Tomorrow is the Big Day!

The last week of June we left for what was supposed to be a relaxing well-deserved family vacation. We got a great rate for peak season and were so excited to spend a whole week together away from the hustle and bustle of regular life. We arrived late on Saturday night and ordered a pizza to make things easy. We had not taken a week-long vacation since we got married 6 years ago.

Landon- So handsome & precious!

On Sunday morning I woke up sick as a dog and was throwing up all day. I couldn't even leave the bed. This kept on for another day, but I felt well enough to take a walk on the pier the next morning. I tried all the over the counter medicines to try to ease the nausea but I must have picked up a virus. From Saturday-Wednesday I was laying in the bed barely able to eat/drink and very sick.  Wednesday night I went to the ER since my symptoms had not gotten better & they prescribed an antibiotic. I started to feel better on Thursday so we went out the breakfast and had a nice day. Friday was our last big day so we met friends who were down at the beach for dinner and then went shopping at the Outlets for Madelyne.

Shopping was one of the biggest things I was excited about with going to the beach. Finally, our child had an identity & we could start to envision our future family.

Skip down to my previous post & you know the rest of the story.

Tomorrow is my first day back at work. One thing that some people don't know is that when you deliver a child you have the right to maternity leave/FMLA. Just because I wasn't blessed to take my child home- don't I deserve this coverage?

Some have questioned why I was out of the office so long, but my 6  weeks of maternity leave were my right & a part of the benefits I have through my employer of 6 years. I still had to deal with all of the normal symptoms of pregnancy: bleeding, swelling, hormones, milk production, etc. This was my fourth pregnancy, and my 3rd unsuccessful pregnancy. At 13 weeks I saw my child as we delivered at home unexpectedly, but at 21 weeks our child, Madelyne truly had a personality and spirit. She was perfectly formed and for reasons outside of our control my water broke prematurely and she was not able to continue breathing.

Tomorrow, life goes on...but it's hard not to feel like our life is standing still & everyone is spinning around us. I have to remember that I'm not the only one facing a challenge and that many of us would just like to crawl into the safety of our homes & not have to make contact with the outside world.

It doesn't mean that our family's challenges are not important to us, burdening our minds and emotions, but I think we should all take a few moments to realize that we are not the only ones facing major life challenges.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”