A little story concerning the baby I haven't told.

Jeff and I went into our marriage without a "plan".
We wanted to be married young (we met in high school)....
..and we wanted to have kids while we were young. and that's what we did.

I was 20 and Jeff 21 when we had our first baby.
Throughout our first years we never planned a pregnancy..if it happened fine, if not fine.
In 9 years we had 5 kids. Three boys, two girls.

And then things changed...
When I was 31 I miscarried a set of twins. I lost one at 9 weeks along, the other at 12.
I was told by the specialist I was seeing and the doctor associated with my midwife...
....I would most likely not be able to have anymore children.

At the time I had 5 little ones, ages 2 to 10 years old.
I was in the midst of sippy cups and board books...nearly everyone was still riding in a car seat...
...so the news didn't seem all that bad.
Don't get me wrong..I loved my life! I've always loved being a mom...and I love babies.
..but when your plate is full...you usually don't care about adding anything more to it.

Our's was full...and though we would have happily accepted another baby...we were content.

We moved on....
Our kids would often say how they wished for another baby.
Sometimes we wished for that too...and sometimes we didn't.
We were laid back and lived life with the attitude of...whatever God had in store for us we'd take.
We still do...I should say we try to. Sometimes we get a little attitude problem. Ha.

Okay, let's fast forward six years....
It was a cold and snowy Saturday night in February, we were in bed....
....TALKING! ;) about life.

Earlier that evening we had gone to dinner with the family to celebrate my mom's birthday.
Jeff and I sat at the table watching my pregnant sister and my sister in law with their babies...
..they would leave the table to change diapers, feed babies, cut up food, wipe little mouths...etc.

While in bed that night we discussed how different our life was compared to just a few years ago when we were wearing their shoes. It was nice to not be busy in that way anymore we decided!

We had lots of freedom. The self sufficiency of our kids made life easier in so many ways....
I could Christmas shop alone. I could get my hair done AND run through Starbucks...by myself.
Date night was great...Bye Kids! Call if you need us...or don't. {joking, joking!}
No diapers. No diaper bag. No bibs. No sippy cups. No car seats. No strollers.
Everyone could bathe themselves, feed themselves, wipe themselves!!!

That was Saturday night.
Tuesday afternoon ...{10,000 or so pregnancy tests later}
....we found out God had a different plan for our family.

When I first saw the two pink lines, the plus sign and the "pregnant" {remember, 10,000 tests}...
...I burst into tears.
Not because I was upset or sad...I was shocked. I was completely and utterly shocked.
More shocked than I was the first time around! A happy shocked of course.

All those above thoughts about freedom and Christmas shopping?
Yeah, they really didn't matter anymore. They paled and seemed selfish in the light of...
...We're having another baby! Yay!!!

Our girls had prayed every night for me to have a baby for 2 years! Seriously, every night.
Me of little faith brushed it off...I let them pray thinking their prayers were fruitless.
But God heard them...He knew the desire of their little hearts.
...and I suppose quietly, without even realizing it, the desire of mine.

We were all very excited...but I was also nervous.
I didn't want to tell anyone...and I was afraid to see my midwife...
I thought perhaps she would tell me the {10,000 or so} pregnancy tests I took were actually wrong.
Was I going to miscarry again?  Was everything fine with the baby? How would we do this?

Even now with only 3 1/2 weeks left to go in this pregnancy I still wake up and remember...
"Oh yeah! we're having a baby!"
I still say this to Jeff all the time and he says the same thing back to me..."Yep, I know."

It doesn't feel real.
I'm sure once I have that first labor pain, things will be put into perspective real quick.
...and to hold this new baby in our arms...Oh I can't wait!
...and to find out if the baby is a he or a she...I can't wait!

..and that's my little story concerning the baby. Now I've told it.
XxOo