Photo: ASHLEY SUMMERFORD
But just six weeks into the pregnancy, Arthur suffered a miscarriage.
“It’s hard to put into words what you go through because you have so many different emotions,” Arthur, 31, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It was as if my brain wasn’t prepared for the loss and the sadness of it all. I let myself cry and grieve. And then I just had to trust Him. I just had to trust God’s timing.”
And so she did.
“When I went in for my 20-week ultrasound, they determined that the due date was Jan. 19,” she explains. “I mean, you can’t even dream this stuff up!”
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ASHLEY SUMMERFORD
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Indeed, the roller coaster of emotions that Arthur has experienced in the past year seems to culminate in “Hand Me Downs,” a song she wrote alongside songwriter Emily Lynch that speaks of one’s pride in one’s heritage and roots, and a song that just happens to include the sweet vocals of Parton herself.
“I portrayed [Parton] as a child in a show about her life when I was 8 years old calledParadise Road,” Arthur says of her deep connection with the country music legend. “So when I wrote ‘Hand Me Downs’ after coming offAmerican Idol, I wanted to somehow get the song into her hands. Once [Parton] heard it, she loved it. The fact that she trusted me and this song really meant a lot.”
“There were scenes in the video where I didn’t want people to notice I was expecting,” explains Arthur, who wore a dress from Flutter Dress for the big reveal. “And then there were scenes I really had to relax my stomach, because just in the last three days have I really started popping. You just want people to feel something as a songwriter, and this music video brings it that much more to life. And to have Dolly involved on top of everything, I just feel like it’s a career thing that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to top as far as just everything being so special.”
“The song is so rooted in faith and family and stuff like that, that I knew I wanted a bunch of family heirlooms in the video,” Arthur explains. “I’m also so thankful that we had so many family videos to pull from, especially the ones with my grandparents in them, since they have now passed.”
It’s this promise of a life beyond what we can see that continues to help Arthur heal, along with so many others who find themselves also dealing with the loss of a child.
“I want people to know that they are not alone,” says Arthur. “For me, I feel like I have a child in heaven that I will see someday, so I don’t have to really look at it as a loss. It’s just delayed, and that’s okay. I knew that it was only going to happen when it was right. God was always going to give me the children that I’m supposed to have.”
And after dealing with her share of morning sickness in her first trimester, Arthur says she is feeling much better, gaining both energy and excitement over the journey ahead.
“I’m feeling her move and stuff and it’s really fun.” Yes, Arthur is having a daughter.
“I thought it was probably a little boy, but I was just so thrilled that it was a little girl,” the mom-to-be raves. “People are already buying this girl so much stuff. She’s going to be loved from every direction.”
source: people.com
