Tuesday, June 9, 2009

I need to say this!

I want to say this, and I will continue to change the date of this post to keep it on top permanently.

Up until TODAY, I was not a skeptic of this story. I believed every word of it. I religiously checked the website multiple times a day because this baby was on my mind. Last night (the night of April's birth), I neglected all my house work, my husband, and our dog so I could sit on my computer and refresh the story. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (gotta love pregnancy) and I couldn't go back to sleep - thinking about April. The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was checked the web. When I found out that April was still alive this morning, I praised God, and I cried.

This story has touched me personally and now I am hurt, and I truly do want answers.

Do I ever expect to get them? From an anonymous stranger who I never knew on the internet - No, I don't expect them.

But that is the honest truth for why I'm here with this blog and why I needed to put this up. Whoever "B" and "D" are - I do pray for them, they DESPERATELY need it. And Little April Rose - if you were ever out there, I truly did pray for you and I still do.

(Original Post Date: June 8, 2009)

55 comments:

  1. I feel exactly the same way. Honestly, I was not a skeptic until a few minutes ago. I just could NOT believe that the whole thing was a lie. I still don't know what to think. I have prayed for April, B, and D, for months. I have cried with them. I have rejoiced with them. I just don't understand. I am so confused and upset.

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  2. Was not a skeptic here either. Just opening my eyes like everyone else, scratching my head and wondering what just happened here.

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  3. This so angers me. Neither the Christian community, nor the babyloss community needs these types of horrible frauds. I don't think these people realize the depth of the hurt they have caused so many.

    Why do these scams keep re-appearing? First "Confessions of a Yummy Mummy/Interrupted Girl" (Cynthia) - who is now blogging as "Saved Girl"

    http://thechroniclesofasavedgirl.blogspot.com/

    and here as Cynthia
    http://runintherainblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/privacy-on-main-blog.html

    I mean what brings someone to fake a story of their childs death? If there was some way I could fake it so may life would NOT include my daughters death, I WOULD certainly....but to fake your childs illness or impending death? That just takes an incredibly sick, sick individual.

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  4. I'm still hoping somehow that this is not a lie, but who knows. Maybe time will tell.

    Does anyone else think her friend Kelli is suspicious?? Supposedly she was the one giving Raechel all the updates that Raechel so kindly put on the blog.

    Also, Kelli is the one who contacted Ruffel Bottoms to ask them to advertise on Little April's blog. I read just about every post that B put up, I followed her from the very begining and I dont ever remember hearing about Kelli before.

    The part that really makes me wonder is the people who have met her in real life (ie: the woman who adopted her dog). She said in her own words (on MckMama's blogfrog boards) that she saw her in real life, pregnant and all.

    And what about the pregnancy pictures? She was obviously pregnant, but very tiny as she should have been considering the diagnosis. But still, there were belly pictures! That has to mean something!

    And B and "Kelli" don't look anything alike (so one would assume they are not the same person). I saw a pic of Kelli on her profile to her blog (that is private) but she already took the picture down.

    What about Raechel? I feel SO bad for her, especially if this is all false. I wonder if she actually had phone conversations with B or D, saw B in person, or heard the baby cry over the phone yesterday... And how exactly was she getting the updates from Kelli? Thru text? Over the phone? Thru email?

    The picture of the baby didn't look 4 pounds but then again looking back at pictures of my 5 pound baby she looked larger because they were up close. April resembled the baby doll way too much.

    Mayb she intentionally put up pictures of the doll so she could hide what her baby looked like.

    I'm still trying to give the benefit of the doubt but I have way a lot of questions. It's just so sad either way you look at it!

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  5. I have new info, is there an email I can send it to?

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  6. such suspense on the new info and the other blog hasn't posted it right away!!!

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  7. Absolutely: questionsaboutapril@gmail.com

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  8. please post the new info!!!!

    oh and an anonymous commenter said that cynthia was a fake?!? seriously? she even posted pictures of her baby aiden. i prayed for her too. anonymous, do you have a link (similar to this blog) that outted cynthia?

