Abby’s Story

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

—Psalm 139:13, 14,16

Abby Grace

In the fall of 2000 we found that we were expecting our eighth child. It was an exciting time for the entire family. Our older children were getting old enough to appreciate the blessing of a new baby and fully shared our joy. It was a difficult pregnancy, I didn’t know it was possible to be so sick! This was my eighth pregnancy and the first time I had any real morning sickness. Eventually the sickness passed and in mid December we found out we were having another baby girl. We were thrilled and hurried home to share the news. 
The coming months we going to prove very difficult. On Christmas eve I lost my Mother very unexpectedly & my ailing Grandmother came to live with me. It was a blessing to be able to honor my grandmother this way but, even with the help of home health nurses, caring for a helpless 130 lb women was difficult and all the lifting and strain were hard on my body.
I have always found it easiest to think and pray with a needle in my hand. I guess it’s when I’m quietest and most peaceful. Alot of people ask me how I manage to sew with all these children. It’s because of my busy household that I must sew. It relaxes me and keeps me sane. Needless to say, I got alot of sewing and smocking done during those months. Abby was going to be dressed like a princess! The body of Christ really came around us and functioned as a body is supposed to function during all this. They loved us, prayed for us, cooked us meals and generaly held our hands up. My best friend Beverly gave me a beautiful baby shower. It was such a sweet time of celebrating new life made especially sweet because, after years of secondary infertility and a devastating loss, Bev’s new baby daughter was present. Taste and see that the Lord is good! When I came home from that shower it looked like a huge bottle of Pepto Bismol had exploded at our house. Everything was pink,pink,pink! We were ready to meet our new baby girl. The only thing I lacked was a diaper bag. The bag I wanted was on backorder for weeks. I finally decided to go with a smaller version of the coveted bag and had it monogrammed with the name Abby Grace. My daughters name. The shop called when the bag was ready and I went to pick it up. I hate to admit this but you have to remember how much stress I was under not to mention the hormones. I was so disappointed, I cried on the way home. It was really shabby work. The name was so small you couldn’t even see it and the bag was just low quality. It was then that I realized I could do better than that. My baby girl had a closet full of smocked and heirloom sewn gowns surely I could make a diaper bag. I played around with it but only got a small chenille tote made before baby day.
A few days before Abby was born I was wakened in the middle of the night by what felt like a war going on in my tummy. The baby was thrashing. I had been pregnant seven times before & I knew something was wrong. I spoke to my Dr. & midwife and both thought I was overreacting. I wasn’t, my baby was fighting to get into position and couldn’t. Early in the morning on April 28, 2001 I went into labor. It was extremely intense back labor and went very fast. It wasn’t long after the midwife arrived that she said I was ready , I could push my baby out. But I couldn’t – nothing was going as it should- something was terribly wrong. I’m going to leave out the details of the next several hours, as this is not the place to tell that story.
Abigail Grace Riley died at birth with daddy, Aunt Melanie and Beverly by our side.

Abby’s Grace Originals

As I mentioned before, I turn to my needle in times of grief, stress & joy. I just feel closest to The Father when I’m creating something. During my pregnancy with Abby Grace I did so much smocking and sewing that I couldn’t stop myself. I started making baby gifts with a vengence. I love babies & I love all the stuff that comes with them. When my friend, Beverly, found herself again blessed with a beautiful baby girl I set to work designing a special diaper bag for a very special baby. I pulled together some of my favorite things (chenille, gingham, rick-rack & grosgrain ribon) and the first Abby’s Grace Originals diaper bag was born. Beverly was shopping in Jackson, MS with her new daughter when the owner of Helen’s Young Ages children’s boutique approached her to ask her where she got her bag. Bev was a little shocked, I think. This lady is the second generation owner of the oldest children’s boutique in the state. She really knows the business & I am honored that she carries my bags. Beverly agreed to check with me and ask me to contact her if I was interested in making bags for Helen’s. That night I got a call that started “You’re not going to believe this…”.To make a long story short I agreed to make bags for Helen’s and before I knew it I was shipping bags to over 100 Childrens shops all over the South and we were begining to expand into the west coast market.  I had a team of very gifted ladies helping me but still found myself working 12-14 hour days. It really was crazy. We had to start looking into other options. Leslie began to research outsourcing the production but I really didn’t want to do that. My clients were  paying for quality and quality is what I insisted on giving them. I knew I would lose quality control if I turned my bags over to someone else and Abby’s Grace was my baby, created by me and bearing the name of my beloved daughter. How could I turn it over to a stranger? We began looking into purchasing a building and going into full production ourselves. We had already began assembly line construction with a different person completing each step and passing the bag on to the next person to do her thing. I was losing everything I loved about making the bags in the first place. I really enjoyed creating my bags start to finish. While I was busy working fourteen hour days my new baby, Annie Lou, was growing up and I was missing it. She was always there with me but I was to busy to be mommy to her & her 7 brothers and sisters. To make this business work I was going to have to work full time and put my homeschooling children in school. I made a very hard decision. I knew I wasn’t doing what God created me to do. I closed the business and went back to being mom to the greatest kiddos in the world.

The next year I gave birth to Mercy Kate after a very difficult pregnancy that included 89 days of hospital bedrest. When Mercy was about 9 months old I decided to start making a few bags again and selling them myself – mom to mom. We have come full circle. I am back to doing what I love. Making adorable bags for adorable babies. Each and every bag is hand made by me while my daughter Ellen does the overalls and alot of the other clothing. We now have ten children with the recent addition of Josiah, our amazing adoption blessing. I am still selling to the first two childrens shops I began with in 2003. I really enjoy working with the wonderful ladies that own those shops and we even do the occasional bartering ;o).

1 Response so far »

  1. 1

    Hannah said,

    July 28, 2008 @ 10:30 pm

    That Story of Abby Grace is very sad :(

    I sooooo sorry about what happened to Abby Grace!!!

    ~Hannah~


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