By Natalie
I haven’t been able to properly string this together so forgive me for the brain dump.
This is the place where I sort through my thoughts and it’s been a while since I’ve written a good rambling. Here it goes, a few things that have been rattling around in my head lately.
By Natalie
Ana popped by Sunday and we went on a walk. Is everything ok? She asked. Because I told you to hang back. We’d all been under the weather and I wanted you to rest, since you let me sleep in that morning. But I was confused by her question. I didn’t think much of telling you to stay behind and as I explained to her that we were better off taking shifts during family illness I got to thinking about the stage of life we are in. A stage of life where thank goodness we’ve developed a long-haul kind of love and we can simply cruise along. One that can sustain us through somewhat unromantic times like these. So I wrote you this love letter about how we choose each other every day and what that honestly looks like.
By Natalie
I’m a little behind because I’ve been spending most of my free time keeping our clothes and dishes clean and sleeping! But here’s some snapshots from our vacation at the end of the summer.
Saying, “The kids.” is now my new favorite thing!
By Natalie
I’ve seen some things like this floating around online and I wanted to write up my own version. It’s so easy to lose sight of what matters in this season. All I should be worried about is that my baby feels safe, comforted, has his needs met and is able to build a secure attachment. A day in our minds from the perspective of mom and baby.
By Natalie
When Lincoln turned two months old I was reminded of this post that I wrote about Felicity. I thought it’d be sweet to write a side by side comparison of the two to see how different the two kids are and what the overall experience two months postpartum has been each time.
By Natalie
On the morning of June 8th I went into the Matthews hospital for my scheduled induction. Lincoln was tracking to be 10lbs and 8oz, so at 39 weeks my midwife said, “Let’s get that baby out.” and I couldn’t have agreed more. My belly was huge. I had minimal back pain thanks to chiropractic, however my gigantic belly was feeling so cumbersome. The ultrasound tech believed Lincoln would be big but she also explained that it appeared I had a lot of fluid which could be magnifying his weight. This was my last bump pic taken 2 days before Lincoln’s birth.
By Natalie
Lincoln Thomas Poe was born Monday June 9th at 12:07am. He was 10lbs 5oz and 22in.
His birth story will come later.
Due to the nature that we don’t share much on socials I’ve been sharing details with loved ones at different times via txt this week. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep up with updates as the roller coaster week went on.
By Natalie
I haven’t known what to say or how to say it. In the beginning because I was adjusting to the shock of our miracle unassisted pregnancy, after 5 years of secondary infertility. Also because I was awfully nauseous. In the second trimester I remained silent because I still didn’t have much of a desire to write. But now.. at 30 weeks here I am and the time feels right to share this poem written for my SECOND.
By Natalie
A few weeks ago I found myself in what I felt like was an emergency situation. My mental health was deteriorating all summer and I struggled to manage until the day that one trigger blew up everything inside me. I was numb and could not deal with anything or anyone. My body had been breaking down for a while. One night in August I became unexpectedly nauseous. I was restless and unable to sleep and then I began vomiting at 3am. I had brain fog, I tried consuming more electrolytes, convinced maybe the heat of the summer was the issue. I couldn’t recall words and on top of that my irritability was spewing on everyone around me.
By Natalie
I picked Felicity up from gymnastics camp and broke the news to her.
“Today?” She asked, sitting on the passenger side in her leotard.
I nodded. “Yea baby, I’m sorry.”
She immediately started crying and climbed into my lap.
“He was a really good boy, but he was very sick.” I told her. I started crying too. It wasn’t until Brandon made a video of Bingley that we realized what a big part of Felicity’s life he was. He was her constant companion, he’d been there since we brought her home from the birth center.