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  9. www.fakingintherain.blogspot.com

    A lot of other blogs and forums have outted cynthia. And someone else pointed out, her baby only had one picture posted when she said there was both a photographer at the birth and at the memorial. That one picture of the baby, although the blog is private so the picture can't be seen, but that baby could have easily been a reborn baby picture stolen from the internet.

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  10. I'm pissed.

    I fell for this scam. I prayed for them. I followed along and commented on the blog regularly. I cried for them and yes, I even sent them something in the mail. The question is what can be done about this? They have been making money from all of this through the people who sent something to their PO box and by us clicking on thier website they made money from the advertisers. It's not right...it's not fair. Time as are tough for many of us and money is tight. They shouldn't get away with this and be making a profit off of us. Any ideas on what can be done?

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  11. Oh I too followed this blog closely. Refreshing like crazy last night. I'm so hurt and disappointed today!

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  12. I too followed this story closely. Since the beginning I would check multiple times a day. There were a couple of things that didn't seem right but as a Believer I did not want to judge what someone going through losing their child would do. I still hope that it isn't all a lie but the deleting of everything on the blog and not posting any new updates is only making me believe it is all a scam. If it is true they have to know how many people are hoping and praying for them and I would think that they would update if this was in fact true. How sick in the head do you have to be to do something like this?? I am so confused and hurt today. I am also angry with myself for not trusting my gut instict and getting sucked into this.
    Jen in Ohio

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  13. Just a quick question....why would she do HIS Will Wednesday and pray for all the other families out there that are hurting? Does anyone think maybe she could be real? I'm hoping and praying that she is real and that April Rose is as well. I don't know - so confused.

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  14. This really is ridiculous. I'm also happy to see someone finally out Cynthiaa, even though I believed her, it seemed odd that she was about to "move on" and talk about fashion all the time.

    This all makes me sick to my stomach.

    These women need help.

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  15. I am thinking that she did it to drive more traffic to her blog. The more traffic (hits on her page) the more money they made from the AdSense. It makes me sick. I believed. I followed along. I prayed for them even though it is not something I really do.

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  16. check out gibsontwins.blogspot.com

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  17. re: cynthiaa. HUH? She's posting under BOTH her internet pseudonyms on the same post in the MckMama community...

    http://theblogfrog.com/psearch/ViewThread.aspx?threadID=530&blogID=104191

    reply by D , author of confessions of a yummy mummy on 6/8/2009 12:17 AM

    There has been pictures posted on various different blogs. One of the ones I follow, Wind Beneath My Wings, has posted an edited version of the original pic on B's blog.

    Here's a link!

    http://www.mistyrice.me/

    SavedGirl

    -D



    Reply by SavedGirl , author of The Chronicles of a Saved Girl on 6/8/2009 12:26 AM

    Lifting up this family in prayer.

    -SavedGirl

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  18. This all makes me sick to my stomach. How could people do this? I want to know more about Raechel, as well. Did she really even know this girl. It's crazy that she erased everything about April Rose on her blog.

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  19. OMG is this blog Beccah???? I will fall over.

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  20. HAH! I hadn't thought of that but it wouldn't surprise me!

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  21. LOL - Funny thought, and since I'm anonymous, I can't prove otherwise. But I would say that 1) I have no ads - and this Beccah character doesn't seem to do anything unless there is something in it for her . . . and 2) I wouldn't send you off to the Gibson Twins website and give them credit for breaking the story if I was the desperate person Beccah seems to be.

    I'm just a person who got suckered into the story and has some legitimate questions.

    You can believe me or not - I really want this blog to be a forum for all opinions. (And I will never put 1 ad on it!)

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  22. Has anyone else seen Raechel's twitter updates? She said that she was on the phone with B at 2:30 today and B said she had no idea what was going on. Then she tweeted just now and said she is on the phone with B. I'm interested to see what she says...

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  23. I'm very interested too - but I must head to bed. I"m very anxious to see what new updates this story brings tomorrow . . .

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  24. It's funny, there is a posting on Gibson Twins (http://gibsontwins.blogspot.com) about a poster named Saved Girl. Interesting that there is a poster about 7 comments up with the same name commenting. According to the comment made about Saved Girl, she used to be Yummy Mummy, then went on to be Interrupted Girl and then Saved Girl. Are you the same Saved Girl? I see your name a lot. If you are, you are no different than Beccah. Be aware my friend.

