Liza lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband Chris, their daughter Windsor, and rescue dog Gemma. In September, the family will add a new baby brother — a second “miracle baby” for a family that has experienced three losses and gone through the grueling process of fertility treatments.
For Liza, who has shared her fertility journey and pregnancy losses with her followers on Instagram, her current pregnancy arrived with an unexpected twist: the novel coronavirus. She was still in her first trimester when the COVID-19 pandemic began. It’s been an extra layer of anxiety for a mama expecting a rainbow baby.
“I have had to surrender so much control during this pregnancy,” Liza shared, “When you’re under the care of a fertility doctor it means lots of extra ultrasounds and appointments and I LOVE that. I got to hear Windsor’s heartbeat every week of my pregnancy and had enough ultrasound pictures to fill an entire album. And even with all of that I was still anxious everyday. Still worried something was going to go wrong at any moment because pregnancy after loss is really hard. This pregnancy has been so different. I was supposed to have an ultrasound at 13 weeks but didn’t because of everything that is going on. I heard his heartbeat 3 weeks ago and feel him fluttering around everyday and I have just had (to) let that be enough and trust that he’s OK even though I haven’t seen him since he looked like a gummy bear.”
Through it all, Liza has been working to stay focused on gratitude, especially for the time with her daughter as they await the arrival of a new baby brother. One of the things she loves about being a mother is making a comfortable, caring home for her growing family — a good thing since, like many families, they have been spending most of their time in it for the past several months!
In an admission that will feel relatable to many of us, Liza says she likes to think she’s a minimalist… but acknowledges that she definitely isn’t!
Liza discovered Ruggish on Instagram and loved the idea of a play rug that would be stylish enough to fit with her home decor but adaptable enough to be used anywhere in the house.
“For about a year, we kept it in our living room, right in front of the fireplace, so that Windsor could do tummy time while we were all together as a family,” she says. “It’s now upstairs in her playroom and we’ve flipped it over so she can play with her trains on it. I love that it’s so versatile ... I can do yoga on it, Windsor can have picnics on it, and endless play time. She was crawling by five months, and I’m sure it’s because of all the tummy time she did on it.”
While this year has been stressful — there was even a period of time when her husband had to quarantine separately in the basement because his work was taking him into hospitals — Liza has been taking time to reflect and learn from the latest unexpected twist in her family’s journey.
“I’m hopeful that when this is over we will all have a new perspective on what really matters,” she wrote. “Hope is a powerful thing; grab hold of it and don’t let go.”
Follow Liza’s journey on Instagram: @lizamorganmills
