Life missing my forever baby Julian

This is a blog to voice my feelings and thoughts surrounding the death of my precious baby Julian. My twin pregnancy ended tragically with a catastrophic placental abruption. At 35 weeks my two sweet babies were born, and 36 hours later, one of my twin boys died in my arms. Now I have to figure out how life will continue with our surviving twin son and our 2 year old daughter.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Anger

I am so angry right now. I am sad and I am frustrated.  For me, there is no reason why things like this happen, they just do. When a baby or child dies, it is the most devastating and heartbreaking pain any parent will ever know. Nothing will take that pain away, you carry the grievous loss of your child forever.

This past week I stumbled upon two sweet babes who have died from SIDS in the last few days. My heart breaks for their parents and families.

Matilda Mae - http://www.edspire.co.uk/

Pat Pat -  https://www.facebook.com/TheProgressiveParent

You hear about babies dying from SIDS, but you never think it will happen to you. I used to think I was immune from child loss, that losing a child couldn't or just wouldn't happen to me. But it did. Even though my son's death was not at all SIDS related, the news and discovery of these two sweet babe's deaths has hit me hard. I am so saddened when I think about the pain families have to endure after the loss of a child. When I read  stories like these, I weep knowing that two more mothers have joined the awful community that I am also a member of for life - the community of grieving mothers.

The last few days I have been dwelling on the past and struggling with my own grief. I miss my sweet boy. I am trying to continue to find and acknowledge all the good in life. I have tried and will continue to try to enjoy every precious moment with my kids, these moments are special and I want to do all I can to apricieate them and treasure them.






Thursday, January 24, 2013

Things on my mind

Well I made it. I made to and past the one year mark. Something I was really worried about and dreading for the weeks leading up to the one year anniversary of Julian's death. It was hard, but not as hard as I thought it was going to be. But as with so many other times this year, I think Jean-Luc's presence and our eldest daughter made the anniversary that much more bearable. 

On January 12th we celebrated the birth of both our boys. We had a mini party with the kids and did a cake smash photo shoot with Jean-Luc. I brought Julian's bear down with us for the day and we tried our best to enjoy and celebrate the one year mark for Jean-Luc. I don't know how to describe my feelings that day, I was happy, sad, confused, excited, depressed - and the list goes on, it was like a roller coaster of emotion the entire day. 

The next day, January 13th we hit the one year mark since the death of Julian. I was worried how this day might effect me. I was worried how I would be for the entire weekend - so we decided to play the whole weekend by ear and not make any plans. Surprisingly, the day was not as hard as I thought it might be. We had uncharacteristically warm weather on the 13th, and we decided to spend a family day at the zoo. It was nice to go out and do something we all enjoy and we talked about Julian a lot the entire day. On our way home, we stopped by the park to release some balloons for Julian (our daughter's only request for the entire weekend). While the balloons were disappearing, my husband and I looked at each other and both cried for the son we lost, and for the journey we traveled the last year and for the journey we will continue to travel for the rest of our lives.

My future journey is something I have been thinking about lately. As we approached the one year mark, I started thinking about what and how I would feel as time passes. Would the pain I feel be the same or worse, would I have better years and then worse years dealing with my grief, would my grief one day catch up with me and consume me. One night while looking at Julian's picture on my bedside table, I began to think if I will always keep that picture of my forever baby boy out on display? I can't ever imagine putting it away, but one day, will I be an old woman laying in bed staring at a picture of my dead baby from decades ago? Maybe. Sometimes I wonder, if on my death bed, I'll still be pining for my baby I only knew and held for the briefest moments in time.

On a happier note, I'll finish with some happy snaps.

 Jean-Luc has come so far in 1 year. He amazes me every day!
The Birthday Cake Smash
Julian's Bear and Picture were there for our celebration.

Celebrating Life at the Zoo

Enjoying warm January weather at the Zoo.  



On a side note, whenever I look down and see the empty seat beside my surviving twin in the stroller, I feel incredibly sad. It is a blatant visual reminder of what is missing and it rips my heart in two. My daughter, who is under three still rides in the stroller a lot, just to clarify that I'm not "that" crazy - I don't push around a double stroller to torture myself or anything. 

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The New Year

December has passed and we had a nice family Christmas here. Lots of fun, lots of family and lots of toys for the kids. Christmas wasn't as hard as I had thought it might be. I thought of Julian a lot! I missed him terribly!  But I made it through the holidays.

Once Christmas was over, my thoughts turned to New Year's Eve. Last year I was so full of happiness and hope - this year I was so full of sadness and longing. It was hard to recognize that a full year had passed since I rang in 2012 with one in my arms and two in my belly and that this year I was welcoming the new year with only two in my arms and one forever in my heart. New Year's Eve was almost harder then Christmas.

Once New Year's Eve was over, the count down to the boys' first birthday began, and I am still counting. Only 3 more days until I hit the one year mark - and I have been dreading it. I feel really bad that I am not looking forward to it. I remember being so excited for my daughters first birthday, but I don't feel like celebrating this time. I feel a little overwhelmed with sadness just thinking about celebrating the birth of my twins, but with only one twin here. And knowing that the following day marks the 1 year anniversary of Julian's death. I know I can't avoid it and the day will come no-matter how much I wish it not to. So I am trying to just  make it past this weekend and survive the next few days.

 Some happy holiday photos!





Friday, November 30, 2012

Almost December

November has been a sick month for me! The kids were sick, I've been sick - I had a gallbladder attack mid month and for the last five days I have been struggling with a wicked cold. I am hoping for a healthier December.

This most recent cold has me remembering my pregnancy, the last time I was this sick I was pregnant with my boys. Last night while I was laying in bed alone just watching some TV, I got a sudden urge to cuddle Julian's bear. With my busy life and Julian's siblings keeping me so busy, I sometimes forget how much I miss my other little baby. My emotions are all over the place the last few days, I'm blaming cold medication and sickness - but I feel a mess right now.

CAPTURE YOUR GRIEF 2012: Day 31 Sunset, but because I can...

another SUNRISE.


CAPTURE YOUR GRIEF 2012: Day 30 Your Grief


I saw a similar post, and I am paraphrasing another baby loss mama - but her words fit my grief perfectly.

CAPTURE YOUR GRIEF 2012: Day 29 Music -Only a months +1 day late!

I have been meaning to finish this, it is very me to start a project and then not finish it. So one month and 1 day later, I am picking up where I left off.

Music - I heard this song a few months ago and couldn't get Julian out of my head, when ever I hear this song I think of my boy.

1,2,3,4