This is Ivy Jane's full birth story.
Her story really begins many years before she was conceived. Her middle name, Jane, means "God is Gracious" and this has truly been the theme of Ivy's life since I first began to pray for another child.
My husband is a great dad, but he was not convinced he EVER wanted kids. Then, having one was difficult enough... and we are older, and the economy has been tough in recent years, etc... he wasn't convinced. And so I prayed. We also had marriage counseling for a couple of years where we addressed this issue and finally, after years of hoping and praying for his heart to change, he consented to try for another child with the agreement that we wouldn't seek any drastic interventions to make it happen.
My prayers changed then, to praying for my no-longer-young body to be healthy and conceive. Surprisingly, we conceived on only our second cycle trying! I actually felt implantation cramps, and two days later realized that is what they were when on Easter morning of 2024 I saw my first positive pregnancy test! It was still early, and the test was very light, so I held onto hope with caution, but I still stuck the test in my husband's Easter basket and video taped his reaction. I'm so glad I did because his reaction was sweet. We spent Easter whispering to each other in stolen moments about how we would be holding a baby before Christmas and just how tiny this little life was.
Then, three days later, my heart shattered when the pregnancy tests started coming back negative. My "period" was only a day late, but it was much lighter and shorter than usual and my next cycle was ALL kinds of messed up. Even though we only got to be pregnant and know it for three days, this was the first loss I experienced and my heart grieved deeply. I had only shared about it with one person in those early days. She blessed me with some beautiful flowers to commemorate that precious life that we had already loved despite its brevity. We will never forget that child.
The next few months were an emotional roller coaster as I waited for what felt like ages for my cycles to normalize again. It amazes me what such an early miscarriage did to my body, and as hard as it was, I'm grateful it happened as early as it did so we could keep trying sooner. The cycles after our loss were so painful when they would end in a period, more painful than before we had conceived and lost our little one. I finally resolved only to test when my period was late to minimize heartache. On our sixth cycle attempt, we were driving up to the Dinosaur Museum in Woodland Park one rainy July day. And I felt those same cramps as I had when we conceived before... I kept this quietly to myself, my heart racing with excitement... and I couldn't wait for a late period to test. Two days later, just 10 days after ovulation, I took a test... and it was POSITIVE!!!
My last positive test was 13 days after ovulation and very light. This one was a little darker than that already. With shaking hands I tried to show the test to my husband as he still lay in bed in our mostly-dark room. Naturally he had NO idea what he was looking at, and responded kind of like, "...oh. Cool." We discussed later that he was struggling to be excited due to our loss, which was understandable. For the next week, I tested every morning, my excitement growing as each test got darker. After about a week, I took a digital test and my heart soared when it came back saying PREGNANT!
My next stop was the doctor's office to confirm with a blood test and check my beta numbers. They had me come back a second time to ensure the numbers were at least doubling, and sure enough both blood tests showed VERY positive results with very high HcG numbers. Baby #2 was officially on the way!!!
God had already rained down blessings upon us with this pregnancy, and we were so, so grateful. It was SO HARD not telling people about it from the moment I found out! I told a select few friends and asked for their prayers, and had a difficult time containing the news over the next few weeks. In my excitement, I started our registry, and poured over baby names, creating lists of boy and girl names and chatting with my husband to narrow down our favorites. Our girl name came very quickly. Ivy was on the list, and Jane just popped into my head (meaning God put it there, no coincidence with what it means!) and my husband, who is annoyingly picky with names, loved it - Ivy Jane. We never could agree on a boy's name.
My next step was choosing a midwife. I had kept an eye/ear out for names for years as I knew I wanted to go a slightly different route if we had any additional babies. I narrowed down my options to two practices, and so many confirmations led me to reach out to Jessica Nipp with Holistic Home Birth. I met her for the first time on September 8th, 2024, when I was 10 weeks pregnant. I liked her right away, with her calm, gentle presence, soothing voice, quirky personality and sense of humor.
In mid-October, I had a couple instances of very light spotting. After my miscarriage the spring before, and having had spotting in my first pregnancy due to placenta previa, this sent me into a panic. When it didn't go away right away, I texted Jessica one evening as my husband and I were heading out on a dinner date. Office hours had just ended, so I didn't expect a response until the next day, given that no significant bleeding was occurring, and it wasn't emergent. However I was surprised when minutes later my phone rang and it was Jessica, compassionately asking me what was going on. She offered to see me the next day, even though my next appointment was a week away, to check baby's heartbeat for reassurance. The next afternoon when I stopped by, we were both relieved to hear baby's heart still beating nice and strong! I gave Jessica a hug in my relief and joy. I'll always remember how compassionate she was regarding my anxiety with my previous loss. She helped me enjoy my pregnancy rather than worry about it the whole time, and part of that was knowing that if something seemed off, I could trust her to be there for us.
I'll never forget the look on my mother-in-law's face when we told her, on my husband's birthday, that baby #2 was on the way! I'm pretty sure my in laws were convinced the baby stage was over for our family. What a delight to share the news with our family and friends! My friend Ashley of Ashley Valone Photography did all of my motherhood/maternity/baby photography, and I did the editing. What a gift to have these memories of this special period in our lives of waiting for our sweet little baby!
My pregnancy continued on very well. I'm one of the blessed ones who has relatively easy pregnancies aside from some strong nausea in the first trimester, some nasty congestion that plagued me a couple of times, and just being a LOT more tired this time around (pregnancy at 38 is no joke - but it can be done, and can be enjoyed!). After the holidays passed, Adam and I were blessed to spend nearly a week on South Padre Island in Texas for a baby moon! Major kudos to my MIL for stepping up in a big way and keeping Eden for nearly a week. It was refreshing to get away and waddle along the beach for a few days, even with my aching feet and growing 34-week belly (and increasingly tiny bladder, ha). We enjoyed the peace and quiet and crashing waves, the comfort of the heated hotel pool, and the sweet knowledge that our days as a family of three were numbered.
My wonderful MomCo friends threw me a gorgeous baby shower, and it was an absolute delight celebrating our little love with my dearest friends. With baby's gender being a surprise, my poor friends had a difficult time choosing gifts but they spoiled us anyway! How blessed I am, and my family, to have this incredible community. They came around us with so much love and support, sharing in our excitement and anticipation for this little baby arriving soon!
I spent the last few weeks of pregnancy binge reading books Jessica had recommended to me to prepare for labor and delivery - such a good decision, I learned so much!
I finally reached the point of being able to have a home birth! I had been nesting like crazy for months, and almost had everything in our house ready to go for baby's arrival. Jessica came for our home visit and brought the pool. The time was soooo close! So many people commented that I must be SO ready to be done being pregnant. Nope! I love being pregnant and treasured every day of it. Since this may be my last baby, I didn't want to miss a moment. But of course, Ivy would arrive on her own time and on her own terms!
Keep Reading...
The Birth of Ivy Jane - Part 2
The Birth of Ivy Jane - Part 3
The Birth of Ivy Jane - Part 4