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  25. disallusioned and sad. how God was getting the glory and now this? my heart hurts. i also emailed her several times with some pretty personal info/confessions, and no response.
    i don't trust what i read now, and i think that's really sad. don't stand too close to bekkah, she may be struck by lightning!!

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  26. That was me who posted about 7 comments up re: Saved Girl. YES - she used to be YM, IG, and now SG. Its tiresome, no? And along the way in her journey she seems to have forgotten her dead son. I have a child that died right around the same time, and let me tell you this - I am NOT out there posting about fashion, starting random blogs, creating new blog identities and all the crap that YM, IG, SG has been pulling. AND in her new SG personality, she doesn't even MENTION the fact that she had a son. She is NO different then Beccah. SCAM.

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  27. Oh, and!

    i don't understand how in this latest AR posting - B is claiming to R that she doesn't know about any of the drama. If she doesn't know, then WHO was updating the site all day - changing/moving layout etc???? And who is approving comments & making layout changes now - is it Raechel????????

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  28. ah, yes.

    I started doubting a few days ago. Actually longer than that. But, I hit refresh, prayed, and hit refresh again yesterday.

    Something not yet mentioned is that the original post about the birth was timestamped BEFORE the actual time of delivery. I commented on that, and then it was reposted with a different time stamp. SRSLY.

    I also don't think the pics are real. I didn't know at the time that they were of a reborn doll, but they certainly didn't look like a trisomy baby, a 4 # baby, etc.

    I would love confirmation-either way- about this story. thanks for doing this.

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  29. "Faking in the Rain" got pulled. What the heck? What other blogs and forums outted Cynthia? Can you post them here, please?
    Thanks!

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  30. You can search for her on whitepages.com.

    In her 'house' it lists a man with a name beginning with 'D' and another person with the name 'Rose'.

    Does anyone else find this odd/strange?!

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  31. I wonder if she did the His Will Wednesdays to get fodder for other money-making opportunities. Meaning, perhaps she figured she would get emails from parents asking for prayer for their child and get information about that child's condition and whatnot that she could then use to open another blog and do this scam again, using a different condition.

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  32. On the http://forum.bountifulbaby.com/viewtopic.php?t=31986&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75, which is a forum for the people who make reborn babies, they ALL agree that it is a reborn baby named Avery.

    What a scammer!

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  33. HER BLOG IS 150% GONE NOW.

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  34. The sad thing is that some people will probably always believe April existed, because "B" will never confirm the truth.

    The pictures of the doll(s)(!!!!) were more than enough to convince me that this is a hoax... but now they're supposedly in the hospital with a baby who has two life-threatening conditions, and yet someone has been moderating comments and now has taken down the blog? Suuuurre.

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  35. I'm interested to see if Raechel will ever come out and say anything on her blog or Twitter page. If it was my friend and people were falsely accusing her of something so terrible as she was giving birth and losing her baby, I'd sure stand up for her!

    I just think it's so weird, all of it. I'm not totally convinced that Raechel is not somehow involved in this.

    The comment above about the pre-written birth post? That is pretty hard evidence!

    I have to go to bed now. I never get sucked into this stuff, but this has just taken my whole day. I guess because I really believed, up until I saw the picture of the reborn, that this was a true story.

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  36. and now her twitter is gone? wow.

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  37. I wasn't ever skeptical. I was hurt by and embarrassed for the people who were and were saying that B was a scam. I e-mailed her because I felt a connection with the story that she shared about her relationship with D. I trusted her with information about my life, and while I know it shouldn't have been shared with a stranger, I felt like I could trust her. I spent all day yesterday in tears and praying for B and D and the baby. I am so hurt and sickened that someone could have pulled a prank like this when so many women have had to deal with the tragedy of losing a child. This is just ridiculous.

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  38. If you know where she lives, as some people seem to, call her country attorney and ask about filing fraud charges - looks like she raked in big bucks doing this. Very sad, and a real slap in the face to all the REAL babyloss mamas out there.

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  39. Bethany, I too noticed regarding that time stamp. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the original time said 2:40 pm, claiming April was born at 2:48. I found that odd and all sorts of questions ran through my head. I know with blogger you can manipulate time. Then I thought to myself how awful it was of me to doubt. Within a few minutes, the time on that post announcing the time of birth went from 2:40 to 2:49, or thereabout.

