Evangeline's story. Our journey with T18

I feel like the last few months has opened my eyes to a whole new world that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It’s made me reflect on how I respond to people in the middle of their grief or disappointment.  Below are some of the things I’ve learnt: 1. People tend to show love and show they care in the way they would want to be shown love. Those who would want others to check in on them check in on us, those who like privacy pull away, some people give gifts, others practically help. I have realised that the way I grieve can be so different to the way others grieve (I’ll save that for my next point) which means the most helpful thing is asking “how can I pray for you” and “what do you need”   in saying that sometimes we have no idea what we need, so I also appreciate the people who just decide to bring a meal, surprise me with flowers, come to visit or send a message checking in. 2.      2. We all process and grieve differently. Ryan and I could not be more opposite ...

This time last year Ryan and I had been married a year and we decided it was time to start trying for a baby, we had no idea just what we were in for. Fast forward 6 months and on the 1 st of June 2023 my pregnancy test showed 2 pink lines. I cried happy/relieved tears as even 6 months felt like forever when wanting to be pregnant. Patience is not my strongest trait! At 5am I woke up Ryan to tell him our news. To which he casually responded, “I know.” Apparently, my teenage boy appetite and mood swings had given it away! At what I thought was close to 8 weeks, we had our dating scan. I held my breath as the sonographer confirmed our baby’s heartbeat and told me that she was measuring 6 weeks 4 days. I remember being slightly disappointed that my due date went from the 5 th to the 13 th of February as it was one more week to wait. I told you I’m impatient! I had decided right from the beginning not to do the NIPT test at 12 weeks, for 2 reasons;  1.I wasn’t worried about any...