October 15th

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Please light a candle 7pm no matter which time zone you are in. Remember Moira and all of the other baby angels in heaven that day.

Our 6 year old nephew Nathan is here today. I was showing him a scrapbook that someone made for me of Moira. He looked at the pictures with me and then said to me "I wish I could have seen Moira in person instead of just in pictures." I do too Nathan, I do too.
Sigh.....he likes to talk about her, ask us questions, and go in her room. I told him that I have a few good friends whose little babies died and went to heaven because they were sick too. I told him they were all playing with Moira and keeping each other safe in heaven. I asked him if he liked that, and he said "yes." He is such a sweetie. I told him that he can talk or ask about Moira anytime he wants because I don't want him to ever forget about her and he told me that he doesn't want to forget her!

My baby "got sick and passed away......."

Hello everyone!!
Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I am just so tired when I get home from work and the last thing I feel like doing is blogging. :( I loved doing it all summer, but now just my comfy clothes and my bed call out to me.
My days are filled with classes and running around the school with different errands and such to do. Copies to make, folders to organize, and kids to help out! This week I had a 7th grader ask me if I had any kids, well of course I had to tell her. I have a picture of Moira sitting on my desk and this girl will be in my classroom 4 days a week. So, I told the student that I had a little baby who got sick and passed away. Sigh.....she was so sweet. Then today I had an 8th grader who knew me last year from another class, but she didn't know what happened to Moira. Most of the 7th graders last year who I would of had encounters with in certain classrooms were told. This one wasn't told. She wasn't in a class that I would have subbed in or helped out in. She was in a study hall with the woman I shared a classroom with last year. So, she asked me if I had a boy or a girl. I told her that actually my baby got sick and passed away. So, that is my token answer for any of the kids. That is what they told the kids last year, that Moira "got sick and passed away."
I hate to say that, I hate that I had a baby who got sick and died! A baby I longed for and wanted for so long. A baby I planned for and loved from the minute we knew we were pregnant with. All I have left of her is her ashes sitting on a shelf and her hair in my locket. My baby got sick and passed away. It's just not fair! I WANT MY BABY HERE WITH ME!!! Why don't I get to have my baby here??? Sigh......
Anyway, that's been my week. I promise to try and update a little more, but nothing super exciting is going on with me.
I am excited that next weekend I get to meet some loss mamas for the first time IRL, all who have had their rainbow babies as well. They have been a wonderful support for me from the beginning. Debbie, Jen, and Maria, I can't wait to see you ladies and have a nice weekend!

Busy, busy, busy!

Now that I am back to work, I don't have much time for my daily blogging, reading blogs, Facebook, etc. I think my husband is happy with that!! ;o) The week has been crazy and we have only had the kids two days this week and we have Friday off. Monday was professional development, so it wasn't bad. The student's schedules are all screwy, so it's made the start of the school year even more hectic than usual. It's OK, I smile and go where I am told. I have had more free time at work then I would normally have, but I have been filling my days. I came home Tuesday after having just a crazy, busy day, not stressful, just lots of running around. My blood pressure was 150/100 and that was with my medication that morning. So, I decided I should probably take it 3 times a day instead of two and my doctor had said I could do this if it was continuing to be sort of borderline or high. So, today I took it again around lunch time and then took my blood pressure at the end of the day before going home and it was 130/82, much better. So, I think at least for now I will take the meds. 3 times a day and see how that goes.

I was so anxious and nervous all last week about returning to work. My post-loss job, where I was pregnant the whole school year. How were people going to react to me, what would they say, what would I say, how would I feel sitting at my desk again?? I had a few panic attacks last week and was very, very nervous the first day. After going to the district wide opening day meeting, I headed over to the jr. high and we had our school meeting. Everyone was coming up to me, hugging me, welcoming me back, saying how happy they were to have me back, and also say how sorry they were. It felt so good and I felt so loved!

Anyway, I also have to just put in here that I hope you all will say some prayers for this family.
I have no words for the loss they are experiencing right now. Mirne, if you read this I am so, so, sorry for this horrible loss you are experiencing right now. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

I hope to try and update a little more often, but I have been so exhausted after work this week! Hope everyone is enjoying the start of fall. Hard to believe summer is over.

