And it hits me all over again

Its been one year, one month and 15 days since I said goodbye to my beautiful Órla, you’d think I would be used to the shock by now after all I was told Órla had a terminal illness, I had time to prepare, to say my goodbyes to get ‘used’ to the idea of her not being around.  I had several months of knowing her time was running out, it was me after all who asked God to take her from my arms to his.

Why then do I suddenly get hit like a bullet, out of blue for no particular reason as if she has suddenly been taken from me in an unexpected horrific accident and I can’t quite believe it has happened.

We bereaved parents all know by now the stages of grief were supposed to go through. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. I feel I’ve gone through all of these and more several times over in the last year but it’s the sudden shock that it’s happened at all that hits me over and over.  It’s like that film Groundhog Day where everything seems fine at first and then it suddenly dawns on you ‘Hey you have no right to be happy don’t you remember what’s happened’ and all the pain and loss rips through your whole being once again pulling fiercely at your heart.

Órla and I used to travel every weekend to see my mum and dad, one of the only other places that Órla felt relaxed and safe but the journey was over an hour and a half and depending on Órla’s mood that day could be either very relaxing with her singing away to her favourite Pokemon music over and over or the exact opposite, I’m sure we’ve all seen the movie ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet?’ Well with Órla’s autism I’m sure you can just imagine.  

Anyway when we would be near home we pass a piece of art called the Topst Turvy House (our own name for it) placed at the side of the motorway near our house and that was Órla’s sign that we are nearly home.  I used to say “we’re home Órla”.  As a matter of routine I still say it now albeit quietly or in my head depending on who I’m with at the time.  Today on my way back from my moms house I said the same thing and my heart suddenly felt like a hand was squeezing it trying to drain any remaining feeling or emotion from it and the realisation that Órla was dead, gone from my life forever hit me all over again. I couldn’t stop the tears and had to pull over the car and spent the next 15 minutes reliving that horrible day over and over.

Will it ever stop? 

Is time not our great healer?

How much more of this can I bare?

Miss you so much my little bubba 💔

  

Thank you Órla ❤️

Today I’m feeling happy, my eldest daughter passed her driving test first go, I’m so pleased for her but that’s not what makes me so happy.  Unbeknown to me Zoëy asked her little sister to help keep her calm during her test this morning, nothing more just to let her know she’s watching over her.   

  As she walked into my bedroom on her way out  (I now sleep in órla’s  room) one of the larger stars from órla’s ceiling had fallen off and stood right in front of my bed.  Now these stars have been used over this last year as signs from órla as each time I ask for her to let me know she’s there a single star will drop to the floor by the following morning.  

Thank you so much my darling for letting me know, once again, that your still here with us.

Love always 

Mom x

Your first Angelversary ♥️

I can’t quite believe In 5 days it will be a year since you’ve left me, my world has been turned upside down and inside out and yet I’m still standing.  Most people would be angry at the world, at God, for letting this happen to you.  It’s so unfair that your life was so short and filled with so much confusion and pain but in my hour of need I’ve turned to God.  Now it’s not that I didn’t believe before, my parents brought me up as a good catholic but going to mass every week was not something  I did once I left my parents house. I still believed but not like I do today.

When you got sick I started talking more and more to God, asking for strength & hope and then when your pain was so bad I begged God to take you home to him.  These days I ask for guidance in my life, I ask for peace within myself, I ask for help to keep my mental state at a healthy balance even if it is with the help of man made drugs (there were some tricky times at the start) I try to look at the positives I’ve had in my life and not just the negatives.  I’m grateful for the 9 years I had with you and look forward to when we meet again.

I thank god everyday for the gift of living, the gift of making new friendships and having new experiences. I’m grateful to have my family so close and I’m thankful that I’m finally able to bond with my new grandson without feeling guilty of loving and missing you less.  

That’s not to say I’m happy because I can categorically say that  I will never truly be happy again without you by my side.  My heart will be forever broken but I am learning to deal with the ache of missing you, I’m getting used to controlling the uncontrollable sobbing, my body is accepting the physical pain I feel every time I remember your not here as a new normal.

I hope you are happy in your new home and that your not teasing granda too much. I hope you have lots of new friends to play with because that was something that you struggled with here on earth, you deserve lots of friends.  

Thank you for the signs you have been sending me, I’m sorry I keep asking but I need to know your ok without me. You always seem to know when I need them most. I know your watching over us all and keeping us safe. 

