Just as we were getting comfortable with three we decided to try for another one. This decision was not easy for me. Although for the past year I kept looking for another child, I always felt like a child was missing (this sounds so crazy but I would even dish up food for 4 kids, I know CRAZY). Tay really wanted four kids but left the choice to me as it is my body that would be affected by giving birth, nursing, and just in general it is another human being to raise (which of course we would do that part together). After a year of thinking it through I decided I would regret it for the rest of my life if we didn’t go for it. Life isn’t meant to be comfortable and easy so why not stretch ourselves was the thought that Tay and I came to.
This is pretty personal and I would prefer to just say surprise we are having a baby! Although I want any woman that has gone through this or that may be going through this to know they are not alone.
I usually get sick with my pregnancies and I thought that I got pretty sick (throwing up multiple times a day all the way through my 2nd trimester with all three of my babies). Well I didn’t know sick until this pregnancy. I picked up tennis while moving to Utah and it has been my therapy. I tried everything to not give it up while being pregnant but quickly realized I couldn’t play. While trying to play I would start violently vomiting and I felt so weak. Then it got worse, got to the point where I wasn’t keeping any food or water down. I was severely dehydrated and had HG (aka Hyperemesis gravidarum). I had to go to the hospital everyday to get infusions (liquid injections and vitamin B7 to keep me and the baby alive). After spending almost a month in bed I lost so much weight and muscle I have never felt so weak in my whole life. There were moments where I truly didn’t want to live any more because I was so depressed from lying in bed all day everyday. I missed so many activities my kids were doing, in general I missed mothering my kids and being me. I was mentally trying to gear up that this could be my whole pregnancy. The pain was just relentless (there were also other complications my body was dealing with) I decided one weekend (around 12 weeks of my pregnancy) to go off everything, I stopped taking Zoprhan and going to the hospital for two days. Then I was able to slowly reintroduce dry foods to my body. It was the most amazing experience, I had missed food so much. It’s crazy how each day felt like a year long, and once I could hydrate and have food I knew I was back on track, still nauseated and walking around like a 90 yr old but I felt SO grateful.
This print I got HERE from Fox & Pebble shop. I bought it when I first got pregnant because I knew I would need help to get through my pregnancy and I felt like this was such a beautiful print to have on my nightstand (little did I know how much help I would need). God truly used the hands of others to bless me and my family during this time that I was down.
As much as I hated being sick and having others help it was absolutely incredible to see how much our church family was so willing to jump in and serve us. To have sweet friends stop by to sit on my bed with me, text messages, bringing me flowers, food for my family, and picking up kids for playdates. My sweet Aunt drove an hr to our home to watch our girls while Tay took Owen for some one on one time. Tay also was playing the role of working from home, taking care of the kids, cooking, and cleaning so any outside help was truly appreciated. Just so many moments of service that reminded me to be that person to never hesitate or not to ask “how can I help” but to just help, especially for people like me where it is hard to accept other’s help.
Baby is due March 4, 2023 and we are elated to meet this little human. We find out in October what the sex is.
Now that I am slowly gaining my energy back I can pour more time into my passion and look forward to being back on the train with creating.
We are currently working with an architect (took us a bit to find one!) going to be a process as we have to test the soil, hire an engineer for a land survey then work with the architect to design our home, which then needs to be approved by the HOA architect. Honestly could take 6-12 months to do this whole process so we are just prepared to be patient.
Thank you for being here and supporting our family and checking in as I have been absent for awhile!