Friday, December 27, 2019

Ending 2019 The Way I Normally Do



It seems fitting that as 2019 comes to a close, I finally open up this blog and write a little.  

We didn't send out Christmas cards (or the year before that, the year before that, and the year before that).  I have all these grand plans to take a special photo, design some fancy cards and hand write each individual address, but I guess I'll have to try again next year, or the year after that.

This year came with so many changes.  We added a third little girl, moved to a new state, and started homeschooling a few months into the new school year.  

Jennavieve took our world for a new ride when she graced us with her presence.  On May 9th, I woke up feeling like something just wasn't right.  Unlike my pregnancies with her sisters, I paid attention to all her kick counts and I had noticed her activity had drastically changed the days prior.  That morning, however, I hadn't felt a single movement, but was hesitant to go to L&D triage since I frequented that place and each time was sent home with normal fetal movement.  Jon wasn't feeling too confident about the lack of movement and my mother, who had recently arrived for birth support, suggested I drive the 45 minutes to the hospital.  After about an hour and a half of a good heart beat but little to no movement, Jennavieve gave me three of the strongest kicks then her heart silenced.  She was delivered via emergency c-section lacking all color but still alive.  She was rushed to a hospital across town to a NICU where she underwent a double blood transfusion.  She was diagnosed with Chronic Fetal Maternal Hemorrhage, most commonly found in stillbirths.  

Although those days were some of the hardest emotionally, they were also incredibly special to me because of the medical care I received.  In a world where I constantly see the medical world get a bad wrap, I can't help but sing from the mountaintops the wonder of the love, support, straight-forward advice, and care from my medical team.  They instantly became some of my favorite people on the planet, and I'll forever be grateful for the way they saved my baby girl's life and the healing for me so I can get to her as soon as possible.  

About a month after her birth, we had all our belongings packed and drove across a few states to get to our new home in Nevada.  With only four months of emotional and physical prep from the moment we first learned of Jon's new assignment, I was not ready to move, let alone to a place I REALLY didn't want to go to.  But six months in, I fell in love with this town, its people and the opportunities we have to make some valuable memories.  Jon loves his assignment, the girls are adjusting to the warmer weather and new friends, and I'm learning that we are truly blessed to have been given all that we have in the four years Jon has been in, serving in the USAF.  

To our friends that have been with us for years and our new friends we are making along the way, THANK YOU for the treasures given in our time with you.  Although I look back at this year wishing I had made other choices for a lot of things, I'm incredibly grateful for the way we have been loved on.  Ya'll have made our 2019 amazing and we can't wait to return the favor in 2020 - Cheers friends! 

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