Cassie and Charles are...
EXPECTING A BABY! Charles and I are SO BEYOND EXCITED to share with y’all that we are [...]
EXPECTING A BABY!
Charles and I are SO BEYOND EXCITED to share with y'all that we are expecting a baby! He or she is due in February and we are so happy we can hardly stand it. Like, ecstatic and I'm crying even as I type those words!
This journey to become a family of 3 has been a long, interesting, sometimes fun and sometimes heartbreaking road – a journey that I want to share here at Womanista because I know there are a lot of women out there who have walked the road of a fertility struggle and we can all grow, heal, and understand each other better through our shared experience.
We started trying to conceive our child a few years ago without any luck - many months went by with negative pregnancy tests and a lot of shared frustration. I don't know about other moms (or future moms!) out there but I just assumed that when we wanted to start a family, it would happen just like that. Well, it didn't. We went through several years of trying before finally seeing our fertility doctor in Nashville this past November. We answered lots of questions about family history and did lots of tests, some easy and some painful (YALL! That dye test, OMG. Just google it if you don't know what it is (or don't.) My nurse informed me that it would feel like "light cramping". Umm, no. Anyway…) When all was said & done our doctor (Dr. Abby Eblen! She is fabulous, by the way) informed us that we had about a 1% chance of conceiving a child naturally. Yeah. 1%. As far as percentages go, that's not awesome.
We never stopped hoping though. And I want to give a special shout out to my husband, Charles, for being the most incredible human. His love, support, passion for our marriage and our future children has never, EVER waivered, even when the frustration seemed insurmountable. I am so lucky to have a best friend and partner in life like him, and our child couldn't have scored a better dad!
So after getting the 1% news, we decided to hang out this summer, relax, enjoy and live our lives fully & happily. His tour schedule was really busy and I had a lot going on with Womanista and some fun trips planned (helloooo, Italy!) We had a lot to be thankful for and we wanted to carry that joy & thankfulness with us, not the weight of trying to become parents. We made a plan to regroup this fall and explore other options to expand our family. Then it happened.
I woke up one morning in June and there it was, a positive pregnancy test. I was in shock. Happy shock, but shock. Our baby decided to join our family in God's time, which is always right.
I share our story not to recycle those annoying clichés (If I heard once "Just relax and it will happen!" or "You just need to go on vacation…" I heard them ten billion times and no that doesn't work and no they don't make you feel better. So let's just cool it with those not-helpful clichés, shall we?) Don't even get me started on the "Gosh, y'all have been married forever, when are you gonna have kids already!?" comments. Basically just never say that to anyone. Anyway…
I share our story because it's a happy & hopeful one. My prayer is that if you are struggling with trying to conceive a child, you will remain hopeful. I pray that you will trust God to make a way where there isn't a way. I pray that you and your partner will remain strong and united in your marriage and be thankful for the road that you are traveling and the lessons learned, even when it's really hard. I pray that your heart remains soft. I pray that your burden is never heavier than the laughter you share with friends. I pray that you will become a mom.
I think back over the past six years of our marriage and am grateful for the time that Charles and I have had together, just the two of us. I'm grateful for the adventures that we've been on, the places we've visited, the lazy days we've lounged away on the couch together, the late nights spent on the bus talking about our dreams over a bottle (or two!) of wine. I know all of that will change once our little screaming bundle arrives, but our bond that was built during those precious moments will not. God knows us and he knows our marriage and he blessed us in just the right time. #Grateful.
PS: WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!
PPS: Sorry for all the fake-out pics of me holding wine. It's been REALLY hard keeping this secret from y'all!
PPPS: I picked up these cute custom-designed mugs that say "Father" & "Mother" from the With Love Louise Etsy Shop. They have the cutest stuff!