It is interesting to see all the names together because it makes me realize the people around us and how God knew we needed to be together. I love everyone of these people! Even before we lost Hailey I felt like I knew how great it was to have them in my life and now I truly understand! Granted I am extremely grateful for EVERY person in my life, but naturally these will hold a special place in my heart!
I did also light a couple of candles at about 7pm for our angels as well. I like to think all the angels were looking down and seeing them across the world glowing for them. I can only imagine what that looked like!!
Here is the picture of the rocks all painted and below it I will give a brief story (from my perspective) of each. :)
So, I won't be specific, but will tell you a little about the above and how they have impacted me. First I will start with 4 of them that all went to heaven at the same time; a friend of mine whom I had met in high school and we weren't/aren't terribly close, but I think with everything we still have a little bond. I actually found out on my wedding day that she had lost them! I don't know what happened or what her story is, but I remember that and we even decided to go hang out with our friends that night after our wedding (we got the idea from some friends of ours). We actually ran into my friends parents at the restaurant and seeing the tears in their eyes, just broke my heart. How interesting that a day of loss was also a day of joy. Granted I found out pretty early on that day and although I decided I was going to focus on the wedding, they were in the back of my mind that whole day! My heart broke for them. I had no idea what they were dealing with, but I still hurt for them. Although I will add, they now have a set of twins that are pretty close to Madison's age!
Next is actually one closer to me; I lost a niece or nephew. My brother and sister-in-law lost one in between their two girls. It was early on, so we really don't know if it was a boy or girl, but either way I can understand the pain. That is what is amazing, and what many people don't get; yes some say it was an early loss and they may not have "bonded" with them; but that is not entirely true! For me and most women, we bond, plan, dream, etc of that baby the DAY, the MINUTE we find out we're pregnant!! This one also makes me think that maybe it was one of those that if that hadn't happened we wouldn't have my brother's second daughter. I CANNOT imagine the world without her!! That girl is full of life and personality!! Not to say any of my nieces are any less, it's just amazing! :)
Naturally my friend I've mentioned many times that had triplets and lost two of them are included in this. I can only think to begin where their story begins! She was admitted the day they found out they were all girls and she was on bed-rest for awhile. We actually went to see them during their hospital stay (before the babies were born) and that was interesting because Madison was only a few months old! I remember hearing what happened and kept up with everything she posted. I reached out to her any way I could and tried to give her space and let her contact me when she needed me because again, I had no idea what she was dealing with, but I hurt for her soo much! Looking back and having been through it, I kind of wish I had been a little more adamant but that's not my personality and I didn't want to intrude or come off in a bad way. I just hope knowing that I was there if she needed me helped. I know that has helped me from the many that continue to reach out. I feel awful for not reaching back, but I honestly don't know what I'd reach for. Not to mention most of the time it's really weird hours or times that it hits me!
Next I'll mention a very interesting one. Being a mark. rep, there is a forum where you can post questions, ideas, etc about the business and products. They also have a board where you can post about things unrelated to mark. Several months back I posted about names, wanted to broaden our resources for ideas of names. Even though we had it narrowed to a couple I wanted to make sure. Well, of course after everything happened I posted what happened and when I went back to check posts after; there was an interesting one. Another rep had been through the same thing! She said she even had to go back and post about her loss as I did. Although she has since had a rainbow baby, so she will be a good resource; but it has helped to have yet another who understands what I'm going through. Not to mention it's amazing how close you can feel to someone you've never met when we share something like this!
Next is one that I had mentioned in my previous post. She had found out a little after I did and lost it at 12 weeks and had her due date this past week. I do actually kind of hope we will be pregnant at the same time again and have our healthy rainbow babies close together. I still remember the day she told me what happened, she has one of those personalities that you just can't help smile around her no matter what she's talking about. She mentioned it so matter of factly it actually kind of threw me off! It was one of those moments that right after she walked away, I thought, what did I just say? I wish I would have hugged her or said something else. Either way, I think with time it doesn't matter what I said, but that I'm working on being there if she needs it will help. It's funny too because with our loss, I am finding we have a couple of more things in common (nothing big) but we are pretty close in age, a little less than a year apart and our oldest children are the same age. Granted she has boys and I have a girl. :) We also both love crafts and sewing! So maybe this is something to bring us closer; we'll see. :)
One of the babies is from a friend I went to church with I apparently knew before we met again in youth group, we just didn't know until later. She has 4 boys and I think the one she lost was either between the first and second or second and third. I remember hearing about it and as with all the others, I hurt for them and my heart broke! I believe hers was before I was married or close to it. I truly had no idea what she was dealing with, but I could only imagine. Being a close friend, it didn't matter to me that I didn't understand, I still hurt because my friend hurt!
Another of my friends from church actually lost hers this year, she didn't realize she was pregnant until she had gone in for surgery or something that led to the surgery. I haven't had a chance to talk to her about her loss so I'm not sure if it's hit her since she didn't know until it was lost. I am sure she still feels the pain that one was lost. I still felt for her as well when she told me about it.
Finally is a friend that went to our church for a short while in high school. I think we hung out a few times, mostly during youth group functions. I didn't even know she had lost one until after I'd lost Hailey; of course we had just reconnected through Facebook while I was pregnant. She also had a son right after losing her twins. I definitely felt her pain when she mentioned that to me, because when I found out I totally understood!
It's funny how we go through life and when we hear about certain things we think, 'that will never happen to me' or 'I hope that doesn't happen to me'. I can't say I didn't think that when I heard most of these stories, but even then I knew that if it did God would take care of me and He would have a reason. Maybe that's why I have handled Hailey's loss like I have. Not to mention having all of these incredible people in my life!!! It is interesting that most have had children after or already had children. Maybe that's what makes it hard is knowing that the other went so well, but that one didn't. That's where faith and peace come in! God has a plan and a reason, we have to trust and have peace that they are watching over us!
I did want to also mention, as I was saying earlier that we as women (or at least I have), plan and dream of and for our babies the minute that stick has a plus sign or two lines or whatever! I very clearly remember the day I found out I was pregnant with Hailey. We'd been trying for a few months and I got worked up every time I took the test! So when it was positive I was thrilled!! I was going to go into my whole story of how I told Jason, etc; but I think I'll save that for another blog and include the story of when we found out with Madison...I love both stories!! You will too :)
So for those who haven't been there and can't relate, it doesn't mean you can't still reach out and be our friend! If you at least try, that means the world to me (us)! There will be times we'd rather talk to someone who understands, but most of the time, I'm happy just talking about it to anyone who will listen.
Until next time.
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