Our surprise, our miracle

MJust when we were content with our family of five and our lives seemed complete and we were a tight family we were surprised to learn we were expecting again. Wait!!! What!?? Another baby!?? Really!!??? Yikes! Can we do this again. We have three ready and one who is sick A Lot!! How do we handle another one? What if this baby is sick?? Ok stop and just take a few deep breaths and it will all be ok. Remember Faith and prayer. With Faith you can get through this. So we once again leaned on Faith and Prayer to get us through. We never realized how much Faith we needed this time around. At 20 wks something changed and I was in extreme pain. Drs could not figure it out but they eventually decided I needed emergency surgery to save me and to save our baby. During surgery they found my appendix had ruptured everywhere. Thankfully we didn't need to deliver baby but everything from this point on would be considered High risk. We needed faith more than ever now. There were many ups and downs with this pregnancy and things were very different but we had Faith and we knew God would lead us and we could handle it. So on August 6, 2008 we were blessed with a baby boy! The delivery was rough but we had a boy! Jonah Lucas was born and his big brother was thrilled and his sisters we're in love! Jonah was a miracle as he almost didn't make it through delivery. He was covered in bruises but we didn't see all the bruising he was perfect. He had a very rough start as he was severe jaundice and ended up under a bili blanket 24/7 and we went to Dr daily for heel pokes. It was really rough and the first month was filled with every fight we had in us.

Life as a family of 5

We settled into our life of five quite well. Arianna was the best little baby which was great because her big sister was still a sick little girl and required a lot from mommy yet. Juggling three kids most of the time alone because daddy was working all the time at multiple jobs was difficult and yet with the lack of sleep from a newborn and of course from another one who didn't sleep well due to reflux somehow we managed to get through it all. Noah was a super big brother and helper to his mommy but he started having dreams at night and for some reason started to be scare of tigers. So daddy came up with the tiger g hi n to get rid of all the tigers at night. It would work for most of the night but by morning we had three kids in our room. But all the chaos we were still a family and that was all that mattered. We didnt have much but it didn't matter because we had each other and we had Faith. See Faith had made Us a family and Faith kept us together through all the ups and downs that life through our way which seemed to be a lot!! But through all the struggles we found ways to get through it. Yes there were many, many, many tears shed but we would come through it stronger because of Faith.

Miranda

Miranda taught me to hold on tight through the storms. See she was in and out of the hospital all the time. She had her fair shares of close calls. Her reflux was so bad that she would literally try and climb the walls she wanted to get higher thinking that would make her feel better. She was a happy baby despite all she went through. My Doctor kept telling me it would get better finally when she was 2 and still miserable he through his hands in the air and said I don't know.
During all the ups and downs I questioned my Faith and had times when I was angry with God. But through deep soul searching and prayer I realized that God was not punishing me he was preparing me to be stronger as I was going to need to be in the future.
God taught us that despite the hardships and the sick little girl we had Him and each other and we would be ok. In fact we would grow closer as a couple and grow closer in our Faith. You hear the bible saying God never gives you more than you can handle. I use to think yes He does but I learned that with Him all things are possible and No He really never gives you more than you can handle. He picks the strongest people to walk some of the roughest roads and go through some of the toughest battles.
When I learned that we were having another baby I was scared and worried all the time. But once I let my fears aside and I knew that no matter what I would get through any hardships because I had Faith and two beautiful kids and the best husband. We had another little girl. We were estatic she was precious with a full head of pitch black hair. She was so different from Noah and Miranda. See Noah was the most laid back little boy never a care in the world. Miranda well as you know was sick all the time. Arianna is the most sweet , independent, unpicky, strong willed kid. She is a fun kid. She has rarely been sick.
We felt blessed and lucky to be the parents of these three beautiful and different personalities. God had made our family complete and He had been with us through all the ups and downs and He taught us that we can handle the tough battles, the lack of sleep, the tears, the uncertainty and we would come through it as long as we always had Faith.

My life

My life is filled with ups and downs on a daily basis. There are days that my life feels like a complete mess and I feel like I have completely failed as a mom, a wife. But this is not true I have not failed yes I have messed up at times and I have fallen down we all do but the truth is I maybe a mess but I am right where God wants me. In His eyes I am a masterpiece and he shapes me more and more each day.
I have struggled if I should even write this blog but have decided to jump on a leap of Faith and just go all in. I have four Amazing children and the most wonderful husband ever who has allowed me to be home to raise our children. We have had many ups and downs financially, emotionally but through all of that we have learned to lean on each other and on God. See without God we could not get through all we have been through. Faith has made me get out of bed each day even when I didn't want to face the day. God said "get up and I will help you"
Our first test came when we had our second child a beautiful daughter whom we named Miranda Mae. We were over the moon excited when she came into our lives because we now had a son and a daughter. We couldn't imagine anything better.
But something was off from the get go and you can say a mom's intuition whatever you want to call it. Something was telling me that this new road we were starting with our daughter was not going to be easy even though the nurses and everyone around us was saying do not worry. I was not satisfied and I knew in my heart that it was not right. Our daughter was thowing up from the minute she was born. She cried all the time. Being a new mom of two with a toddler and a new baby is alot in itself but being a mom with a baby who screamed all the time was overwhelming.
She was diagnosed with Acid Reflux Disease. Dr said by the time she is 6 months this will all be over. But he was wrong she was s tut ill going strong and I was exhausted. See she never slept I would spend countless hours awake with her and she would cry and throw up every time I fed her. When I say throw up I mean projectile across the room. I took so many showers and gave her so many baths you would think we would be prunes!☺
I began to question my Faith. Was God punishing me for something. What did I do to deserve this? Why her? Why me? How can this be happening? How are we going to get through this ? But then I began to pray. I prayed and prayed and I soon realized God was not punishing us but he was guiding us as he knew there would be bigger storms for us to face in the future. Our Miranda is now 12 and still suffers from Acid Reflux Disease but she taught us o be strong and o lean on Faith and to hold on tight to Hope. She has been through many battles and life so far has not always dealt her a fair hand she just gets up and keeps on moving forward. She not only suffers from Acid Reflux Disease but has Asthma and severe constipation issues most likely both caused by the severe reflux.
She is beautiful on the inside and outside and she is a miracle and taught me to be strong!