I miss you so much Órla porla but I know your in your paradise.

You will always be ‘mamma’s little bubba and my number one’ (Cece knows the rules) xxx

   
 

Easter Sunday

Another first for our family without órla, I try to carry on the day as normal preparing the turkey & ham, oh how órla loved her turkey and roast potatoes. I go to mass and see all the pretty children dressed in their smart clothes and the odd Easter bonnet.  I’m trying to concentrate on the true meaning of Easter, of Christ suffering on the cross for our sins, of his resurrection on the third day but all I seem to be able to focus on is the little girl sitting across from me in her mother’s arms.  She offers me a shy smile then cuddles into her mummy for reassurance and security and it dawns on me that I will never cuddle órla in my arms again, never being able to offer her that comfort and security that every child deserves.

I’m aware of the complete irony of that statement as I’m sitting here in God’s house and worrying about my child feeling insecure when I know deep down that she is free from pain and any other physical emotions that are negative.  Of course she misses me but she is with our Lord, our saviour how could she ever feel unsafe or insecure again with God’s arms wrapped around her.

Maybe its my selfishness that I won’t get to cuddle my baby girl again that I can’t give the comfort I so desperately need to give again.  I have to accept that this Easter there will be no Easter egg hunt, there will be no Easter egg buying and there will be no Easter hugs from my ÓrlaRose.  This is my new world.  This is the world I have no choice but to accept from now on.

Happy Easter my brave & beautiful girl.  Mummy misses you so much. Xxx

 

 

My ‘rainbow’ grandchild

Rainbow child  :  A child that is born following the death of a child

In the real world, a beautiful and bright rainbow follows a storm and gives hope of things getting better. The rainbow is more appreciated having just experienced the storm in comparison.

I’d never heard the term ‘rainbow child’ or ‘rainbow baby’ before I became a bereaved mother, but since reading the many blogs & articles about losing a child I’ve become very familiar with it.

Leigh is my ‘rainbow’ child.  I found out two days before Órla died that my eldest daughter was to become a mother for the first time.  I was so happy to be able to tell Órla she was going to be an aunty. Her response to this fabulous news? ‘Yeah whatever’ now most would think this was because she was so ill and frail but those of us who knew her well know that this was a typical response from Órla when it was something that didn’t really interest her.  I know she thought about the baby because later that evening she said she wondered what the baby would look like.

A day and a half later my baby was gone, never to see or hold her niece/ nephew in her arms, never to hear her name ‘Aunty Órla’ being called.  I desperately searched the web to read about the afterlife and to see if it was possible for órla’s soul to know and see the baby’s soul before it was born.  After all as a true believer we didn’t ‘just die’ it’s only our physical self that dies.  I saw that in Órla’s body, it was just a shell, I knew Órla wasn’t there anymore.  So where was the baby’s soul?

A lot of people believe that a baby’s soul doesn’t enter the physical body until the moment of birth, that the soul stays near to the mother.  I liked this idea, I liked the thought that my dad and Órla got to know and love Leigh’s soul before we did.  They say children see spirits well Leigh  definitely does from day one he looked past my shoulder and now at 5 weeks old he smiles (yes actually smiles) and get very excited looking over my shoulder.  When I hold him he very rarely focuses on my face like he does with his mum and other people but concentrates on a spot over my shoulder.  I like to believe this is Órla’s spirit bobbing around and teasing him just like she would have done if she were here in physical form.

My ‘rainbow’ grandchild has brightened my life without a doubt but it also comes with memories of when Órla was a baby, how Órla slept/took her bottle/did what at what age.  I know we’re supposed to remember the happier times and not the illness but the happier times with Órla are tinged with ‘what if we’d known’ ‘what if I’d said’ ‘ what if she were born here’ ( Órla was born with cystic fibrosis but it wasn’t detected until she was 6 when the damage had already been done).  Seeing my daughter become the beautiful mother I knew she’d be reminds me everyday that my baby’s not here anymore that I no longer have dreams of what she will look like when she’s a teenager or what kind of adult she will become.  My dreams are now filled with seeing her again in heaven, holding her once more hearing her call me mom.

So yes Leigh is my ‘rainbow’ grandchild but Órla will always be my rainbow.

Orla Rose
3 weeks old

Leigh Patrick 3 weeks old