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At the age of 19, I became gravely ill, to the point where doctors didn’t know if I would survive, much less be able to finish my senior year of college.
While I did go on to graduate and even complete my Masters Degree, it was with much difficulty and help from those around me. I suffered for two years with a variety of undiagnosed symptoms…that was until we found a specialist not far from where I was studying in North Carolina. He was the first to look at the totality of my condition instead of simply a collection of symptoms.
It turns out that I had been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome all those years and after two days of intense testing, he gave me a plan to follow that would turn my life around. Three months later, after a drastic lifestyle and diet change, not only was I in the best shape of my life, but I found myself competing for the title of Miss North Carolina USA!
But it wasn’t without a price.
The years of sickness had devastated my immune system and I was informed that I would most likely never be able to conceive a child; even if I did get pregnant, my body would probably not support a healthy, full-term pregnancy.
This was difficult news to share with my fiance five years later, but he loved me through it. Knowing that getting pregnant was going to be a miracle for us, we never did anything to prevent it once we got married. So you can imagine our shock when three months after our wedding we discovered we were….pregnant!
While my pregnancy, labor & delivery were not without bumps and hurdles, I delivered a healthy baby girl almost one year to the day after my husband & I wed. We were blessed beyond belief and really didn’t even consider trying for another child.
So when I started feeling sick and gaining weight around our daughter’s first birthday, we hesitantly took another pregnancy test. Guess what we found?
Yup! Baby number two and another pregnancy filled with sickness and hospital visits….but it produced a beautiful baby boy 19 months after our daughter was born.
All of a sudden, within a year and a half, I was the mom to 2 young children after resigning myself to a life without any babies at all!
Those precious babies are now 5 & 7, and not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for the blessing they are in our lives. But the question naturally arises, “Are you having more?”
While of course we would LOVE to have more kids like the ones we have, that’s not a guarantee. After such rough pregnancies, my husband always says, “I’d rather have a healthy wife than risk losing you for another child.”
As a frugal girl, of course the cost concerns us too…not just of those first couple years during the baby stages, but all the way through school, weddings & beyond!
To be honest, I don’t know if we’re ready to make a FINAL decision on whether or not our family is complete. I can say that we’re content, but I’m just not ready to say that we’ll NEVER have another child, whether naturally or by adoption.
If we stop with two, we’ll be happy. We have one boy and one girl, both who love each other and love us with a reckless abandon (which I pray lasts forever!). Now that I have two children who are able to walk, talk, feed & dress themselves, it would be difficult to go back to the diapers and sleepless nights. But if there’s one thing I did learn from the journey we’ve been on is to never say never!
What about you?
I’m curious to know: How and when do you decide your family is complete? Join the conversation and be entered to WIN the designer handbag of your choice (Up to a $500 value) from Essure!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Essure. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Contest Rules.
