Category: Shiloh Ruth

Abundant life

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” I thought I understood this verse. Then I watched my daughter go through a transformative heart surgery.

The July 4th Turn

Way back in August, I left you hanging with Shiloh’s birth story. It was not my intention, but life with three littles got the best of me. On that last account, I left you, Shiloh having just been… Read More

Holding the rope

We would chant it to each other at the end of a particularly hard or worrisome day. Heart surgery this spring, or early summer. Hand surgery early fall. By the holidays next year, coast clear. Breathe deep. Marathon… Read More

Contemplating Colostrum

It was our first morning as NICU parents. Shiloh had been born the night before, and had had an eventful night of tests and examinations and intervention. I had spent most of the night recovering on the maternity… Read More

Cleaning & Control

My house is cleaner than it usually is (please note, I said cleaner, not clean). I have a confession to make, when much of life – the big things in life, the things I can’t control – is… Read More

Shiloh’s Birth – Part Three

Just tuning in? You might want to read part one and part two of Shiloh’s birth first. Soon after my water was broken, we bid farewell to our nurse Anna as she came to the end of her… Read More

Shiloh’s Birth – Part Two

With cervidil started, and contractions settling into a regular pattern, I grabbed my walking pole with IV’s and monitors and started my pacing of the maternity ward loop. For the first couple times around the block, Jeff joined… Read More

Shiloh’s birth – Part One

We had been there before. It was all very familiar – laced with a bit of deja vu – and yet so different this time. As we approached Arabella’s birth it felt like there was a groundswell of… Read More

Car seats, surgery & provision

I just got off the phone with Seattle Children’s. Arabella’s open heart surgery is officially scheduled for October 5th. We’ve known it’s coming for a long time. We knew even before she was born, that if somehow she… Read More

Shiloh Eve

Birthday cake has been brushed off of teeth. Stories have been read. Two sisters have been tucked into bed. And now Jeff and I sit in the lobby of Ronald McDonald, watching Bella prance around her pack ‘n… Read More