Reaction to My Pregnancy

As I have mentioned previously, Doug and I found out we were expecting a baby about 6 weeks after we got married.  We did not plan to get pregnant nor were we prepared for a pregnancy at that point.  Although, is anyone ever really prepared for a baby?

When we found out, we kept it to ourselves for about 3 weeks.  One, we were in shock that we were going to have a baby during our first year of marriage.  Two, if the pregnancy didn't work out, we didn't want to get the grandparents' hopes up, because regardless of the timing, grandparents-to-be are always excited.  Or so I thought.

During the 3 week holding period, Doug and I went to my brother's graduation from Army Basic Training.  It was here that I had my first bout of morning sickness.  Unfortunately, my parents and my aunt and uncle were there to witness my feeling ill.  Due to the sickness, both my mom and my aunt knew I was pregnant, but didn't say anything.

When we finally told everyone I was expecting, my parents were both very supportive and excited about a new grandchild.  Unfortunately, we also got some very harsh reactions.

Some of our family members told us that they "wished we had waited".  Um, yeah, us too, but it is what it is.  Also, I don't feel like it was the place of our family members to say this to us because we didn't ask them for money or help raising the baby, so why do you care when we have a baby?  Apparently, a year later, when we are caring for our child much better than a lot of people and giving him everything he needs and wants (or more accurately, what we want for him), these family members still believe that we shouldn't have a baby right now.

Other family members felt that the whole reason we got married was because I wanted a baby.  This is not true and they know that.  They felt that we were moving into the parenthood stage too quickly.  I agree, but the pregnancy was up to God, not up to me.  They chose to be in denial the entire pregnancy and therefore didn't show any love towards me or Weston.

Of course, at some point I wanted children, but I wanted to enjoy being married for a while as well.  Since I have a thing with numbers, I thought maybe having a 10/10/10 baby would be fun.  However, while Doug and I waited for the pregnancy test to confirm what we suspected, we told each other that if the test came back negative, we were not going to try for the 10/10/10 baby, it was just too soon.  It turns out that we became parents 3 1/2 months before 10/10/10. 

At times, I felt like a teen mom or that I should be ashamed of my pregnancy.  Hopefully with the next pregnancy, Doug and I won't receive such mean/harsh comments.  And if we do, I will try my best to ignore them and keep my head up.  Each baby is a miracle from God and although the timing may not always be the best, there is a purpose for every child.