Here's the big announcement I've been saving. In case you missed it in the brand-new Mothering Spirit newsletter, I have two new e-books available for you and yours: Prayers for Pregnancy was born from the prayers that bring so many to Mothering Spirit. I never expected how the prayers I wrote (when I couldn't find pregnancy prayers that I loved) would resonate with readers, but it has been such a humbling gift to journey with expectant parents through their hopes and fears of welcoming a child. I've always dreamed of writing a bigger book of prayers for pregnancy and birth, but I decided it was time to create something that could be shared right now with those of you who have asked for more resources for pregnancy. Now you can get all the prayers together - plus lots of brand-new additions - in one e-book! This new collection of Prayers for Pregnancy includes: prayers for each month of pregnancy blessings for first-time moms, moms of many kids, and mothers of multiples … [Read more...] about announcing…
babies
an update on the twins
Stable abnormal. (I joke that most of us live this way, right?) That's the latest status with the twins. Doctors still aren't sure what's going on with their situation, why their blood flows aren't normal but aren't yet impacting their development. It makes no sense. There is nothing like hearing these half-frustrating, half-comforting words from a different doctor every week. My husband joked at last week's appointment that at least we're contributing to science with all this baffling data we're contributing. With a sympathetic shrug, the perinatologist admitted he was right. Nothing like being the medical mystery of the moment. Experts keep reminding us that 80% of mono-di twins (our identical kind that share a placenta) are born healthy. They just have no way of knowing whether we'll fall into the 80%. Or the other 20%. And serious complications can arise up until the very end. So for now, they are stable. We are holding our breaths. Taking it one abnormal week at a … [Read more...] about an update on the twins
a letter to the twins
Dear girls, This is the first thing I know about you. You are girls. This is still a stunning revelation to a mom of (previously) all boys. Of course I want to say with hindsight's surety that I knew, but your father heard those hopeful certainties with pregnancies in the past. He will not believe it for one second. When I want to say that I knew, what I mean is that I hoped. I am not ashamed to admit the hoping, because once we found out you were two, the whole world flipped inside out. And I prayed for some piece of the shock and surprise to be a piece of joy I could cling to. Then there it was. Plain as grainy ultrasound proof can be. It's girls, the tech smiled at me. I could not believe it and yet I knew it all along. (This is how I feel about 90% of what has happened since we discovered you were on your way.) I cannot yet bring myself to meditate long on what it might mean to have daughters. Sometimes I catch myself distracted by an adorable toddler in pigtails, … [Read more...] about a letter to the twins
stay close to the stories
Another morning is blueing into being over the thin horizon behind the dark trees. It is icy cold, fresh frost ringing the windows and slow snowflakes drifting down behind the glass. I am trying to convince myself to get out of bed. Already the toddler is singing from his crib, and his brothers are gobbling eggs and pancakes downstairs. The clock tells me another school day is beginning, and there are the usual hundred things to do. All the regular reasons that pull me from warm sleep. Today I am not sure it is worth it. My head is still aching from yesterday, hours at the hospital and a dizzying blur of specialists with concerned faces and scary scenarios. Something seems to be wrong with the babies; no one seems to know exactly what; all the options they offer are alarming. I cannot let myself enter into the sorrow and worry and grief behind every one of the questions whirling through my mind. I do not want any of this. I know I have to do the small things that … [Read more...] about stay close to the stories
