Our Very Own Lifestyle In-Home Maternity Session in Cottage Grove, MN

​I’ll never forget the moment we decided to have another child. We were on a family vacation, sitting on the couch in a friend’s beautiful family cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We were talking about our future as we listened to the rain ting off the tin roof above our heads. I had brought up the subject and Mark was as gracious as ever about timing for the third child as he knew my hesitation of wanting to have my “own body” for a while.

​​Was there something wrong with this? No, and at the same time, yes. I had been listening to FamilyLife Today’s podcast the last few weeks, and God was slowly challenging my thoughts in my mind. The reasoning behind my timing was a selfish one in that I just wanted it. It wasn’t one where I had stopped to pray and the more I tried to tell God I had the right to not be pregnant for a while, the more He said, “Yes, but do you want my timing?” So there we were on the couch, talking about timing, and I was admitting to Mark that we should probably stop and pray about it together. We prayed. We looked up. Mark cautiously asked what I had heard, and I just turned the question back to him, he shared very gingerly that he felt the green light but at the same time, was totally cool waiting if I felt it wasn’t time. I couldn’t hold the tears back any longer as I shared that yes, I too felt God calling us to step forward.
 
Sometime later, my sister had just had her first baby and when we went to visit, I had the biggest of privileges in being able to be the first family member to hold him in my arms as he had been in the NICU for a few days due to pneumonia. My brother-in-law hilariously commented, "Watch out, Mark" in saying that I was smitten. The minute I handed him off to Mark, I felt this weird shift in my body that only intensified as I tried to give my sister tips on breastfeeding and pumping. I went home that night going, “Hmmm… am I pregnant?” The next day I secretly got a test from the store and confirmed my suspicions, now I just had to think of a way to fill my hubby in! I went home and created a little card that explained about how great of a daddy he is and that I couldn’t wait to see him become a daddy of three. The look on his face was once again priceless, and we somehow managed to have a discussion about the changes ahead completely in front of the boys without them really grasping it.
 
Here we are now at 33 ½ weeks, waiting for our little girl’s arrival, which less than 50 days away. The boys are beyond excited, and each day we remove a chain to show the nearing of her birth. The nursery is ready. The hospital bags aren’t packed. She’ll be here before we know it, and in honor of March Madness, we’ll switch back to our zone defense as we’ll enter the first chapter of our life being outnumbered.