Hello and welcome to Mission: Healthy Baby on Share Your Story! I'm so glad that you have found us. Share is an amazing community of moms just like you looking for support. Being a member of the military family, you all probably already know how great the need for a support community is when you are far away from your family. Whether you're coming here for support during your healthy pregnancy, looking for support after your pregnancy did not go as you had always dreamed or anywhere in between, we welcome you. I hope that you will find Share to be the wonderfully supportive community I have grown to know and love over the past six and a half years.
My name is Stacy and I have called Share my home since November of 2009. My husband and I were stationed in Guam and were just about as secluded from the rest of the world as we could ever be. Guam is a teeny tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean about a three hour flight from Japan and the Philippines. It is over 11,000 miles from our family and it was while we were there that I went into premature labor during my first pregnancy with our twins Emilyn and Hailey. We lost both of our girls that day, all alone and a 20 hour flight from home. In the weeks that followed I searched for local support groups, for people who understood what I was going through and came out empty handed. My military family wanted to help, they just didn't know how. Then I found Share Your Story and posted my story. Instantly I was welcomed into the Share family, other parents offered a shoulder to lean on, and gently guided me through the most difficult days of my life. Not all of them had walked the same path as me, but all of them wholeheartedly welcomed me into their fold regardless of what brought them here. Without the online support, I don't know how I would have survived. In the quietness of the night when everyone was asleep except for me I could come to Share and post my deepest feelings knowing someone was there to respond. Or I could look around in the blogs or the forums and find someone else that had felt the same things I was and not feel so alone. I am so thankful that a community like this exists and continues to serve.