The Secret Garden August Meeting

If you created a bedroom for your baby tell us what it was like.
Moira's room is beautiful! Lots of friends helped us get her room together. It needed a lot of work since it was originally our junk room piled with boxes. We live in an old house, 1850. The walls were in rough shape, electrical work needed to be done, and the previous owners had painted the wood floor. The trim work was an ugly pinky purple color.
Our friend Cam put up a chair rail and helped Dave fix the walls. Our neighbors helped pick out the colors and helped to prime and paint the walls. We did a creamy colored trim with a pale green on the top wall and a pale purple on the bottom wall. I agonized for months, constantly changing my mind about what I wanted for the nursery theme. I didn't want everything matchy matchy like all of the typical nursery decor. I wanted her nursery to be different, stimulating, and beautiful. I finally decided on bedding from IKEA. Her room is so much fun and so pretty. My parents bought us the crib and Dave's parents bought us the dresser/changing table. We had an old bookshelf that Dave stained and we got a rocking chair from a family that I used to babysit for. Our neighbor and Dave worked on the closet. It is beautiful!

Did you have it ready for them before they were born?
Everything was ready for Moira. There were a few finishing touches that weren't done, but the crib was ready. Her clothes were washed and hanging up and stored away in the dresser. Her cloth diapers were washed, prepped, and put away. Books on the shelves, her nightlight was ready. Stuffed animals lined a shelf and a were put in a basket. The crib was made with freshly washed linens. The room is the cleanest and most organized room in our entire house!

If so how did you cope coming home to it without your baby?
Friends of ours came to our house while we were still in the hospital and packed away EVERYTHING baby related and stored it at our neighbor's house. The car seat was taken out of our car and put away. Her room was left as is. When we came home it was so hard, but we came home to an empty house. The pack and play that had been set up a few days before in our downstairs was now gone. The swing and bouncy seat, still in their boxes waiting to be put together by Dave and my dad, were gone. The diapers and changing stuff I had ready for us to use downstairs, were now put away. Books, ultrasound pictures, notes, etc. all gone. It was surreal and strange, but I was glad to come home to all of that put away and we didn't have to do it. It took me about a month before I could go into her room and when I finally did, I went in with Dave and he held me and I sobbed for what was lost. Now, I go in there and I look around at her things, look at her cloth diapers, her clothes, and the crib and I smile. I smile because I remember all of the love that went into making that room. Our love and our friend's love. We had so much help putting that room together, it makes me happy to see it still there. I don't want to take it down.

Did you pack it all away?
As I said, just the things that were throughout the house. Currently her room is as it was the day we finished it.

What is your baby's room now?
Still a baby's room and it will remain that way for our next baby.

If you are trying to conceive again, or are pregnant again how do you feel about setting up another room before your baby is born?
We are trying to conceive again and we plan to use Moira's room. I feel so happy now when I go into her room. I will keep her room as is for now. When we get pregnant, if we are having a boy, only a few things need to be changed and of course we will eventually buy some boy clothes. If we have a girl, we will use Moira's clothes depending on the season the baby is born. I feel like it will be a wonderful way for us to keep Moira's memory alive, by using all of her things for her little brother or sister.

This is a picture of Moira's changing table/dresser and the bookshelf in her room

This is a picture of the crib

This is the crib and a look at the curtains in the room.

Meeting today

I just wanted to let you all know that my meeting with my boss went really well today. She is so supportive and such a wonderful person. She really helped to ease my anxieties. I am so grateful for that. I know now that going back to work on Monday will be hard, but it will be good for me and I will have so many people there rooting for me and cheering me on. When we finally get pregnant again, both Dave and I will have both schools behind us 100%!! He works across the street from me at the high school.
Anyway, thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!!

