Life Abundant Blog

  • About Me
    • Other Writings
      • Babble
      • BlogHer
      • Fertility Authority
      • Guest Posts
      • Still Standing Magazine
  • Contact
    • Disclosure Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • Life & Family
    • Motherhood
    • Marriage
    • The Holidays
    • Vacations
    • Disney
    • Products
      • Favorites
      • Products for Fertility & Pregnancy
      • Products for Kids
      • Body Products
    • Foodie Goodness
      • Savory
      • Sweet
  • Infertility & TTC
    • Infertility Journey & Timeline
    • Clomid
    • Embryo Adoption
    • Femara/Letrozole
    • Follistim
    • Herbal Medicine
    • IUI
    • IVF
    • Male-Factor Infertility
  • PCOS
    • Eating for PCOS/Infertility
      • Groceries for PCOS
      • 21-Day Fix/Shakeology
      • Keto
    • PCOS Awareness Month
  • Hypothyroid/Hashimoto’s
  • Pregnancy
    • Miscarriage
    • Vasa Previa Success Stories
  • Natural Living

Fertility Update {one year after a miracle pregnancy that ended in miscarriage}

May 26, 2018 By: Jessi4 Comments

It’s been exactly one year since my last pregnancy began. May marks the same exact cycle that resulted in a shocking miracle pregnancy that I never expected after five years of waiting, and it ultimately ended in miscarriage. Now here we are, in year six of waiting, exactly one year later, and I felt compelled to give a quick update on what’s happening, what the last year has looked like in terms of fertility, and my hopes for the future.

Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash

Fertility After Miscarriage

It’s no surprise that my state of fertility after the miscarriage went right back to its old ways. I had very sporadic cycles with a lot of intermittent bleeding (in fact, I had 11 “cycles” in 9 months) but finally regained control once I started using essential oils for my cycles. Sometimes my cycles are textbook perfect and sometimes they’re very similar to the cycle I last got pregnant on, but either way, I’m functioning like a woman should. Sure, ovulation feels like a grenade went off in my abdomen, and it follows with 2 lbs of excess fluid and bruising, but hey, I’m ovulating. Beggars can’t be choosers, right?

[Read more…]

signature

Mother’s Day After Miscarriage

May 12, 2018 By: Jessi4 Comments

I should have a 9-week-old curled up next to my 8-year-old this Mother’s Day. That’s really hard to acknowledge. Last year at Mother’s Day, I had no idea that the cycle I was starting would lead to pregnancy and then miscarriage. After 5 years of waiting for that pregnancy to come, I had given up and accepted that it just wasn’t meant to be. We’d be a family of 3, I was grateful for that, and I moved on.

This year, Mother’s Day is different.

Photo by Josh Adamski on Unsplash

I’m so incredibly grateful for the beautiful daughter I have, but I do mourn the baby we’ve lost. It doesn’t make me ungrateful… it makes me a mother. Child at home or not – miscarriage still means motherhood on this side of heaven – it means a baby is part of the family… we just don’t get to raise that baby.

Or in some of your cases: babies.

[Read more…]

signature

I’m Still Standing: Infertility: A Decade of Waiting, Miracles, Loss, and Hope

April 16, 2018 By: Jessicomment

When I was told at the age of 23 that I was in pre-menopause, I felt like my world crashed down around me. My husband and I had only been married a year plus a few months when I first started to experience symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and infertility. We were told that the longer we’d wait to try to conceive, the less likely it would happen because my labs were very abnormal for a 23-year-old. Pre-menopausal. At 23 years old.

Read More > Infertility: A Decade of Waiting, Miracles, Loss, and Hope

Photo by Seth Macey on Unsplash

signature

I’m Still Standing: Five Things I Tell My Child As I Walk Her Through Grief

March 16, 2018 By: Jessicomment

I’ve had a lot of conversations with my daughter Zoey about infertility and loss. These conversations span years, but the last seven months have been the most difficult. Many conversations are filled with tears. Whether at bedtime before prayers, or on the couch because something on TV triggered her, or even at church… we’ve talked a lot. Today on Still Standing, I’m sharing five things that I tell her as I walk her through grief.

