Infertility
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Quarantined with Quinn: A Birth Story
My sweet Quinn Marie. As I write this, just days before your first birthday, it still feels surreal that you are here and all ours. AND that a year has gone by. You have been growing and becoming your own little person right under our very eyes. And we couldn’t love you more. Your birth story is a special one. It happened during a unique time in history, where the world was quiet, frozen in time. We prayed for you. And fought for you. And longed for you deeply. Every moment since the day of your conception, you have been fiercely loved. Our family needed you. The world needed you.…
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The Journey to Quinn
First, thank you for being here. To share this with y’all, is to share something sacred. So thank you for taking part in honoring our journey and our miracle… Quinn. I’ve been putting off writing this for quite sometime. While this is ultimately a journey of perseverance and triumph, it’s also one of utter heartbreak. What we went through this second time around was traumatic, both physically and emotionally and I still am still am processing everything that happened over that 8 months. Honestly, therapy should come with infertility treatments… That being said, I recognize how very lucky we are that while this journey was brutal, we had our big…
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Egg Quality- What Every Woman Should Know
You’ve heard of “the biological clock”? Well, I’m here to tell you IT’S REAL and it’s referring to those tiny things you’ve been carrying around your entire life inside your ovaries that you’ve probably never really given much thought to…. your eggs. We know that as we age, our number of eggs decrease, particularly in our 30’s. While the school of thought used to be that similar to egg quantity, quality is unchangeable, newer research is showing that quality can be improved with some lifestyle changes and things I’ll get into below. For most of you reading this, getting pregnant WILL come easy, hell, it may even come by accident.…
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I Have Endometriosis
If you had told me a few years ago that Endometriosis would one day be a part of my life, I would have scoffed. Pshhh…. I’ve had normal periods and cycles since forever and don’t have any of the crazy pain you always hear about with Endometriosis. Well, that naïve girl had another thing coming. So, if I don’t have the telltale symptoms, how do I know I have it? I’ll sum that up in one big, fat, horrible word: INFERTILITY. That was my only real symptom (lucky me). In fact, if it weren’t for a laparoscopic surgery to unblock a fallopian tube (found during a routine HSG), we would…
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My 13 Month Breastfeeding Journey
First, I want to start by saying that each woman has to do what works for them. While this was my journey, I don’t mean to say what is right for others. This can be a sensitive topic in the mommysphere and while we live in a pro-shaming society, I don’t intend to do that here. Fed is best, whatever that may mean for you and for your family. Sour Milk? Is it just me, or do you feel like so many conversations about breastfeeding focus on the negative? It’s painful… it’s hard to get the perfect latch…it’s time consuming…you can’t drink alcohol or copius caffeine….you may leak….you may get…
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Going Green in 2019
If you knew that that products you were using to clean your home, wash with in the shower or even use on your baby contained ingredients proven to be linked to cancer and affect reproductive health… would you still use them? No way in hell. At least that was my reaction. I know that there’s so much in this world we can’t control, but if I can knowingly avoid toxins in my house and especially on and around my baby… that seems like a duh. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a granola hippie type… I mean, heck, I don’t even listen to Widespread Panic. But after struggling…
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Charlie’s First Year… A Slideshow
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A Letter to My Daughter: The Story of Your Birth
My Dearest Charlie, You are a miracle. And the day you were born was nothing short of miraculous. A day that your father and I will remember always. I’d been dreaming of being your mommy for as long as I can remember…but I had to wait. Your father and I fell in love and wanted nothing more than to bring you into the world….but we had to wait. So that’s exactly what we did. You were created out of love, perseverance, patience and hope. When we finally learned that you were growing inside of me, we (blissfully) waited some more. Carrying you was the most amazing experience. I cherished every…
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How I Prevented Stretch Marks…. and Defied Genetics
In a few weeks, my sweet Charlie will turn ONE (excuse me while I go cry in the corner). But seriously, it’s CRAZY how fast it’s going. I am already mourning the end of the baby year, but of course I’m so excited to celebrate our girl and experience the milestones to come. Facebook and Google Photos keep showing pics from one year ago… when I was almost 9 months pregnant. It’s really something else to look back and see your body, in such a drastically different state and realize how much it has transformed. This got me thinking about something that is on many pregnant (or soon to be…
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What NOT to Say to Someone Trying to Get Pregnant
“It’s time to start trying for another…” “Are you going to have more children?” “She’s going to need a playmate soon…” Now that Charlie is approaching one year old (*gasp*), I’m amazed by how many strangers let me know that it’s time for me to have a second child. While these are good people that mean well…. they are unaware of the sting of those comments. If you are familiar with my story, you know that we are so beyond grateful for our miracle baby. Women like me, however, don’t have the luxury of simply deciding its time to have another. While we would love to have more…