Mixed emotions

So, I have mixed emotions about starting work again next week. I haven't actually worked since my last day of work on April 17th. The following week was our April vacation and so I decided not to go back to work after vacation because it would only be 2 weeks before Moira's due date.
Last year when I was getting ready to start work, it was a new job, a new school year, and I was pregnant with Moira. I had so many hopes and dreams and was so excited and happy. Little did I know what the end of the school year would bring. This year I will be starting that same job with new students, same co-workers, no baby, and I am not pregnant yet. I have no baby to show for my school year long pregnancy and my maternity leave. I am feeling so overwhelmed and anxious!
Luckily I have an amazing boss, she is the special education department head and the supervisor of us instructional aides. Anyway, I e-mailed her today and asked if I could come in for a visit if she was going to be in this week. I explained to her that I am feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the start of the school year and I would love to just chat with her and hopefully help ease some of my anxiety. She, of course, said yes! I am going in tomorrow morning for a little while to visit her and will hopefully feel a little better about the start of the school year on Monday. Actually the students don't report until Tuesday and we have Friday off for a long Labor Day weekend. So, it will be a 3 day week with the students and a 4 day work week for the teachers, etc. I'm feeling a little better now!

Sailing

On Tuesday we started our trip by sailing from Boston to Marblehead, that's where this picture was taken. I had never been to Marblehead before. It was a quaint little New England sea town. Great scenery, cute little houses, and just a nice town. I took some great pictures while we were there! Wednesday we got up and got underway to Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod. I only remember going there once when I was a kid with my family and I can sort of remember the beach, but that's it. P-town, if you don't know, is a cute, fun, hip town where there is such a mixture of different and interesting people. It was fun. We went to a bar Wednesday night for a drink and we had a drag queen for a karaoke DJ who was hilarious! Thursday morning we got up, ate breakfast in P-town, walked around a little bit more, then went back to the boat. We did our usual shower routine, which was jump in the water, soap up, and then jump back into the water. The P-town harbor water was like bath water, it was so nice. We took salt water baths all week. Then after that we set sail to Scituate, MA, which is Dave and our friend Peter's hometown. It was Peter's boat we were on. We got into Scituate, ate dinner, had a few drinks with Peter's sister, and met up with another one of Peter's friends, Robyn who was joining us in Scituate for the sail back to Boston on Friday. There were four of us that were on the whole trip, Dave and I and then Peter and his friend Rachel who was a lot of fun and then she just joined us for the last leg. Friday we got up, had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts in Scituate, got a few things at the store, and then headed out to Boston. It was really a lot of fun and I am glad we did it. because who knows if we'll be able to do it next year. I will post some pictures later. Also, I have some pictures on Facebook, which I think most of you have seen, but I'll try to post a few of my favorites here.

My dream, again

Two things about my previous dream my therapist said I should take the energy from my dream and go with it. In other words, she said I should journal to the twins. Write them notes, talk to them, etc. She said she believes in dreams coming true and that if you take the energy from such a great dream that it's possible it will come true. I've been thinking about that and thinking about writing to "my twins." We'll see!!

Also, I talked to my mom about it last night. I told her about the dream and how vivid it was and how I rarely remember my dreams. She asked if I could be pregnant and I said no because I had just finished my period. She called it a baby dream. She had told me before about how she had vivid dreams while pregnant with me and my brother. She knew I was a girl and Tom was a boy, she knew what we looked like, everything. Since then she has had other baby dreams about people close to her, her sister, friends, etc. She never had a baby dream when I was pregnant with Moira and I never had a baby dream while pregnant with her either. I had one early on of me buying baby boy clothes, but no baby in the dream. That was before we knew she was a girl. Then later on I had a dream of me nursing her, but it wasn't very vivid and I barely remember it. So, I am wondering if that means something? I don't want to read into it because I think that will make me sad and I don't want to be sad. So, instead I think I am going to take the energy from the baby dream I had of me having twins and go with it like my therapist said. If I don't have twins, I won't be totally upset because then that means I can get pregnant again. I loved being pregnant and can't wait to get pregnant again. If I do have twins, then I would be OK with that too. It would be my last pregnancy though unless somewhere down the road I could convince Dave to go at it again and see. We always settled on the fact that we would have 2 kids and if we get them in one shot then great. We'll see.....

Love

Just wanted to share this picture of Dave and I from our sailing trip this week. I love it!! I think I am going to blow it up and frame it. We had an amazing time. It was so fun and relaxing. I haven't been this tan in a long time! My freckles popped out like crazy! So much so that Dave couldn't figure out what the spots on my nose were. When I looked in the mirror, I said "you silly, those are my freckles!!" Anyway, I will update more about our trip later. I am so tired right now and heading to bed soon.