Read> Five Things I Tell My Child As I Walk Her Through Grief

signature

When the Due Date After a Miscarriage Comes and Goes

March 8, 2018 By: Jessi12 Comments

Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

Yesterday was my due date.

This week, I should be meeting my miracle baby. I should have spent the last couple of weeks preparing for labor, although I’m sure it would have been impatiently. I should have been looking over my hospital bag, re-checking the carseat installation, preparing freezer meals, getting a massage and a chiropractic adjustment, drinking tons of red raspberry leaf tea, and making sure all of my essential oils are in stock.

Instead, I’m contemplating whether I should sell the last of my remaining baby items.

[Read more…]

signature

I’m Still Standing: When Infertility And Miscarriage Hurt The Child Left Behind

February 26, 2018 By: Jessicomment

In case you didn’t see my announcement on Facebook and Instagram, I’m now writing monthly over on Still Standing Magazine about infertility and miscarriage. Stepping out to write for Still Standing was an act of bravery for me. I’ve been a long-time reader of Still Standing, and when they put out a need for some additional writers, I swallowed my fear and applied.

Today, my first post is live. I would love if you would head on over there, read it, and maybe leave a comment if you feel led to do so.

Read> When Infertility And Miscarriage Hurt The Child Left Behind

Image used with permission by Samantha C. Photography

signature

Life After Loss

September 25, 2017 By: Jessi12 Comments

It feels like this is all I write about anymore, but the fact is it’s only been 6 weeks since this miscarriage, and 9 weeks since we found out we were miscarrying. This loss is something I’m going to have to carry around for the rest of my life. It’s something I’m going to have to learn to navigate through, so just bear with me as I figure this out.

The medical bills just now started to pour in. There is no “moving on” when you owe a lot of money for a baby you never got to bring home. And then Amazon made a huge mistake last week and emailed a ton of people saying something was purchased off of their baby registry… of course it came into my inbox the same exact day (9/19) that I was fighting with a medical billing company for strangely billing my ultrasounds.

via GIPHY

With all of this crap going on, I’m learning how to cope, and with that comes mistakes.

Sometimes I find myself pouring into my Bible, studying those who have experienced great trials.

Sometimes I sit in the bathroom floor and weep and cry out “WHAT HAVE I DONE? WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?”

Sometimes I meditate in prayer, craving closeness with my God.

Sometimes I tell God I’m so mad at him and doubt his goodness.

[Read more…]

signature

10 Essentials for Surviving A Miscarriage

September 11, 2017 By: Jessi2 Comments

This post contains affiliate links at the very end for your convenience. These same products are probably available in your local community; however, if you’re like I was while waiting for a miscarriage to begin, online shopping from the comfort of your home may be your friend.

When I went through my miscarriage, I was extremely blessed to have a best friend who was able to walk me through everything… from what to expect, to what I’d need, to serving as a doula via texting when I reached the most active peak of the miscarriage and felt like I was about to split open. I was blessed, but not everyone has that person. Many women go through this feeling alone, or ashamed, and turn to the internet for advice. In my case, I was told the baby’s heart stopped beating more than three weeks before the miscarriage actually began, so I had a long time period to gather what I needed as I waited. Not every woman experiences this wait. Some are blindsided by the heavy bleeding and sudden loss. If you found your way to this post because you have been told you will miscarry and are waiting for it to begin, I’m so sorry. I know first hand that the wait is agony. I hope this post is helpful, but I also hope you find the community you need so you don’t have to walk through this alone.

The items I’m going to mention today were extremely useful for me. If you have been through miscarriage, you may have some additional suggestions and I would love if you shared those in the comments.

