Our Royal Baby

couple flowers baby Moving from Hurt to Hope after a Miscarriage: Part 1

Monday, the world stopped as news of the royal baby’s birth was announced.  This news stopped my heart.  Our first baby had almost the same due date as the royal couple’s little one.

If you have been following this blog, you know that I have mentioned that my husband and I have lost two babies in the past year to miscarriage.

 As I have journeyed through the pain, grief, and questions I have found that hearing someone else’s story is part of the way to healing.  Hearing another’s story helps you realize that you are not alone if you have had a miscarriage.  It is an experience that can feel lonely and isolating because there is no cast to wrap your broken heart, no casket to bury your memories in and too often no one knows.  Even if someone knows, they may not know how to respond.

I am sharing with you my personal reflections about miscarriage, because God has given me hope in the midst of devastation.  I am praying that this series provides comfort and hope for those who have walked through a miscarriage, and insight for those with friends who have experienced one.

pregnancy testI will always remember the day I found out Alexander was inside me.

From the moment I saw the faint pink line turn brighter and then deeper and darker on the pregnancy test, I was absolutely head over heels in love with him.   By the time I had seen one plus sign and the word “pregnant” on the 2 different digital pregnancy tests my husband had me buy “just to be sure,”  I was shrieking.

I squealed and jumped in delight, begging my husband to let me call and tell someone.   Although what I really wanted to do was to run down my street screaming at the top of my lungs, “I’m a MOM!”  “I’m a MOM!”

After getting married at the age of twenty – nine, helping seven friends walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid and with most of these friends having their second little bun in the oven I felt that God was redeeming my years of waiting for my children.

As a little girl, my favorite toys were my dolls and my favorite activity was pretending to be a Mom.  My love for children continued through my adulthood as I  worked as a nanny, camp counselor and children’s pastor.  I went on mission’s trips and worked with orphans, I made friends with any child around me.  I have left adult conversations at parties, to find the kid’s table where I have spend the night, giggling, playing and reading.

Even in my professional life my student staff lovingly nicknamed me “Mom” because of the way I nurtured and cared for their spirits and even bodies, constantly “nagging” them to make healthy choices in the school cafeteria and to start a work out plan.  I had held them while they cried about boys, grades, and life direction.  I had also screamed and celebrated with them about boys, grades and life direction.

It has brought immense amounts of joy to my heart to know that around the world I have many spiritual children.  I had already been a “mother” to children and young adults offering counsel, correction, a listening ear, prayers, meals, snacks and of course hugs.  But I never felt more like a mother than the day I saw that faded pink line turn a deeper shade of rose.  I was a Mom forever now, I knew no matter what happened in life, no matter where I went or where my baby went, he would always be my baby and I would always be his momma.

I remember that day so vividly like a beautiful dream you don’t want to wake up from.  My husband and I ate dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant. I spent the entire dinner asking him if there was anything in the dishes I couldn’t eat because I was pregnant.  As an engineer, my husband researches everything and had already learned more about pregnancy that evening, then I had learned in a lifetime of being female.  After dinner I insisted that we go to the local used bookstore and look for pregnancy books.  We bought a baby name book and a book about eating healthily while pregnant.  I then came home and promptly ordered “ What to expect when you’re expecting.”

That same week, Prince William and Kate’s pregnancy was announced.  As the whole world watched Kate’s belly, I watched mine with the same force of anticipation and joy as a nation of people awaiting their royal baby.  To me this was my royal baby, the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to me that I would be a wife and a mother.

I asked the Lord for promises for my baby.  One was so clear to me, this little one would be a person of influence and draw the nations to knowledge and belief in Jesus Christ.  To me, this was the dearest promise that I could receive as a mother.

At first I was sure my baby was a girl, Rene was sure the baby was a boy.  We would joke about who was right or wrong.  I had called a friend to tell her I was pregnant, and she prayed for my pregnancy.  While she prayed I saw a picture of my baby Alexander, which would become such a treasure to me to.  In the picture I saw my little boy probably about a year old, crawling on hands and knees smiling with dimples just like my husbands’ into his chubby baby cheeks.  His dark brown eyes sparkled with mischief and his dark brown hair was wavy and thick, how I imagine my husband’s would have been as a child.  He looked sharp in a plaid blue vest with gray trousers and in my opinion was the cutest baby I had ever seen.

