Where this began

I was leaving a work team gathering, walking alone along the river in Chicago, when it happened.

A hemorrhage, that came out of nowhere.

Chicago, just before everything changed.

This is the story behind Glow Together, and how it began. I was 24 weeks pregnant at the time, and up until then, everything had been normal. My doctors had encouraged me to stay active, to keep living my life, and traveling didn’t seem like a concern this early in the pregnancy. Luckily, I was close to a women’s hospital so it was a short ambulance ride. Once I was in the ER, there were people rushing around trying to decide what to do. I was only 24 weeks. There were conversations about delivering. Then, somehow, things stabilized.

That night, my heart rate dropped into the 30s. I remember the resident running in and how scared I felt in that moment when I saw the look on his face.

The next day, there was another bleed, but it was minor. After that, a few quiet days passed. Even then, every night I was afraid to go to sleep.

When I made it back to Bend, I spent another week in the hospital before being sent home. I remember how scary that felt too. There was no 24/7 monitoring and I didn’t feel ready. For months, I carried that fear with me.

It changed how I think about everything. About my body, about pregnancy, and about how fragile and uncertain these experiences can be. It also made me afraid to go through it again.

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WHAT I DIDN'T EXPECT

At first, I didn’t talk about it much.

But when I finally did, something unexpected happened.

Women started sharing their own experiences with me. Even some of my closest friends opened up about things I had never known. Small bleeds. Ectopic pregnancies. Loss. Stories they had been carrying quietly.

I realized how much exists beneath the surface. How much we go through without always seeing it in one another. Around that same time, life held everything at once. There was fear, and there was so much gratitude.

We welcomed Margot. We bought a home. I lost my aunt. I lost my fur baby, Charlie, who had been with me through everything.

It all felt chaotic and beautiful at the same time.

I kept thinking about how lucky I was to be here, to have experienced all of it, and to have the people I do in my life.

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WHAT CAME FROM IT

The idea for Glow Together came from that space.

From the moments we do not always know how to mark. From the times we want to show up for someone but do not quite have the words. From the realization that no one is really going through these things alone, even if it sometimes feels that way.

Glow Together is for all of it.

The joy, the fear, the grief, the milestones, and the quiet moments in between. It is a way to acknowledge what is happening in your life, or in someone else’s, and to say that it matters.

Because it does.

And if this story feels familiar in any way, I hope you know you are not alone.

With light,

Natalie ✨