    I too hope this story was not a scam but then one has to remember it is the internet and people do horrible things on the net. Makes it tough for those who really are dealing with something like this. Not all people are bad. I have come across two people over the years who faked cancer. What makes a person do this sort of thing? Someone seriously mental with no conscience. Sick.

    As most normal people do, thoughts started swirling in my head. Now, with Trisomy 13, isn't there usually a cleft palate? Of course, a miracle could have happened with all the prayers and April might have been one that didn't have that, but with the brain lacking with the other disorder, wouldn't feeding be difficult? The chronological time order things were not totally jiving with me. Not after that time stamp thing. Oh well, who I am to judge? I hope it's not all a hoax because I prayed along with everyone else. If it's not real, we all just need to tweak our prayers and continue to pray for these obviously sick people.

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  40. If I could throw my two cents into the action here.

    I've been a pretty casual observer of the aprilrose blog, mostly because I know R&R in real life and saw that they were involved with "B" and now I find myself falling into this rabbit hole of scams and deceit.

    If I could at least convince one of you that at this point if you all could pray for someone, that it's be for the Meyers family.

    They probably don't even know that I'm aware of this whole thing but, as a father myself, I can only for a small moment even begin to imagine the all out kicked-in-the-stomach pain that they are likely feeling this morning.

    Ryan & Raechel have some really big hearts and are honorable upstanding citizens in their church and community. For reasons that they felt were worthy (and we all did) they wanted to help someone that they felt they had a lot in common with. Now that is perhaps not at all the case.

    For what it's worth, I hope that as I vouch for them, some others will feel compelled to at least pray for them that they will recieve comfort in the midst of this pretty confusing time.

    [now i'm gonna go post this on that other site too]

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  41. I was never an avid follower of the blog, but I did visit it once or twice in the past. After getting Mckmama's tweet I checked the blog again but for some reason I couldn't comment, things weren't adding up or making sense. When I saw the picture of "April Rose" I wondered why she wasn't deformed immediately. I didn't check on the blog again until after receiving a late night tweet from Mckmama. It's sad what people do for attention.

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  42. As a mother of a child who had trisomy 18, I followed this story, prayed for this family, cried for this family. I wanted to believe it. I believe in miracles. I wanted one to happen for April Rose. I am so confused, and hurt. I am still praying for "B". She needs it now, more than ever. Thank-you for your info, and keeping it clean.

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  43. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  44. Maybe we should forward all this info to a local newspaper reporter so they can dig into it and maybe they would have a pull to make sure she is stopped for good so this doesn't happen again.

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  45. You can also file a claim with the FBI for internet fraud.

    http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

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  46. I agree with MPWalker. I think we should all be praying for Raechel and Ryan. I, too, know them personally. I've known them both for about 12 years. So, I, too, can vouch for their big hearts.

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  47. I'm glad there's a place for anonymous comments. I don't have a blog, so I couldn't comment at the other places.

    I cannot believe I got emotionally sucked into the whole thing! I believed. I kept checking back for updates. (Fortunately, I never gave money.)
    How disgusting.

    I'll be curious to hear Raechel and Ryan's point of view.

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  48. Let's see if we can get this guy to do a story on it or at least look into it.
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-problem,0,6996483.columnist
    Maybe with a enough requests from us the Tribune will look into it

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  49. If you look at the pic of "April rose" and then at the video of raechel's daughter, it looks like the same polka dot blanket is used. :/

