“We’re gonna be ‘MOM’ & ‘DAD’.”

I’m not planning to make each post about birth/pregnancies/babies, but I’m kinda obsessed with it all, so here we are.

Terry and I were fortunate enough to not deal with infertility. I’d had a big autoimmune scare in 2014 and was put on steroids temporarily and then other medication. With everything happening with my body, our doctor advised I stay on birth control since a baby wouldn’t be safe in my current health state. It was a little scary because although our lives were super busy with growing our gym business, we were becoming more open to having babies. So the moment I was cleared, in early 2015, I got off of birth control. We weren’t “trying” — we had just decided to not block anything either. This went on for about a year, and toward the end I started to wonder if something was wrong since I’d been off of birth control so long and still wasn’t pregnant. I’ll share the “how we found out” story at some point, but as you can see in Terry’s text response, we were beyond thrilled. (For the record, he didn’t find out over text — a nurse had mentioned my hCG levels were high over the phone, and this was later that day when I confirmed with a pregnancy test). So our story was an easy one. And our story is not as common as I thought.

“…for years you do everything you can to NOT get pregnant…”

Two years ago a lot of my friends were dealing with infertility. It’s one of those life things that seem unusual until you’re a certain age and all of a sudden, you know so many who are affected. It’s heartbreaking. A friend of mine described it as, “for years you do everything you can to NOT get pregnant, and then once you’re finally ready, you can’t get pregnant. Now, you almost wish you wouldn’t have fought it so hard.” It was weighing so heavily on me that I made a list of each friend and placed it on my office desk. Each time I saw the list, I’d stop and pray for each situation, calling them out by name. Terry and I purchased a onesie for one of these friends, believing that one day we’d be able to gift her the onesie for their baby. That day came this past weekend when we attended her baby shower.

You know we love you when we buy your kid an Aggie onesie!

I was listening to “Here As In Heaven” by Elevation Worship when I wrote the original list.

THREE are currently pregnant, one has a beautiful baby boy, and one successfully completed an adoption process.

I’m not a crier. It’s not intentional, I just very rarely actually cry. Kinda like Cameron Diaz in “The Holiday” before she realized she’d fallen in love. Except I’m super in love and still don’t really cry. WELL I CRIED AT THE SHOWER. As we were leaving we told our friend the story of how we’d purchased the onesie years ago and kept it in Baby Terry’s closet, knowing it would one day be hers. And we cried together, our hearts exploding. This mama has worked SO HARD! Multiple rounds of IVF, needles, blood tests, appointments on appointments, emotional stress, and on and on. What sacrifice! What love.

There have been 14 people on that list (we’ve been adding to it over time): THREE are currently pregnant, one has a beautiful baby boy, and one successfully completed an adoption process. I don’t have all the answers, but I know faith works. There’s something that happens when my spirit, my soul, full of hope, connects with your spirit, your soul, and together our belief penetrates the natural.

I ended this kinda deep, wasn’t the intention ha. But if you want to be added to this list, let me know and I’m happy to believe with you as well. Or consider buying your own onesie. Put it somewhere you can see it often. Here as in Heaven.

xx