Of all the stories I’ve held close to my heart in the time it took to get Truett, this one is my favorite. It happened about a year ago now, and as I stare at my sleeping baby, I can’t help but be overwhelmed with gratitude for her life and for the ways God grew me in the season of waiting, trying, and losing other babies before she came along. I also want to be delicate as I tell this story because I know many women find themselves in a similar place, and obviously, I can’t guarantee that the outcome will be the same. We do nothing to deserve or earn our children, and I don’t pretend to know why God sometimes says yes and other times says no. But, her life is one of the clearest reminders to me that God listens, He speaks, and He makes good on His promises.

MotherhoodGriffin HillMarch 24, 2024motherhood, miscarriage, infertility, baby, new baby, pregnancy, healthy pregnancy, faith, hearing from GodComment

Everything I Wish I'd Known About Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is an unbelievably sensitive topic. If you’re not a mom yet, that may sound over-exaggerated, but it’s just such an intimate, emotional, and tricky process for most women and their new babies. I want to acknowledge that and also preface this post by saying that I am not writing this to invoke feelings of shame for anyone reflecting on their breastfeeding journey. If you desired to formula feed or exclusively pump, you are no less of a mom than any breastfeeding mom for making that choice. If you had to switch to formula or exclusive pumping somewhere along the way, that decision is also in no way reflective of your status as an amazing mom. There is too much mom shaming out there, and that is not my heart behind this post. I know how emotional it is to want to feed your baby the way you want to feed your baby and how difficult it is to make changes within that process.

An Honest Look at My Postpartum Experience

Throughout my pregnancy, almost everyone “warned” me about postpartum, or the fourth trimester, if you will. Most of these warnings were well meaning, and some of them (mostly random followers on Instagram who could have just not spoken up) were fear mongering and drenched in a trauma perspective. I get it - there are some horrific birth and postpartum experiences out there, and many women have valid reasons to carry baggage from their season as a new mom. While I firmly believe that it is important to be prepared for a change in plans or the potential of a rough start to motherhood, I also believe that we need to be careful about the way we speak to new moms about something they haven’t experienced yet, and something that may or may not be full of negative experiences.