Good News Mama!

A little over two years ago, I was crying to my cousin because I had just found out I was suffering a miscarriage. Not only was it a miscarriage of a baby whom I was losing, but it was also the loss of a twin that Elianna would not grow up with. And when a person miscarries a twin early enough, the baby doesn't come out the way a typical miscarriage happens...the baby just gets reabsorbed into the mom and into the twin. "You should really watch This Is Us. The first episode is about a miscarriage too, except the character played by Mandy Moore loses a triplet." my cousin told me through her tears, as she comforted me since the wounds were so fresh. There are a lot of things within the show that I do not relate with: I never lost a dad to an unexpected death. I do not have an adoptive sibling or was adopted myself looking for a birth parent. I do not have an addiction to eating. But I could relate to miscarriage, and I do plan to adopt one day, so that's as far as ...

Evangeline has been home with us for almost a month now (already?!) and we've finally created a routine...it's a "new normal" for all three of us! Currently life consists of drawing up medications, breastpumping, cleaning bottles/breaspumping accessories/syringes, feeding our baby and changing diapers. When Evangeline was born at 6 months gestation, our routine consisted of us going to the NICU for 88 days. It was exhausting and difficult, but it was the only way to see our baby (we can't stress how thankful we are that she's home!) And well, just as we got used to this "new normal," I'm going to have to get used to another "new normal" in about 2 weeks! Why? Because Kevin will be going back to work, since his paid-time off will end soon! Honestly, having a baby is already life-changing as is. But to have a baby with special needs is a lot of work! It's like an overtime job! I always ask Kevin, "What am I going to do when you...

Bye Bye NICU!  Having Evangeline home can be described as two polar opposites. On one end, we as parents are elated with joy and happiness! We waited so long for the NICU Journey to end and we were just so relieved we didn’t have to go back to the hospital! It was such a long process to have to find a parking spot, show our visitor/parent pass downstairs, go upstairs, sign in, scrub up to our elbows for at least a minute, then put everything we are carrying into a pillow case. Every.Single.Day. When you’re in the NICU, you don’t have much privacy either. So once we took Evangeline home, it was such a shock to have peace and quiet. To go to bed and to see her there next to us was such a surreal and pleasant adjustment. And for the first time ever, we heard her snore and grunt and sigh (it’s practically impossible to hear any of the preemies do this in the NICU bc there’s always something going on, whether it be beeping alarms, nurses chatting, or doctors doing their roun...

In the NICU, a surprising majority of the nurses who care over our baby ask us, "How did you choose the name Evangeline? I love it!" We smile because that's a sweet compliment for us as newbie parents. Kevin actually had never heard of the name before, but I first heard it when I was at Pastor Greg Laurie's Harvest Church in Riverside with my best friend Zerah when we were 19. We were surprised at the beginning of Sunday service when they said that they were dedicating a baby to God! I had never witnessed a baby dedication before, and the hope was that the baby would come to saving faith when she became older and eventually get baptized. There were these two happy parents who went up holding the cutest little baby! She was wearing a cute little pink headband with a giant flower and a white dress. I remember the man introduced the family, and said, "This baby's name is Evangeline, which means 'good news' or 'gospel'..how wonderful!" I was ...

When Kevin and I found out we were pregnant, we would talk about and daydream about the day that our baby would arrive. We talked about what we would pack in our bag to the hospital, how we would have an infant car seat ready, what we would do to prepare the nursery...None of that happened because nothing happened the way we expected! In fact, the day before she arrived, we had finally decided a day to have the baby shower and maternity photo shoot! Some things you just can't be prepared for... Kevin and I have been blessed with our daughter, Evangeline,  for 10 whole days (outside of the womb!) She was born at 26 weeks gestation. Ideally, a baby stays inside the womb for about 40 weeks, so she was born premature and in the last week of our second trimester. Her birthday was July 23, 2014 at 7:11 pm at Long Beach Memorial. She is the biggest blessing of our lives and we praise God for her being alive and stablizing in the NICU! So here's the story of the day she was born......