With about a month to go in my pregnancy, my husband and I still can’t agree on a name for the baby. We must text each other several times a day with names we’ve come across or one someone...
Spotted Stork is a locally owned baby boutique nestled in a cozy pink cottage on 1st Avenue North in Jacksonville Beach. When owner Julie Wintz envisioned Spotted Stork, she kept several things in mind: she wanted to "offer distinctive and...
When I was pregnant with my first child my husband and I attended a few parenting classes at the hospital. One day before class I passed a new mom sitting in a wheelchair with her brand new baby, waiting...
From the moment I latched my first bundle of joy to this very moment as I nurse my third child, my breastfeeding journey has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month are...
Let's admit it, we've all fantasized about the ideal birth. The moment you find out you're pregnant, you start looking into birthing classes. Will you do it Au Naturale? Bradley? Lamaze? Hypnobirth? There are so many options and so...
I heard something on a podcast recently that made me pause: apparently, the only way to truly let something go, to forgive someone or something, is to find gratitude for it. So perhaps finding gratitude for a miscarriage (or...
Becoming a mother is such a beautiful experience. We spend so much time decorating the baby’s room, packing our hospital bag, and making sure we have everything we believe the baby will need during those first few months.
When the...
I get this question a lot — I’m sure many of you do, too. Mainly by strangers, but sometimes by acquaintances who don’t know me well enough. “Do you have other children?”
I normally respond with, “No, he’s my only one.”...
It was January of 2012 when I discovered that my son Wyatt had Down syndrome. Prenatal screenings had revealed a higher risk – one in six, to be exact – and I had decided to go ahead with the...
In a filthy parking lot at a rest stop on the side of I-95, I stood by the car while my baby gushed out of me. Rain dripped on my head and oily puddles soaked my shoes. Miscarriage after...
“I feel like I’m drowning.”
It was 7 a.m. on a weekday morning and my husband had just left for work. I was already sobbing on the phone to my mother who was 1,800 miles away in North Dakota. My...
There's a club that many moms don't like to talk about. It's the miscarriage club. The sad and realistic statistic is that 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. You have either had one (or multiple) or you know someone who...