remembering brody

Ever since Brayden was born, I've been thinking a lot about my first son, Brody. For those of you who don't know, he was born on November 21, 2010 at 21 weeks along in my pregnancy. He was a beautiful one pound, one foot boy - absolutely perfect - who lived an hour before going to meet Jesus. (He's lucky - he's in heaven!!!)

I don't know if I ever thought about how I'd respond to having Brayden after Brody didn't make it, but it's been an interesting ride. During my pregnancy, I had to pinch myself that the baby in me was a completely different baby than the first time. After I met Brayden, I actually missed Brody the most I've ever missed him because I saw what I missed the first time.

So yes, I've thought about Brody a ton and miss him dearly as I wonder what Brody would have looked like and how life would have been with him around or even more so, both Brayden and Brody - I would love, love, love to have both boys on earth right now.

The crazy thing is that if I had Brody in my arms right now, Brayden wouldn't exist, and now I wouldn't trade Brayden for the world, especially since I know Brody is better than all of us in heaven.

That makes my mind go tilt.

What makes it tilt even more is that my grandma miscarried between my dad's older sister and him. Again, the timing works out that if that baby had stayed on this earth, my dad wouldn't have existed, which means I wouldn't exist either.

Strange!

This is where I just say, God is amazing, and rely on His goodness and purposeful plan because I don't get what happened, but I know He's working everything -- bad, good, and in between -- out for His purposes.

By the way, if you read all that and got confused about which baby is Brody and which is Brayden, that's okay. I think I've said it before... Brody Mark is named in honor of my brother, Brian Mark, who passed away in October 2010. Brayden Allen is named in honor of both of them. :-) It's a wonderful way that I can remember all three of them and let their memory live on in a unique way on this earth. And I fully don't mind at all if anyone gets the names mixed up.

Also, thank you to all of my friends who remember Brody and talk about him in certain conversations. That means the world to me that you remember him.

One last thought - when asked the question about Brayden, "Is this your first?" I switch up my answer all the time, depending on the person and situation. Sometimes, I take the easy way out and say, "Yes," and other times, I say, "My first full-term" or something along those lines. Having a baby in heaven is interesting because we are family of four, but you can only see three people on earth. So I'll probably keep switching up my answer, but Brody, you always will be my firstborn and in my heart. I'm super excited to tell Brayden about you.

Okay, one final, final last thought. The best day of my life after the day I met Jesus and my wedding day, was probably the day I took Brayden home. I might have been one of the few mothers you see walking out of the birthing center crying while taking home their newborn. Given our previous situation, that day was the best, most surreal day in my life.