A Delivering Journey

As I'm sure you know by now, Randy and I had our beautiful son May 30, 2017, and we named him Owen Joseph Byers. He was 6lbs 12oz, 20.25in long. If you go back to the original meaning of Owen (different spelling), it means "gracious gift from God" and Joseph means "addition or increase." If you read my last post, you know we struggled for a long time to conceive this sweet boy, so we very much feel like he is a gracious gift of an addition to our family. A gift from our Creator, who knit him together and knew his name even before we did. We are so in love. I want to write his birth story before I forget, so some parts may be a little more than you'd like to know, but it won't be too bad. You have been warned! 😜 We were supposed to head to the hospital on the evening of May 29, 2017, which was also Memorial Day. So naturally we decided to throw a big party at our house so all of our family could get together and eat some burgers and hotdogs. Some

I was planning on doing my usual post for 37wks, but I thought I'd skip it, since there haven't been a ton of changes. As usual, I'm posting this after midnight, so just pretend it's Tuesday still... We have ONE WEEK LEFT from today. In 7 days I will be holding my baby. 267 days, approximately 230 daily blood thinning injections, 12 ultrasounds and doctor appointments, several baby showers, and countless blood draws later. We can't wait to introduce all of you to him or her! (add one to all of those since it's Tuesday 😂😆 ) Let's take a step back to last week, though. It was Thursday night and I was 36 weeks and 4 days along when my back started hurting. Except my back has been hurting, so it wasn't a huge deal. It's not like it's an unusual thing. I was so exhausted I took a nap from about 7-9 and my back really hurt when I woke up. My back usually hurts, especially after I first wake up, so I thought nothing of it. I went about getting

I typed this on Tuesday, but I didn't publish it until after midnight...so just pretend it's Tuesday still! How far along: 36wks 1 day - exactly 2 weeks from today!!! Baby's size: Approximately the size of a papaya or cake (depending on the app haha) - at my 35wk appointment last week they said about 5lbs 11oz. I'm guessing right around 6lbs right now. This week they only checked for fluid, movement, heart rate, breathing, and things like that, so we didn't do any measurements. He or she is projected to be about 7lbs at birth. This kiddo has a BIG HEAD, though. Like, 79th percentile vs a little body that has been pretty consistently in the 49th or less range haha. I think our appointment next week will be the last growth scan - AND OUR LAST APPOINTMENT BEFORE BABY 😳  AHHH! Heartbeat: 149bpm Gender: It's a surprise! Weight gain: Right at 25lbs Maternity clothes: All day, every day. Except for stretchy pjs when I'm at home Stretch Marks:

I've wanted to write this for a while now, but I've never been able to find the words. This day seemed appropriate to try to figure them out. A year ago today I miscarried our first child. Even a year later, those words still don't seem real. We had been trying for so long, only to have that life taken from us almost as quickly as we found out about it. A lot of emotions encircle a loss like that. Anger, grief, pain, depression, etc. I kept hearing in my mind and heart that the Lord had a plan, but how could I believe a plan for my good could possibly involve my baby dying? With all of my health problems, I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. Was my health the reason it had taken so long to begin with? Was my health the reason we lost the baby? I have 4 serious illnesses linked to multiple miscarriages, so it seemed likely that it was my fault. It's incredible how our narrow minds want to assign blame to something we have no control over. I also had a lot of anger b

The first of our maternity photos we have gotten back 💛 How far along: 32wks 2days Baby's size: The size of a squash...or coconut...or jicama. It depends on which site/app you're looking at haha - about 16.7in long and I think she said just over 4lbs. She projected that baby will be approximately 7lbs or slightly more when I'm induced at 38wks. Heartbeat: 145bpm Gender: still a surprise! It honestly hasn't been as hard as I was expecting. Weight gain: around 20lbs, maybe just over. Maternity clothes: all day, every day. Well, when I'm not in pajamas...which is most days, every day. Stretch marks: not really. Belly button - in or out: in, except it kind of flattens if I take a big breath or cough/sneeze. It's pretty shallow since I had my robotic gallbladder surgery. Wedding rings - on or off: on, but they're already loose since I lost so much weight, so I probably will never need to take them off. They actually have a spacer on