The Surprise of my Life {Spring 2014}

Last spring, the spring of 2014, brought such beauty in the world around us. Shaye was preparing for a special Piano Guys video, and so we spent a lot of time driving around the area looking for perfect locations for "The Story of my Life," a music video that I consider a total piece of art that makes me super proud of Shaye. (You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yET4p-r2TI8). These photos were taken at the Santa Clara orchards just before sunset. It was stunning. I remember looking at my little family in awe of the beauty of the earth around me but especially the beauty of being with them within this beauty. I didn't know it then, but our family was about to change for the better.

A few days after these pictures were taken, I remember waking up and just feeling crappy. The feeling persisted throughout the day, and sometime in the late afternoon, I had a nagging feeling that this nausea I was feeling was identical to how I felt when I was pregnant with Emme. Excitement definitely sparked through me as I considered the possibility of being pregnant. Even so, I knew it had to be the tiniest chance. I had stopped nursing Emme not two months earlier and had never even had a cycle. On top of this, I had been totally infertile for 5 years and had done everything within my power to conceive naturally to no avail. How could I possibly be knocked up?

I happened to have an old pregnancy test, and so I took it, mostly because I just didn't want to get myself excited. With my long history of waiting to take pregnancy tests and then feeling terribly heartbroken when they were negative, I just wanted to get it out of the way. I peed on the stick and stared at it while sitting on the John in the 90s green, sponge painted bathroom of the condo we were renting.

Two bright pink lines!  Two bright pink lines gradually appeared on the test.

I was shocked and thrilled. I started crying and laughing at the same time. I must have said, "Are you kidding me?" fifty times in the next 5 minutes. It just felt like every Christmas morning of my life rolled into one. I absolutely could not process that I was pregnant. Soon I realized that little Emme was playing in her room unsupervised, and I knew she had to be the first to know. It was a joy sharing the news with her, as I knew that she could share in my excitement without having any clue of what was going on.

Shaye got home from work about an hour later, and I had Emme take him the pregnancy test. He was as thrilled and shocked as I was. How could this be? We needed proof. I called the doctor the next day and they scheduled an ultrasound. I knew this wasn't typical, but I think they wanted to put me at ease after my history of infertility.

I had my mom watch Emme so that we could "go to lunch" and we went to the ultrasound. When we saw the little bean on the ultrasound screen, I just couldn't believe it. Intense joy surged through me as I looked at the little miracle growing inside me.

I'm a terrible secret keeper when it comes to exciting news, but somehow we managed to not tell anyone for a few weeks. I started to feel terrible soon, though--another thing I'm bad at hiding, and so it became important for us to tell family.

This was the cute idea I came up with. Both of our moms cried and were totally shocked. My mom opened the card in her great room and cheerfully read it aloud, not realizing what she was saying until she was well through it. The shock and immense gratitude on her face mirrored my own feelings. Shaye's mom read it at her birthday party. She glanced at it, pretending to read it, and told us thanks. Someone reading it over her shoulder cried out, and then she read it again and started bawling. At that same gathering, my sister-in-law Mandy came and whispered to me that she was pregnant. We realized that we were due the same day, Thanksgiving! What were the odds?? Mandy had recently had several miscarriages, and I was worried for her. I wondered how likely it would be that we both carry to term, much less have the babies close together.

Sharing the news with our loved ones was just too much fun. This is the picture we sent my brother Brad on his mission. He was so excited for us! He felt peace that we'd received this amazing blessing as he was serving the Lord. He had prayed and pleaded with the Lord that we could be parents and to see this happen a second time while he was away was a sweet thing for him and us.

This was the photo we used to announce my pregnancy once I was 12 weeks. I was totally starting to show by then, and so I was anxious for it to be out in the open. I was so touched at the outpouring of love we received. I felt a little bit guilty about having such an easy time getting pregnant because there were still so many I knew having trouble. I knew that I had a tremendous gift, and so the fact that others were so happy for us in this wonderful surprise filled my heart.

The wonderful ease of conceiving the second time was the biggest surprise of my life so far. I felt immediately of the Lord's merciful presence in my life and knew there was nothing I could have done to deserve this incredible gift. I am still in awe now.