On Monday, November 11, I bought two pregnancy tests while grocery shopping. I was over two weeks late but thought nothing of it… having dealt with Shingles a few weeks before, I suspected my cycle was thrown off from that.

I was floored when both tests quickly lit up positive! Tyler was even more shocked when I showed him the tests after he got home from work.

This baby was not planned or tried for or expected. Nobody really knows if they will be able to get pregnant and carry a baby to term. For us, things were a bit more up in the air. When people asked us if we could have kids we always said, “We’ll wait and see what God has in store! Either way we will have a family.” We believed God would bless us with our own biological child if he willed it.

Tyler’s heart has ached for a child for years, but it was never an option for us to even try as my health remained fragile and I needed years for further healing (plus no period.) In January I naturally got my period back after five years without! That is a miracle! Since that point they have been beautifully regular and predictable.

A few weeks before conception I started praying about the future of our family. I asked God to make it abundantly clear what direction He wanted us to go in. If it was foster care or adoption I asked Him to bring a child to our door. And if it was to become pregnant I asked Him to make it happen “miraculously” despite precautions we might take to prevent. We knew we could never figure out how/when on our own. So we completely surrendered…..and….

GOD MADE THE ANSWER VERY VERY CLEAR!!

Everything about this pregnancy is a miracle. Life always is! But the fact that I am still alive… God has healed me to the point of being able to carry a child… the baby is developing perfectly… all of it points directly to the Creator of Life who loves to fulfill the desires of our hearts! Thank you Lord!

Thank you for your prayers and love and support! We are so loved. Our baby is already so loved, I can cry on the spot just thinking about it.

How am I doing? The first trimester meant I had to get my gastric stimulator turned off. That part was rough. The worst part was the severe abdominal pain that plagued me… I feel like I barely slept for two weeks as I adjusted to it. Of course my already constant nausea was more severe. My chronic vomiting stayed pretty similar. My motility suffered even more without the stimulation of the device. Yet, the first trimeter was not so bad. Honestly it wasn’t that much different from my normal… and it was worlds better than what my old normal was! My sickness has prepared me for this. Pain and discomfort are just a constant part of my everyday life.

Once I entered the second trimester I got my device turned back on and I’m noticing that I’m starting to feel better, closer to my norm.

Fun fact: we are not finding out the gender! We want to be surprised at birth! We already have a set boy and girl name but we aren’t telling anyone. Baby is due around the first week of July!

If you pray for us… please pray for my body to stay strong and function properly throughout this pregnancy, for my islet cell transplant to hold up so that I would not need insulin while pregnant, for baby to get enough nutrition and for me to gain enough weight. Also, we are praying that we would be blessed with a totally natural, intervention free birth. I am okay with whatever needs to happen, but this would be ideal.

Thank you for your continued love and support of our family! We love you all!