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  50. I'm sick of all of these Christian moms who are SO quick to speak so much evil and hatred about Beccah and Dan. Have you ever been in the position of having hundreds of thousands of people following your blog? And did you ever think that maybe, in the midst of all that they are going through, that enough might just be enough? Do you remember how you felt after giving birth? Now how would you feel getting hate emails at that time of your life...as well as photos of your baby with horns and a devil tail? Now imagine that your baby is less than healthy; add that stress and throw in nasty anonymous comments. Would you not be tempted to just stop all of the madness and shut down your blog? Put yourself in Beccah's shoes. All of this holier than thou stuff is making me ill. And I'm sure that Satan loves this. Beccah was turning a less than ideal situation into something that was glorifying God. Satan hates that. And what better way for him to try and defeat the situation by getting a whole busload of blogging moms to spew hatred and misinformation. Yes, April's photo looks a bit like that of a "newborn" doll, but if you took the time to notice, it looks even MORE like her ultrasound photo, which had prominently been featured on the blog for months. I do not know Beccah, although I had received 2 emails from her...emails which did NOT ask for anything, although I had offered. You all ought to be so ashamed of yourselves. It's like watching a pack of wild animals tear apart a helpless animal. I know that this is not how Christ would respond in a situation like this.

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  51. ...and let me clarify...the reason I had received email from Beccah was that I had shared a verse with her, and she commented back.

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  52. Someone by the name of Kabrams12 on this blog http://littleaprilroseisfake.blogspot.com. called a number listed for becca's work and ended up speaking with a "family friend" this is what she found out....

    "SO i called the number provided for me. a female answered. but i didn't say anything! haha. i called blocked. if someone could give me something to say to her, i'll call and see what she says.

    i dont want to start screaming at the girl. i just kind of want to be like 'we were just wondering if april rose was okay'

    thoughts? suggestions?"

    "alright i'm going to call and ask for beccah, ask if april rose is okay. and see what she says. i will update with what she says momentarily. i'm not sure if i'm allowed to give out the phone number. but i will tell you its public knowledge and it was posted in a link in these comments."

    "OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!! WAIT UNTIL YOU HEAR THE STORY."


    "

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  53. continued...

    "the woman whos phone # this is is a friend of beccahs mom.

    THERE IS NO BABY.

    THERE NEVER WAS.

    SHE KNOWS BECCAH."

    "she feels so bad. this number is in no connection of her and beccah other than her daughter. her exact words were that: "beccah had a very hard life and obviously this is what she needs to resort to" i told her that was no excuse and people are emotionally and monetarily involved. she said she wasn't willing to give out any more personal information. but everyone who knows beccah does know about this now. she said that the see through me studios is in fact beccahs business. she said that the information posted on these sites are real. we talked for 20 minutes total. she is very upset and distraught receiving multiple phone calls a day now.

    bottom line is this: beccah is a real person. who has done this. who knew what she was doing. who did this for monetary\empathy gain."

    "she did not tell me that beccah had a child who she lost. she did tell me that she has heard all about april rose over the past few days. she told me that as far as her daughters knowledge there is no 'd' who was romantically involved with beccah."

    and here's the kicker "Ryan" Raechels husband immediately responded...

    "kabrams12,

    Is it possible that you and I might be able to talk? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

    you can e-mail me at ryan@uberclothing.com

    Ryan"

    Seems to me he is watching very closely.

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  54. Kira! I KNOW. It was me who called. I called the woman who's number was listed as beccah's site owner. it was beccah's name and her phone number, and address were listed. so i called. i talked to ryan on the phone. i am going to be 150% honest. i have no idea what is going on. part of me thinks that they were not involved. other parts of me wonder how they weren't if they personally know\knew her. beccah went to college with R and R. so i'm not really sure.

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  55. I think that MckMama, Angie and Raechel handled the situation as well as can be expected at this time.

    Honestly, there is nothing they can do about it except continue to pray for "B", that she gets the help that she obviously needs.

    Wait a minute, did that Queen of Chaos say PRAY FOR THIS LADY??

    Yes, I sure did. What more can we as Christian women do? We are not in any position of Authority, we have no legal clout, but we have the power of prayer that "B" needs now more than ever.

    It's obvious that people around her now know what she did based on the phone calls made, she will have to answer to those that question her in person, and ultimately to the Lord when her time comes.

    Will we ever know the truth? Only time will tell. Honestly though, will it matter? "B" knows the truth and will have to live with it the rest of her life.

    Readers, these situations happen. They happen on the internet, they happen real life, I've personally been involved in quite a few situations like this and it's not fun to be a part of the group "taking someone down". It's not fun to be deceived, it hurts like heck.

    So at this time, I humbly request that the chaos subside. We think about this woman and her family and keep them in our prayers. They will be needing all we can muster to get through this.

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