How We Got Here

As promised, here is a short story of how we got where we are today :). I love this pic of us. Thats me in the white :). Eric and I met in college on a Mission Trip to Mexico in 2001. We were on the same ministry team, and became friends over the time we were there. We were good friends from then on and didn't actually start dating till 2002. I wish I could post pics of us on that mission trip, but I didn't have a digital camera then, I might try to scan some. As I got to know him better, I realized what a solid guy he was, and that he really desired to follow after the Lord. We spent a lot of time together just hanging out, and talking about life. We started dating in the Spring of 2002, and were engaged in August. We got married on February 1st, 2003. I was 21 and Eric was 24. I loved the ceremony, loved the reception, and loved the whole day!

6 moths after we were married, I unexpectedly ended up pregnant. We were shocked but thrilled after the whole idea sunk in. At 8 weeks I miscarried. I was absolutely devastated. I have always wanted to be a mom, and even though the pregnancy was not planned, it hurt so bad. Well, because God's Grace is so big, and I wasn't back on any kind of birth control yet, I got pregnant again 1 month after I miscarried. So we had lots of tests, and it turned out that it was a healthy pregnancy, and we were super excited. I had a great pregnancy, and loved every minute of it. My deliverywas awesome, I only pushed for about 20 minutes. Oh, and I'm definitely an Epi girl. I have my children at the hospital, where the drugs are. I delivered Ella Julia on June 5th, 2004 at 6:22am. She was 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. In my room I kept thinking, "I can't believe she is actually here, and I am a mom!" It was an amazing day!

When Ella turned a year, I knew I was ready to start trying again. I found out I was pregnant in September of 2005. At 6 weeks we had an ultrasound to see if everything was growing right, and we found out that there were 2 in there! Both strong little heartbeats, I could not believe my eyes. I was speechless. We found out at 20 weeks that it was 2 more sweet little girls. We could not believe that there wasn't one little boy in there!! We were so excited, and I was loving the idea that Ella would have 2 sisters. I had a pretty smooth pregnancy up till about 30 weeks. I developed Preeclampsia, and was put on bed rest, then put in the hospital. I was on bed rest at home from about 33 weeks till I delivered. Not to bad. I went in to be induced due to the preeclampsia at almost 37 weeks, and they found that Reese had turned and was feet first with her cord over my cervix. So a C-Section it was. Reese Olivia & Charlotte Grace were born on April 28th, 2006 at about 2pm. They both weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces, and were about 18 1/2 and inches long. Almost the exact same size, strange huh!? We were so thankful, they were a great size and almost full term. It was an awesome day, and we were so content with our little family :)!

So here we are. The pic below is us about 5 months before I found out I was pregnant with this set of twins. I found out in March that we were expecting again. We had not really been trying, but had always talked about having a 4th. At a 7 week ultrasound they said that it was just 1 baby this time, and that everything looked healthy. I started bleeding around 12 weeks and was brought in for another ultrasound to see what was going on. When they put the wand on my belly, I knew immediately that they had been wrong before, I saw twins again! My Dr. could not believe it. We spent the next few weeks trying to figure out how we were going to manage 5 kids that were 4 & under. The bottom line for us was that this was no surprise to the Lord, and that this was totally His plan. He would not give us more than we could handle. At 20 weeks we found out that it was 2 more little girls!! I almost fell off the table. Eric had said the whole time that it would be 2 more girls, and he was right! We are so excited, and feel so blessed that God is giving us 2 more little girls to take care of....I am always amazed by what a generous God we have. So that is how we got where we are. A lot can happen in 5 years! We are really excited to meet baby girl #4 and #5!!