Momma Love — miscarriage

Ugh.  It is that time of year again.  Most families are planning a special day, preparing gifts - the commercials are all over tv.  Articles about amazing moms are all over Facebook, and now everyone is changing their profile pictures using a breast cancer MOM banner.  This holiday is in your face.  Well, I guess most holidays are in your face - but this one stings, it really burns. First of all - being a mom is HARD.  SO DAMN HARD.  Why do we as a society need to help and honor moms once a year?  The funny jokes about dads letting her...

5 long years.  That is how long it took us to become parents.  Those five years felt like 50 years though.  I'll never forget the pain I felt, and how empty I felt all those years.   I wasn't technically infertile.  I actually got pregnant quicker than quick most times. Fertile Myrtle they called me, and I would cringe every time I heard it.  My problem was that I couldn't stay pregnant and in those 5 years I suffered 8 miscarriages.  I remember going to the Infertility clinic and being frustrated to hear that the options that most infertile couples had -...

My mom didn't come home from that stay.  Well not as herself anyways.  Just a shell of her came home with us.  It was strange, one day we were laying in her hospital bed together - watching the last Oprah show reminiscing on how much we would miss it.  Really, reminiscing about how much we would miss each other...  I got a call, it was Saturday morning and my stepdad had spent the night at the hospital.  He said, "Erin - your mom is not your mom anymore, you need to get here right away".  Once at the hospital, they told...

It took me a long time to recover from that loss.  I couldn't speak to my friends for months.  I felt so incomplete.  Todd and I got engaged, and we found out we were expecting again soon after.  I lost that baby too.  My doctor's still weren't concerned, as the chance for miscarriage is 1/3 for all pregnancies.  They told me it was bad luck.  It was the worse pain I had ever felt.  For my whole life I wanted nothing more than to become a mom, and it wasn't happening.  People kept telling me, everything happens for a reason.  For...

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day and as 1 in 4 - I want to share my story to help break the stigma around pregnancy loss.  This is Chapter 1 of an inspirational story of love, loss and motherhood that I will share over the next few weeks.  It was the day after Thanksgiving, 8 years ago now. My husband and I were expecting our first baby. We were the couple that were MEANT to be parents. You know a couple like that I'm sure. The one who always offers to babysit their friends' kids, is called "Auntie" and "Uncle"...