Years ago, I was Marcia Brady and I had two younger sisters, Jan and Cindy. It was the seventies and we were children and we all pretended we were Brady Bunch girls.
My husband Andy and I didn’t make many preparations for our sixth baby’s birth. We decided not to sort out the baby equipment or the clothes we had packed away from previous
When I die, I’d like a proper grave with a headstone and one of those slabs that prevents people walking on top of you. “I want a proper burial,” I say to
We wanted a large family. Felicity was born, and within eighteen months she had a brother. Shortly after Duncan’s first birthday, we found out we were expecting another baby. Our family was
The day after Thomas’ funeral I visited Father F. “I feel so angry with God,” I confessed. “All the doctors told me that there was little possibility that Thomas would live after birth, but
Mary and Joseph are curled up on the floor together with the child Jesus. They are trying to keep their eyes tightly closed. An angel in a long flowing gown appears through
The last time I went to get my hair cut I shocked the hairdresser. “Do any of your girls still believe in Santa?” she asked. “None of them have ever believed in
This morning I saw Thomas. My bedroom door opened and Gemma-Rose appeared. Without a word, she slipped under the quilt next to me and snuggled up close. Her deliciously cool skin touched
“Do you remember the year Dad decided to barbeque the turkey and it went up in flames?” We were sitting around the dinner table last night, remembering past Christmas meals. “Yeah. He
A few weeks after our baby died, we took our other children to the beach in an attempt to relieve the heaviness of grief. Just for a few hours we wanted to
We had an appointment with a specialist doctor because our unborn baby had a diaphragmatic hernia. The first question I asked was, “Is there anything we can do?” “We can operate on
When I regained consciousness, I discovered I was lying in a pool of blood. As I was unable to get up, I shouted for Andy. It took several attempts before he woke
Thomas died, and I suffered and had no idea what it all meant. I constantly cried to God, “Why?” One day, I started to understand just a little. I realised that suffering
Every evening, I settled my pregnant body on the sofa and opened my baby name book. “Annabel? Maybe. Muriel? No. Phoebe? Yes. Phoebe Elvis? P. Elvis? Definitely not.” I pondered each name, wrote