Then the bleeding started.

I went to a doctor who was unable to tell me much except that my blood needed to be analyzed again in 48 hours to see if my HCG and Progesterone levels had increased or decreased.

Those days of waiting for the blood work results felt like the longest days of my life.

Then the phone rang, it was “the call.”  My body grew cold, my heart stopped in my chest.  I answered steadying my voice.  The nurse delivering the blood results was short and abrupt.  Her tone sounded as empathetic as a piece of steel.  “Your progesterone and HCG levels have dropped dramatically in the past 48 hours and we are certain you are miscarrying.”  As her words stabbed through my heart, my husband miraculously walked through the door home, home a few hours early from a work project.

He held me as the nurse asked if I had heard her because I hadn’t uttered a word or sound since she had spoken.   My mouth couldn’t move because I was deafened by the sound of my heart shattering  into a million pieces.  My baby was dying, “My baby is dying!” I wanted to scream at the nurse and tell her, “YES I HEAR YOU! I HEAR YOU CLEARLY,” But I couldn’t say a word, I was in shock, and all that spoke was the scream inside my heart…”NO!  NO! NO!”

I knew my baby was with Jesus.  That my baby would never know the pain of earth and the brokenness of humanity, they would only ever know the love of Jesus and the love of their mother and father.

baby fingers on cribBut I wanted them to know pain!  I wanted to kiss every scrape and bandage every wound.  I wanted to see them fall bump their head on the coffee table as they learn to walk, I wanted to help them get back on their bike when they fall off their new two wheeler, I wanted to help them find the pieces of their heart after their first heartbreak, I wanted to have a continual drippy and snotty hand because I have wiped their eyes and noses from the sting of this imperfect world.  But I knew I never would and I wanted to, more than anything I have ever wanted in my life.

That night I collapsed on the couch holding my belly and cried, a deep soulful cry from my gut that had been building and I yelled until it was only a whisper, “I want my baby, I want my baby, I just want my baby.”

I wrote him a letter that night, I told him all about his life and how I felt when I found out he was inside me, and what we did that night we found out we were pregnant.  I told him he was wonderful surprise, the best kind.  I told him about eating  Vietnemese noodles and buying every pregnancy book in the store.  I told him I loved and missed him.  It helped.

For anyone who has walked through a miscarriage I think one of hardest parts are the questions.  What is the gender,  what does the baby look like, what is their personality like?  God was so kind to me to give me the gender, a glimpse of Alexander’s sweet face and then my husband named our son.  Shortly after the miscarriage I was resting in my husband’s arms, thinking about our baby boy and as hot and gentle tears streamed down my face, Rene said, “his name is Alexander.”   I sobbed  with relief, he had a name, our son had been named by his father.

I looked up the name Alexander in the baby name book I had bought the night we found out we were pregnant.  Alexander means “helper and defender of mankind.”  This bothered me a lot.  I wanted his name to mean what I needed most at that moment:  which was faith, hope or redemption.

How could my baby Alexander bring help to mankind now, I wondered?  How could he defend mankind when he had never set foot on this planet?  I struggled with the irony that the meaning of his name seemed to pose.  Yet, I knew the meaning of his name fit perfectly with the prophetic words God had spoken to my heart about Alexander.  God had told me Alexander would have great influence and favor with people for the Kingdom of God.  God had told me that Alexander would have an inheritance in the nations of the earth for the glory of God.

I do not have an answer for how Alexander will reach the nations of the earth.  However, I feel  nudges of hope from my Father, that as I write and share with others about Alexander’s life, that it will bring the hope and life of Jesus Christ to others, even in the furthest corners of the earth.  There is a joy and peace to be found when we know Jesus.  He is the restorer, He is the redeemer He alone can do this:

Forest Sunrise“comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy  instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated”  Isaiah 61:2-4

These are the promises I cling too.  There will be joy for my mourning!….there will be for your’s too sweet friend.

To continue this series:

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

If you have been through a miscarriage, what verses and promises from God have brought you hope?  I would love to hear about your sweet baby –  What is their name, did you do something special to remember their life?  What has been helpful for you in the healing process?

10 thoughts on “Our Royal Baby

  1. Lindsay

    Sweet Charity, my heart breaks along with yours! I suffered a miscarriage before the birth of my daughter, who is now ten years old. Though time has lessened the intensity of the loss, stories such as this bring all of those feelings back to the surface. It is particularly difficult when there are success stories around you or in the media that, oh so cruelly, remind you of your loss. Perhaps because I was in college when my miscarriage happened (studying theology and philosophy), I struggled with whose fault it was. I really didn’t want it to be my fault, so I fairly quickly believed everyone’s promise that it wasn’t. But if it wasn’t my fault, then it must be God’s fault. I struggled with that for a while. Finally, I realized that it didn’t matter whose fault it was, because I couldn’t change what happened. Somewhere along the line, I had this mental image of Jesus crying with me, hurting with me, and I realized that was enough: that God cared that I was hurting and that I wasn’t alone. Then the healing process began. Eleven years, and two kids later, that miscarriage remains a pivotal point in my life. I would never say that God caused it, but I can say that He has turned it into something beautiful that can be used for good; used to connect with other women; used to spread the word of His grace and peace. I pray that you will continue to allow God to use you, and Alexander’s story, to touch others. <3

    Reply
    1. Charity Post author

      Thanks so much for sharing about your first child. I am so sorry that you had to go through that. I love hearing that your daughter is 10 now! How awesome and encouraging =) I love that picture that God gave you, of Jesus sitting with you, and grieving with you. God has given me several similar images as I have gone through the grieving process – and it has been so healing for me. I completely resonate with what you are saying that knowing He is there with you, comforting you in your darkest times was enough for you – I have also found it to be enough…enough to cover the questions, and the hurt…an encounter with Him is better than the answers to all of my questions about miscarriage. He is so sweet to love on us in such an intimate way. Thank you for also sharing that you have seen how this circumstance God has used for good in your life, I feel I am just beginning to see the redemption of this and believe that I will see it more fully in the years to come.

      Reply
  2. Tiffani P

    Hey Charity! What a beautifully worded post. Thank you for sharing your experience and your heart. My first pregnancy ended in miscarriage, and so much of your post reminded me of how I felt, how I wept, how I thundered at God one minute and sat quietly curled up in his arms the next, unable to even think let alone pray. We had been calling the baby “Tipsy Bipsy” because he was a surprise pregnancy that happened when my hubs was a little tipsy (too much info?). We loved our little Tipsy Bipsy and when the occasional spotting I had been having turned into bleeding, and I knew – even before they did an ultrasound and the doctor asked me, “You had a positive pregnancy test?” because the miscarriage was so complete that my uterus didn’t look pregnant – I knew the baby was gone.

    Months later, pregnant with our second baby, and talking about how it was amazing to be pregnant again but so scary and how sad we were, still, about Tipsy Bipsy, my husband told me that he had dreamt about the baby a few times, and that he woke up and knew his name was Thomas Brian. It was one of the sweetest moments, and helped us both to lay our little boy to rest, and to rejoice when Penelope Joy was born 6 months later. I loved the story of God giving you a picture of Alexander, and giving Rene his name. There is something so sweet in knowing your little one, even though he cannot be with you.

    May the Lord richly bless you through this experience of sharing. And may He fill you with all joy and hope as you trust in him, that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit. Lastly, may you and Rene know the joy of holding your own baby in your arms, here on earth. Grace upon grace. Tiffani

    Reply
    1. Charity Post author

      Thanks so much for sharing your story Tiffani! I love that your husband also named your son. I am so thankful that God has brought your family a sweet baby girl, it brings me so much hope knowing that other women have experienced a miscarriage and now have healthy babies.

      Reply
  3. Megan

    I sat reading your blog on my lunch break at work today and found myself crying with you. I haven’t had to go through the loss of a child but I so appreciate you allowing us to know the pain you have endured. Thanks for your honesty and vulnerability. I think too many women deal with the grief of miscarriage in silence. Praying for you sweet friend. Asking our Father to bless you and Rene with the family your hearts long to have. -M

    Reply
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    1. Charity Post author

      I am so sorry for your loss! I am so thankful that we are connected now and that you are also sharing your story. I know it will help with the healing process of others!

      Reply
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