For the first time in my life, I have a 19 month old toddler and I am not pregnant. With all four of my other children by the time they were one and a half I was already pregnant with their younger sibling. As Callum grows it feels bizarre not to be growing as well with his younger sibling inside. There is a little bit of sadness but mostly a delicious freedom and ease to life, yes even with four kids. To be able to chase Callum or deal with a toddler melt down without fighting back nausea is such a relief. It makes this stage so much easier as a parent. I am enjoying my four kids so much and savoring the absence of emergency in our lives. I love having my body all to myself and being able to sleep through most nights without tending to a baby.

Our baby Callum is doing well and growing so fast. He was a late walker like Nora, but their personalities are more laid back so I’m guessing that is the reason they walked later than their big brothers. Liam walked at 11 months, Asher walked at 8-9 months, Nora walked at 14 months and Callum was 16 months. It’s fun to have all four kids now on their feet and somewhat independent. I am loving this stage of life with the chaos and the sweetness and the hilarity of young children.

In April we drove to Houston for the Fetal Center Reunion and it was a quick but wonderful trip. The last time we were in Houston was when Nora was a newborn. She was only about 4 days old when Josh and I woke up in the early morning hours in 2015, packed up our room at the Ronald McDonald House and drove out of the city towards Alabama. As we left, the sun was coming up and I looked in my rear view mirror at the city doused in morning light and I cried happy tears of disbelief. We had done it. God had done it. Nora was alive and I felt such a surge of love for the city of Houston, for all the miraculous things that had taken place there. So now to be back in Houston with bubbly Nora who never stopped talking the entire trip was very surreal and special. We stayed at an Air B&B in the medical district and visited some of our favorite places in the area. Again, it was surreal to be in these places where I had experienced such emotional turmoil four years prior, completely desperate for my baby girl’s survival. Now here she was playing with her brothers in the same spot, completely healthy and very much alive. I will never get over the miracle of her life and I will never stop telling of the wondrous things God did for us. He is such a faithful loving God, patient and kind and trustworthy. I truly have no good apart from Him.

Here are some pictures of Nora playing in the park in front of Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital where she was born:

At the Fetal Center Reunion we got to see Dr. Moise and many of the other doctors and nurses who treated us during my pregnancy. I saw some of the women who coordinated my care during my pregnancy with Nora and some of the nurses and ultrasound technicians who monitored Nora every week in the womb and assisted during her intrauterine blood transfusions. All of these amazing people worked together to save Nora’s life and to see them all together again was so special to me. My gratitude overflowed. I’m actually tearing up right now typing this because these people mean so much to our family. It really did feel like a family reunion. They were all so sweet and happy to see Nora. Nora was excited to finally “meet” Dr. Moise (even though he had already met her when she was a baby obviously) and Callum loved Dr. Moise too even though he had no idea who he was. I loved seeing Callum with his namesake and Nora with her hero.

I also got to finally meet one of my most dearly loved fellow antibody mom, Brittany Pineda. She reached out to me several years ago when she was pregnant with her son, Kristian, in her first known alloimmunized pregnancy (anti-D.) I grieved and still grieve with her over the loss of her baby Kristian after his first IUT and encouraged her to try again for her rainbow baby. Long story short, she traveled to Houston for her treatment with her second son and Dr. Moise performed his earliest IUT on Brittany’s baby at 15 weeks. I think that week shaved about ten years off my life I was so anxious. Her miracle baby, Mikah Kristian Joseph was born after 9 IUTs and is now a healthy toddler. Brittany has always been such an inspiration to me and she encouraged me throughout my pregnancy with Callum too. Now our miracle boys share a middle name, Joseph, after our hero Dr. Moise. You can read more about Brittany’s story here in the Fetal Center Newsletter fetalnewsletter-1.pdf

After all of our history together, Brittany and I had never met in person outside of our cellphones. It was amazing to see her and her family face to face finally! Of course we both had to spend most of our time chasing after our toddlers but we got a little conversation in here and there. Here are a few pictures of our families together with Dr. Moise and at the Fetal Center Reunion:

Callum kept waving at Dr. Moise

Rainbow babies Nora and Mikah, 14 IUTs between the two of them at the Fetal Center:

It was really hard to get a picture of these two together since they NEVER stopped moving! Our boys, Callum Joseph Thomas and Mikah Kristian Joseph:

And of course our favorite part of Houston is always the Korean food: