Oh, Guilt, You’re the worst of them all. Not the kind of guilt you feel when you have a “cheat day” on you diet, or the kind you feel when you forget to pay for the paper towels on the bottom rack of your cart on complete accident. I’m talking about the guilt that cuts you like a knife; makes you feel that you let down every. single. person. who knew you were expecting.

I have so much guilt surrounding Kenley’s death. I know that there is nothing that could be done to save her, I know this. I know that I did everything I could to ensure my daughter arrived healthy and happy- yet she didn’t. I often find myself feeling guilty for feeling guilty and sad. It’s so fucked up the way you feel after a loss of this magnitude. You can’t even describe how you truly are feeling, because well, there are no words that make sense.

I feel guilty that I let Shane down. Me, his wife, the mother of his children, couldn’t keep his daughter alive. First off, I have the fertility issues, not him. He is perfect in fertility related aspect. I’m the reason we have to go through all of this struggle to begin with. I lost two of his children. I then went on to get pregnant with his Daughter, his beautiful daughter that he played guitar for, and talked to every single day. The daughter that he gave the most beautiful name to. The daughter that was going to be Daddy’s Girl for sure. And then…that daughter died inside of me. Inside of ME, his wife. The mother of that daughter. It breaks my heart into a million pieces to think about that.

I feel guilty for letting Landon down. I lost his sister. The baby sister whom he so anxiously waited for, and never even got to hold. He promised to take care of her, and help me change her diapers. He helped me wash all of her clothes and fold them. He was so excited for her, But for some reason, I didn’t know she was dying inside of me. How did I miss that? I feel guilty for missing this. I worry that I was too wrapped up in Christmas to recognize any signs from her. I let her down too. I feel guilty for that more than anything else.

I let down Kenley’s grandparents who were so excited for her, her great grandparents, my friends and other family who were so excited for her. I feel incredibly guilty for not knowing she was dead/dying inside of me. I am her mother, and how did that go unnoticed? Was I SO preoccupied with doing the dishes on that Tuesday that I didn’t notice she wasn’t moving properly? I want the chance to go back and look at myself during those last few days. I want to really study her movement and try to figure it out. I want to go to the hospital on that morning, instead of that night. I want to demand that they take her. I want my OBgyn to not say “well if it makes you feel better, you can go to Labor and Delivery”, but instead say “YES. GO IN NOW. THAT IS WHY THERE ARE NURSES THERE. JUST TO BE SAFE. IT’S YOUR BABY’S LIFE. GO GO GO! FUCKING GO NOW!!!”.

I want to go back and have my doctor to give me an NST at my appt 2 days before Christmas. I walked into that appointment thinking I was going to get an NST, and left with a false sense of reassurance. I will never be ok with that. I will never be ok with my doctor telling me that my contractions were probably normal and making me feel like I was overreacting. I should have fucking gone. Don’t get me started on the guilt to come with moving forward with our FET.

I feel so much guilt over her death, and one day I think  I know it’s going to eat me alive.