will bring you some comfort in a trying time.
Continue reading “The DOs & DON’Ts of Infertility & Pregnancy Loss”
I’ve been having a lot of flashbacks lately. It’s kind of a big anniversary. A happy one. One that has sort of helped overshadow all the sad ones. One year ago, I was seven weeks pregnant with what I hoped against hope would finally be my second child. We had been trying for just under three years.
Continue reading “This Time Last Year I Was Both Thrilled & Terrified”