April Rose

Life is a fickle thing.

For those of you who know my story with April, you know that I had to learn this the hard way.

I've loved and I've lost, but life always moves on. That is, until your entire world stops over one doctor's appointment.

I was having some weird problems (I won't get into detail) so I went to the doctor's to get checked out. They did blood work, a pregnancy test and a different test, which all came back normal. To see if they missed anything, I was ordered to get a CT scan on my abdomen which also came back showing that I had a few cysts.

I went back a week later because my doctor wanted to see how big they were to determine if I needed surgery. The ultrasound technician kept going, "Hmmmmm....your ovaries are shaped weird." I thought nothing of it, I mean, everyone's different, am I right?

She wanted to talk to the radiologist on site, so I was banished to the waiting room. Finally, they called me up into his office, which by the way, had no chairs.

"Did you know that you were pregnant?" I felt like my heart stopped beating for a whole minute. I shook my head, hoping for good news.

"I can't give you any statistics, but you will probably have a spontaneous abortion within two weeks." Seriously. Verbatim. I wanted to sit down so badly, just so I could catch my breath. Just to have documented proof of my pregnancy, they had me take another pregnancy test in the office.

I really held it together while I was still there. When they finally let me go, the second I got in the car I burst into tears. It was just--I found out I was pregnant, and then immediately after hearing that the baby probably doesn't stand a chance. I was crushed, terrified, distraught, you name it. I called my best friend and told her and just cried.

I had to pick up Taylor from work a few hours later. He walked up to the car, thinking nothing was wrong. As soon as he got in, I once again burst into tears, having to tell him the news. He took it way better than I did, but there was still that fear.

Two weeks later, I had a threatened miscarriage. I ended up going to the Naval Hospital on base, and they were able to take a good look. Luckily, everything worked out.

The few moms I've talked to had the same anxiety about that first OB appointment. For me, I felt like I was holding my breath. I can't tell you how many times I prayed that day. As soon as they placed the wand onto my skin, I heard the heartbeat and started to cry.

The rest of my pregnancy went okay, all up until my 34 Week, 6 Day mark. My water broke that morning. I still had a month left! I progressed very slowly, almost to the point where they even started prepping me for a C-Section.

At 4:08pm on August 30, 2013, our little baby April was born. In the pictures, you can see how tiny she was!

Almost a year later, our little baby is growing like a week, telling us to, "Stop!" and turning our world upside down. I can't even remember life before her. I can, but good lord! I can't imagine a world without April. She is one of the best things that happened to us. Because of her, I have grown up and become a better person.

So to my little April Rose, Happy (almost) Birthday! You are loved even more than you know!

April Now

See how skinny her legs were?