PicJumbo.com

10 Essentials for Surviving A Miscarriage

1.) Leak-Proof Water Bottle: The more hydrated you are, the better blood flow you’ll have. The last thing you want is for this whole event to last longer than it needs to. I think mine went as smooth and quickly as it did because I took my friend’s advice and drank a ton of water in the weeks of waiting for my miscarriage to begin. Make sure you have a good, leak-proof water bottle because when you are in bed going through contractions, you may not want to deal with a cup and risk spilling it. I kept a water bottle in the bed with me so I could easily grab it and stay hydrated in between each contraction. At one point, I was clutching it against my chest…

[Read more…]

signature

How I’m Doing After My Miscarriage

August 28, 2017 By: Jessi6 Comments

When I sat down in January and thought about what my blog content for 2017 would look like, this much loss was nowhere near my list. 2017 as a whole has been a weird year of grief for me.

1. My beloved cat Vesta passed away in May. What an awful day that was. Making the decision to give her eternal sleep was the most difficult choice I’ve ever made…

2. I lost my miracle pregnancy after five years of waiting. No words…

3. I’m currently watching my dog Lily struggle with the tumors on her leg, and it feels like it’s only going to get worse from here. She’s a ticking time bomb as I wait for the day where I have to make the decision yet again. I am certain it will be before Christmas…

What’s that saying? Death occurs in threes? I’m not one for superstition, but this pattern seems to be set for 2017.

So this brings us to the real question at hand. How am I doing after my miscarriage?

[Read more…]

signature

Pregnancy After Infertility: Miscarriage

July 25, 2017 By: Jessi29 Comments

This was such a painful post to sit down and write, but I knew for my own self that I needed the timeline documented. I knew I’d want to come back at some point and remember what happened. I also know that like infertility, miscarriage connects women… so today, I’m going to share that timeline.

July 11, 2017

For those who missed my very first ultrasound on Instagram, here is a little peek of our sweet pea:

The day I went in, I told the ultrasound tech that my baby could be off by a whole week because I knew I ovulated a week later than normal women. I knew this could date my ultrasound behind from my LMP. Even though my first blog post about this pregnancy was dated as week 6, I knew that was an average and could be a bit off. Sure enough, baby measured in line with when I ovulated verses my last period, but it was considered on time with conception. I walked into the ultrasound knowing it could be too soon to see a heartbeat, but was pleasantly surprised to see it flickering away on the screen at 100 BPM. To be just under 6 weeks along and see that tiny flicker, I was on cloud 9!

July 15, 2017

Just 4 days after the ultrasound, we had a scare and I ended up in the ER. I had spotting that went from brown (totally fine), to pink (okay, sorta fine), to bright red (not fine). According to the ultrasound in the ER, the baby was doing well and had grown quite a bit in those 4 days. Also, my HCG level was 34,000, and the heartbeat was stronger at 116 BPM, so I walked out of there feeling much better. They said I had a small subchorionic hemorrhage and that it can be quite normal. Even though my progesterone in the ER was still in a healthy range (16), I started taking Progesterone supplements to tell my body it’s not supposed to bleed and to further support the pregnancy.

[Read more…]

signature
« Previous Page

Image Map

Archives

looking for something?

© Life Abundant 2019

Disclosure Policy

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2020 · Modern Blogger Pro Theme

Menu
  • About Me
    ▼
    • Other Writings
  • Contact
    ▼
    • Disclosure Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • Life & Family
    ▼
    • Motherhood
    • Marriage
    • The Holidays
    • Vacations
    • Disney
    • Products
    • Foodie Goodness
  • Infertility & TTC
    ▼
    • Infertility Journey & Timeline
    • Clomid
    • Embryo Adoption
    • Femara/Letrozole
    • Follistim
    • Herbal Medicine
    • IUI
    • IVF
    • Male-Factor Infertility
  • PCOS
    ▼
    • Eating for PCOS/Infertility
    • PCOS Awareness Month
  • Hypothyroid/Hashimoto’s
  • Pregnancy
    ▲
    • Miscarriage
    • Vasa Previa Success Stories
  • Natural Living