Take Off Your Shoes

Well, we did it! Baby Curry #2 is on the way! I am 7 weeks and 3 days today, and very thankful I’m here. Our first born was a sweet surprise, so this was our first time trying for a baby. It is not as easy as I thought it would be! Initially, we wanted our children two years apart, but a couple months ago we changed the plan. Babies are addictive. We decided to try for another in early December, so when I got my period around Christmas, I was crushed. I was following the fertility app on my phone, eating healthy, and thought “what went wrong?” But God answered our prayers, and I became pregnant just a week after that! (Although I didn’t know yet) I anxiously waited until mid January, bought a ton of pregnancy tests on amazon, and took them a week before my projected period. No positives. Every day I tried to be patient, but took one each day with the same result. On the third day as I reached for another test, I stopped and literally scolded myself. “Take off your shoes.”

Contentment was my word I chose for 2019. There were 2 big things we wanted this year – another baby, and a house to call our own. We had been searching for a house for a couple months, and when we finally found one we loved, the sellers didn’t accept the offer we put in. That following Sunday we didn’t get the house, a sermon we heard in church really struck a cord in me. Something along the lines of listening to our Father when he tells us “this is where you need to be”. We often try to run to the battlelines and fight the good fight out in the world when God is telling us to take off our shoes, as Moses did, and that where we are standing is sacred ground. That we should let God just be with us, surround us, and obey when he tells us to let down our roots. I’m wildly paraphrasing, but the phrase “take off your shoes” really stuck with me, and I use it from now on as a reminder to be content.

Back to the baby. After the Christmas festivities, we headed up to Delaware for a week to have a second Christmas with Alec’s parents, and celebrate New Year’s with them. I packed 2 pregnancy tests, just in case. To be honest, I took one when we arrived, and then pretty much forgot to take the other until the last day. When I took the test, it must have been damaged, because the liquid couldn’t fill the test line and it appeared to be invalid. I didn’t think much of it. I had a twinge of disappointment but then shrugged, and didn’t dwell on the thought too much. I had come to peace with getting pregnant on God’s time at that point, and it would happen whenever we were ready.

When we arrived home, we heard of another house that we loved was still on the market. After some serious thought, we decided to place an offer on the house, going under asking price since it would’ve been a bit of a reach. That same day as we waited to hear back from the sellers, I realized my period was officially late. Again, I didn’t think too much of it, as my cycles can vary by a week. But I decided to take a test just for fun. While I was waiting for it to complete, I absent-mindedly scrolled through my phone, not really paying attention. After a couple minutes, I glanced up at the test and is that a second line?!?! I started shaking, sweating, and my heart was pounding like the hooves of a race horse. There was definitely a second line. Faint, but there!! I stayed in the bathroom for a couple minutes to calm down, and then tried to keep my cool as I headed downstairs to subtly snatch another test from our bedroom, casually avoiding Alec who was playing with Wren. I all but ran back upstairs to take the test and yes! Another positive! I was pregnant!! It was February 3rd that day, and for a minute I thought of waiting to surprise Alec with the news on Valentine’s day. I scratched that idea immediately. You’re dealing with the worst secret keeper in the world. The same girl who made her husband guess his own birthday gift to make sure he would’ve liked it. Yup. I knew I’d be too weird around him and he’d find out instanly, so in an attempt of capturing the moment, I inconspicuously set my phone to record and called him in to tell him the news. He was overjoyed and beaming, and all I could think about was wanting to make him that happy for the rest of my life. “Just watch, God is going to give us that house,” he said.

The very next day, we got the news that our offer was accepted! God has never ceased to not only provide, but go over and above our expectations- every time. Alec and I have come to see that God really flings open doors when He wants something for us, and this was one of those times. There was a lot of details leading to settlement, but they all checked out in the clear! We will be moving in two weeks and are over the moon. I can’t wait to raise our babies in this home and hopefully tell them this story about how this all came to be. I will do my best to keep you updated in our journey!

I had my first ultrasound this afternoon and got to see our sweet gummy bear. Seeing the little one’s heartbeat sent me into tears. We also announced our baby to the social media world today, as I’m doing now in a sense. I can’t wait to see Wren become a big sister!

So…I chose to announce my pregnancy before 12 weeks. This is a personal choice I have made before, and will continue to make with our future children, because I believe a baby is a human from week 1 and I want to acknowledge their beautiful presence. If, God forbid, our child skips earth and goes to heaven, I would want the support of family and friends, and even acquaintances that can come beside me and share their own stories. I would absolutely share that story with you all because I don’t think miscarriage/baby death should be hush-hush. And if God uses that story to help even just one person, then it’s worth it. Just like any other child, I would want to publicly honor my baby and celebrate the life he/she lived. To each their own- I totally understand the want for privacy in the first trimester as well, but this is something God has personally laid on my heart to be brave and speak up about.