Month: May 2016

Jay update and cat’s out of the bag at work

~ christine ~ 18 Comments

Last Friday we had our second cord pathology scan. They basically repeated all of the procedures they performed in our first cord pathology scan, plus looked at Jay’s growth, because growth is still very important. Again, no issues were noted, cord related or otherwise, much to our relief. Continue reading →

My baby shower and anger and art therapy

~ christine ~ 18 Comments

So here’s something shocking… I threw myself a baby shower. Kind of. If you’re offended you weren’t invited, my apologies. Maybe. I would have only invited like seven people anyway, but I figured no one was available for my spontaneous baby shower at 9:00pm on a Wednesday night, so the guest list included Mark, Howie, and me. Continue reading →

Prove it

~ christine ~ 13 Comments

I enter our kitchen after a long day’s work. It’s a cold November night, already dark outside. My phone starts ringing – I can feel it vibrating in my purse. I fumble for it, finally finding it. I glance at the screen. I’m relieved to see that it’s Mark. He’s in Minneapolis on business, doing audit work for one of his many Minnesota clients. His schedule is demanding when he’s out of town. So I’m glad for the opportunity to talk to him – the days are long, and the nights are longer sometimes in my state of intense grief, especially when Mark’s away. Continue reading →

Mother’s Day musings (one week late)

~ christine ~ 25 Comments

I figured I’d try to write about this, albeit one week late… Since starting my blog I have yet to write a detailed post about how I’ve processed any of the major holidays… The best I’ve been able to do is put little blurbs about each one of them into my “random happenings” posts. I feel like a giant failure as a blogger in this regard, because after losing a child (or going through anything deeply traumatic), holidays tend to bring up so many emotions, piercing the heart in new, excruciatingly painful ways, so I should be writing about at least some of them as I share my grief journey, amiright? But truthfully, most holidays have left me too breathless and exhausted to do so. Continue reading →

Jay – umbilical cord pathology scan 1

~ christine ~ 12 Comments

We had our first umbilical cord pathology scan for Jay on April 27. Short update – fortunately, no cord issues were noted. But we realize the cord will continue to move, which is why we’ll be looking at it a few more times, though fingers crossed each appointment will be equally uneventful to this one. If you’re interested in more details about my appointment and what the actual scan entailed, read on… Continue reading →

South Carolina vacay

~ christine ~ 19 Comments

We just returned from four days in Hilton Head, South Carolina (Westin Resort) – probably our last opportunity to travel any significant distance for a while because I’m (justifiably) paranoid. Mark’s parents joined us for the trip. And, to be fair, we also invited my parents, but they declined our invitation because they’d “rather stay home with their dogs.” And I’m not sure what this says about my parents or about us. (Though, in full disclosure, unfortunately, one of their dogs is dying, which royally sucks and renders their decision more reasonable.) Continue reading →

Some inconvenient truths

~ christine ~ 19 Comments

I’ve found that life after tragedy is, among many things, one big study in human nature which I never asked to lead. And I feel like, as the one who experienced this particular tragedy, I’m indeed leading it, or at least my own version of it, because I could compile all of my observations related to the ways in which different types of people react/don’t react to Matthew’s death (and to others’ experiences similar to mine, or dissimilar, yet also tragic) and put them into a research paper or a book, even. And I’m sure it would be so entertaining that it would drive a helluva lot of people into a comatose state. Continue reading →