why wellness for mama?

Because most days I have felt like anything but a mama and it hurts.

Being a mama to an angel is a very special experience and I cherish the memories we have with RJ and feeling his sweet spirit close to us.

Wave of Light October 2014--during Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month

I initially started my @wellnessformama Instagram in April 2014 to start documenting my journey back to health post HELLP syndrome. I had been working out and eating clean for about 6 months and had felt such support connecting with others Instagrammers who were working to lose weight, get healthy, change their lifestyles, etc. So it felt like the perfect place to continue connecting with others and share my feelings about being an angel mama.

After losing RJ I felt like my heart was so broken that it would never heal. I wondered how I was supposed to move on and get back to "normal" life without my growing baby bump or hope of raising my son. Reading the stories of other women who had survived and were thriving after going through difficult trials {not just stillbirth} gave me the courage to keep going--if they could survive and thrive after such heartbreaking loss then I could too. I decided that I wanted to add our story to the many already out there and to keep RJ's memory alive as we continued to heal and life moved forward.

Family photo June 2014

Late spring/early summer 2014 we were continuing to work with doctors to figure out when/if my liver would be ready to handle another pregnancy. Feeling discouraged and so ready to move on to the next step on our path to parenthood we asked our families to join us in a special weekend of fasting and prayer--that if it was God's will that my body could fully recover and that we {and my amazing doctors} could feel at peace moving forward. Mid June we got the news that the hematoma in my liver was practically gone and that the liver team, although hesitant because of my history, felt my liver was as healed and ready then as it would be a year from then. That day is definitely in the top 10 happiest days of our lives--find our we were pregnant again in October is up there too! :)

Now feels like the perfect time to continue documenting our story--sharing more about our time with RJ, history of HELLP Syndrome, ways that helped us find wellness while our arms were empty, our pregnancy with babe #2 and hopefully a very tender and healthy birth story.

Family photo January 2015--gender reveal for baby #2