Favorite thing!

Mike's two wonderful sisters gave me this beautiful bracelet with William's initials engraved on it. I can't tell you the comfort it brings me to have this little reminder with me all day, everyday. On a more superficial note, I have never understood the allure of Tiffany jewelry, but when Melissa handed me that little blue box I was abnormally excited. And, truth be told, I love putting the bracelet in its little blue pouch each night before bed. That's not weird right?

Miss Stephanie

This is a picture of my darling niece Stephanie (she is Mike's sister Melissa's daughter). They live here in Des Moines so we are lucky to get to spend lots of time with them. She is 5 so she is the right age to have been really excited about the baby. The whole time I was pregnant she liked to talk to my tummy and help think of names. When we lost the baby her Mom and Grandma were worried about what she would say to me, but I made sure she knew she could ask me anything. She came over the day we got home from the hospital and walked right up to me and looked from my face to my tummy about 5 times. Then she said "Aunt Maggie, do you miss your baby?" And I said "Yeah I do." She replied, "Me too." Then she said in a very life-is-so-not-fair tone of voice "I didn't even get to play with him." It really made me smile.

Sticking a toe back into the blogging pool...

Lots has happened since my last post and this is about the 47th time I have sat down in front of my computer to write an update. I can't seem to come up with the right words to tell this story, but I think that the blogging world might be a nice and supportive community in which to vent. So I am going to start small and just give the basics, at least it's a start, right?

On July 16th we learned that our precious baby had passed away. I had been feeling less and less movement in the preceding days and so my doctor wanted me to come into the hospital just to get checked. At that time we learned that the baby had died. I ended up delivering a beautiful baby boy at 11:08pm on July 17th. We named him William Gordon McGill. He weighed 1 pound 11 ounces. We were able to spend some time with him and both Mike and my parents we able to see him as well. Our priest was able to come to the hospital shortly after delivery and baptize him.
I can honestly say that this has been the most difficult ordeal that I have ever had to endure and it has been a test of my faith. However, never in my life have I felt more sure about my decision to make Mike my partner in life. And, never have I been so grateful to the wonderful family members and friends that have helped us to make it through this.

That about does it for today's entry. I don't know if anybody but Karoline will read this, but thanks for listening.