Thursday, April 16, 2009

Letting Go

Three long years ago I was awaiting the birth of our 11th child (my 14th pregnancy). You know how that last month is. Huge. Miserable. A beached whale sort of feeling. Little did we know then that our baby boy would be stillborn.

In my heart I think I knew that we were going to lose him. A mother's intuition sort of thing, I suppose. We were doing well financially and I bought so much stuff for him. A new bassinett, clothes, cloth diapers, toys~~so much. Very unlike me. It's as if I wanted to jam as much buying in the short amount of time that I had.

I wonder how different our lives would be today if our baby had lived. Our little guy (Son #6) was/is SOOOOOO... demanding. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to have had a new baby and to have to have dealt with him too. We would have found a way, I'm sure. I remember how much we were looking forward to having a new baby in spite of Son #6's command of our attention. A sweet challenge.

My body feels as though it might finally be healed of the trauma of birthing a 12 pound dry baby who could not offer any help. His shoulders were stuck and I had nurses in front of me pulling on him, nurses on the bed with me pushing down on my ribs and stomach to push him out, and nurses at my sides hollering for me to push. I couldn't walk without serious support the first week after the birth~~or even move comfortably for a month.

Slowly, I've healed physically. We had hoped that the Lord would grant us another pregnancy/baby to help our hearts heal as well (though our sweet baby can never be replaced) but I've not had one single positive pregnancy test in all this time.

Are we done having children? Am I selfish to want another baby? The Lord says that children are a blessing and I deeply desire to be blessed again. I love each one of our children so very much and have given so much of myself for them--a joyful sacrifice. Every day I look at our children and adorible grandbaby and thankfulness wells up in my heart to overflowing. How can I NOT want another baby???

Of course, this decision is not in my hands. There is only One Person who can create life. As much as we may wish for another pregnancy, only the Lord can open my womb. We have been waiting for years now to conceive, but it has not happened.

While I am still praying that we might yet have more children I have decided that it is time to let go a little. I've decided to put up for auction the new cloth diapers that I bought during that pregnancy on eBay. It's a hard decision but I feel the need to move past hanging on to all of the baby stuff in hopes that we might need it. You know? The diapers are so small and beautiful. Such a hard decision and yet a freeing one. I know that I will not get out of them as much as I paid for them. If they sell I plan to use the money to buy more fruit trees for our family. What a blessing it will be to the children and grandchildren to eat fruit from those trees in due time.


Aren't they so cute???


4 comments:

Fruitful Harvest said...

What size are they?
How much do you want for them?

I bought most of my diapers (used) on E bay.
But someone told me that you can't sale buy or sell used diapers anymore!

I to need to let go of the idea that God will bless us again! I am 40 and the baby is 19mo. dad is 45.

Blessing,
Georgiann

Thanks for being a great blog friend!

GrammyK said...

Georgiann,
I used to have my ebay store link in my sidebar but took it off cause I wasn't selling anything. :-P I'll stick it back up there at the bottom on the right sidebar if you want to take a look. I'm getting ready to list some scrapbook papers too. I love eBay but don't have a lot of time for it these days. :-)
Anyway, the diapers are small and I have them started at $99 which is a steal cause if you tally up what it would cost to buy just the diapers and covers on other auctions, you would pay about $150. My auction includes the liners, soaker pads and washcloths. I paid more for the diapers when I bought them than I have them listed for--but I really want to bless someone and want to buy my fruit trees this year.
Thanks for stopping by!! I'm so glad that we "met" and became blog friends too!! I do enjoy reading your blog. :-) Blessings!! Kris

Aylin said...

Hi, I just happened upon your blog, and wanted to say I understand your loss. I gave birth to an almost 11 lb stillborn son about 1 1/2 years ago. The doctor ended up pushing him back in and I had a c-section. It did take forever to heal, with 2 stiched up areas. I did get pregnant again and it was such a nerve wracking time but she is here, sleeping away peacefully. Thanks for sharing your family!
Aylin

Dawn said...

What a hard loss. My cousin lost a 11 pound baby girl a few years ago. She has had other children since but the loss is always there. My prayers are with you.
Blessings,
Dawn