Hand to Hold's Official Blog: Written by Parents for Parents

{Friday Feature} The Howard Family

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My husband Andre and I met a little later in life, and after realizing our dream of being married in a castle in Scotland we immediately began trying to expand our family beyond our two furry children, retired racing greyhounds named Holly and Nova.

Fast forward a few years and several rounds of IVF later we were ecstatic to find out that it had finally worked and we were pregnant! We found out we were having a little boy, and we would just have to be patient until he arrived.

Week 16 we are having an ultrasound with Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) and the doc tells us that his cerebellum is smaller than normal, but it might not be an issue. She is concerned that his head is large and his limbs are short (pssst Doc, have you looked at me?) She decides that she is pretty certain this baby will have Down syndrome. Also, the ventricles in his brain are larger than normal and he is diagnosed with something called Ventriculomegaly, we’ll have to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t turn into Hydrocephalus. [Read more]

Finding Purpose After Infant Loss

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One month ago today would have been, should have been, my sweet daughter Caitlyn’s sixth birthday.  The Easter season is never easy for us, and ironically, shortly after the holiday, I am a part of this website as a guest blogger.  First, I wanted to share some of my story, and the legacy that grew from it. On [...]

Ashley’s Story

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This story was submitted by Ashley, one of our readers. On May 16th 2010 we found out that we were pregnant, we were delighted! My fiancee Dustin was beginning a new job which required him to leave North Dakota and head to Texas for four months but I knew me and baby would be a [...]

The Story of Jack Matthew

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This story was shared by Lindsay, one of our readers. I am writing to share our story of our 24 week (15 ounces) miracle with you…JACK MATTHEW Now a little timeline of our whirlwind before I begin.  Matt and I had our first date in april 2005, engaged 2 weeks later, married 1 year later, [...]