A Time for Irish Twins

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. ~Psalm 127:3

Never in a million years did I think I would be writing this post. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. I was already overwhelmed with adjusting to having a new baby in the house and dealing with some medical issues, never mind finding out I was pregnant. I am one who usually is very antsy to tell people we are welcoming a new life into our family. This time has been very different. Mainly because I can honestly say I was not excited for a long time and I knew that I was not emotionally strong enough to handle any negative comments or criticism or even the jokes. I needed time to come to terms with the news and to be ready to face whatever people have to say, the good and the bad. In a perfect world I wouldn't care what people think, and most of the time I don't but for some reason I just knew there would be many who would have their opinions and I wasn't ready to deal with them. I am not sure I am ready now but I have to face it sometime! :) 

We were really done after Tess was born, I had already given away some baby things. You know what they say about that don't you....apparently there's some truth to it! Before Tess was born I was very open to the possibility of having more. But her delivery and recovery afterwards led to some serious medical issues for me, to the point that my OB strongly advised taking measures to make sure I didn't have another pregnancy. Strokes are scary and when you almost have one, you listen to your Dr. Appointments were made for more permanent measures to be taken, precautions were taken at home, but before I could see the Dr. I found out I was pregnant...taking a test they advised I take before they do anything, to be on the "safe side". When I saw positive I cried. I was in shock. I am so incredibly thankful for Ben. He is always cool and steady and can usually keep me calm and focused on what is true. He was so encouraging and has continued to be. I know a lot of women will read this and be angry because I was upset and not happy right away. I really am not trying to be ungrateful or insensitive. But I have to ask those women to put themselves in my shoes. If you had just delivered your 6th baby six weeks prior and found out you were pregnant again with your 7th would you be super excited? I think you might shed a few tears too because there is just no explaining how overwhelming that feels. It was like I couldn't breath for weeks. I couldn't think about it without crying or having anxiety about how I would handle it. I am passed that now, thankfully. I honestly see this baby as an incredible gift from the Lord, like all the others have been, and I am excited to meet him/her. I still have moments of anxiety when I look to the future but I mostly try to focus on today and take it one minute at a time. 

This baby is due Sept. 14 and Tess will turn 1 on Oct. 18 so they are considered Irish twins because they will be born within a 12 month period. Based on the due date they will be 11 months apart. That's pretty cool I guess...I think I'll find it cooler once I've "been there done that" because I know it will be challenging while we're going through it. Before this our closest babies were Gabe & Will. They are 14 months apart and I cried then too but we got through that. I should say GOD got us through that. Honestly without my faith in God and a trust that He is in control of all of this I don't think I could face it. He has always faithfully given us what we need each day to raise this family and He will continue to do it.  We are being refined and drawn closer to Him through it and I am happily surrendering to his plan even though it has been so much different than mine was! Our plan was never to have 7 kids in 9 years but God has seen fit to allow that so we are just going with the flow.

 We are also trusting him with my health, which to date has been great. I will have the gestational diabetes to contend with as I always do but so far my blood pressure is where it should be. We are so thankful for that and thankful for the awesome care and attention my OB is giving me, they've been so great! We are also so thankful for our faithful prayer warriors. The few who we told in the beginning because we needed prayer (I did really, Ben has been remarkably okay from the beginning). Your love and support these past weeks have meant so much to us. We are so blessed with such an amazing support system...you are our family away from home! Now that the rest of you know, the praying friends reading this, if you would keep us in your prayers for the duration of the pregnancy it would mean so much.
Oh and by the way...for those of you on facebook...I had no idea I was pregnant when I stated that my goal for 2013 was to not have a baby! I found out 3 days later! God has a sense of humor! :)