Aaron and I have always wanted children. From when we first met we talked about children and starting a family. We married in 2000 and at first thought we would start a family after a couple of years. However I went back to school for nursing and decided to hold off starting a family until I was finished nursing school. I graduated nursing school in 2005 and at the end of 2005 we started “trying” to get pregnant. I had an irregular cycle so trying to conceive was difficult.
It was devastating to get negative pregnancy tests back. I remember crying & feeling so sad & down that getting pregnant wasn’t happening. Aaron was such an encouragement through the whole process, reminding me that God had a plan for us and that He knew our hearts desire to have children in our life in one way or another.
We continued trying to get pregnant for months and then decided to seek some medical intervention. I was prescribed a fertility drug which increased ovulation. After the first cycle of the medication failed, I felt like giving up, but sure enough on the second round we became pregnant!
I remember taking the pregnancy test when Aaron wasn’t home. It was positive and I was in shock! I put the home pregnancy stick in a gift bag, and when Aaron got home I gave him the gift. We hugged and tears welled in our eyes to think of this gift we were given by our Great God! And 9 months later our precious daughter Norah was born.
What a blessing!
When Norah was 9 months we talked about more children. It had taken us awhile to get pregnant with Norah so surely we thought the same would happen with a second child. We began trying before Norah’s first birthday and at her birthday we announced our second pregnany! It was quite a shock to us to be having a baby only 19 months after Norah was born. But once again we saw God plans were so much better than ours.
Our world was rocked when our precious son Ian was born. I had heard of colicky babies before, and thought surely my son would be the calmest baby on the block. Um…were we in for it! Ian cried from the minute he was released from the hospital til about 4 months old. When I say cry, I mean from morning til night. Sleeping only 2 hours at a pop. We tried any product that said “helps colic”, we tried every formula and any advice that was given to us.
The doctor deemed him just a colicky, cranky baby. We liked to call him “eenie meanie”. Aaron and I are very orderly in our life. We like order, routine, and predictability. We feel God was teaching us something so great with giving us Ian. Our world was rocked. We needed to be shaken up, realizing we are not in control.
God gave us grace to get through those first four months, and shortly after that something clicked in Ian and he became the sweetest most happy baby boy you can imagine. We are already laughing at how we survived. It is amazing how time goes by and while you are in the moment it seems so slow but now we can look back smiling, thanking God for putting us through that!
Having children 19 months apart has certainly been exhausting…but the joy we are finding in having the children so close in age is so worth the exhaustion!
As for future children, we aren’t sure yet. I would love to have another child either naturally or through adoption. Or we are considering foster care as well. At the moment we are feeling just content to love and enjoy or babies as they grow.
- Thank you for sharing this story Aaron and Lisa. I’m sure it will touch other people’s lives. I appreciate your candidness in sharing.
