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…
prayers for pregnancy
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 prayer for morning sickness
Morning sickness is awful. At best it's a nuisance for a few weeks; at worst it's debilitating for months. I've had both scenarios, so my sympathies leap out to any expectant mother who suffers. I've written ad nauseam (haha) about morning sickness: All over this blog. For example, "In Which We Are All - Begrudgingly - Images of God" and "'Morning' (Ha) Sickness" In my book Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting: You are a whisper of a whirl curled up deep in my belly. The hormonal soup in which you swim makes me nauseous at all hours of the day. I choke down crackers when I wake, throw up in the sink before breakfast, and pull over at gas stations to get sick on the drive to work. I collapse on the couch before sunset most evenings, too tired to drag myself to bed. I am three months pregnant. This is my body, given for you. Read more of Everyday Sacrament here... And my favorite nauseous reflection, The Magnificat: Mary's Morning Sickness Prayer: Maybe Mary … [Read more...] about a prayer for morning sickness
the biggest surprise of our lives…TWINS
We always hoped for four kids. I can't remember when the dream started, way back while we were still dating. Sly small conversations trying to sort out where a Significant Other stood on the Big Questions: marriage, family, faith. He was one of four. I was one of five (four after my brother died). We always wanted something like the same. Enough family to make life lovingly complex and delightfully chaotic. But then came infertility. Which scrubbed us bright-faced newlyweds raw of any expectations for what a family might look like. Just one, I used to pray late at night. All I want is one. Please. . . . After a few years, a baby finally came. The answer to prayers and pleas. He was wonderful and exhausting and world-upheaving, as babies always are. One seemed more than enough. As a worn and weary new mom, I wondered during his first year whether we should ever try for another. If we could even have another. But I knew those early dreams were born on solid … [Read more...] about the biggest surprise of our lives…TWINS
