Life Set Apart

In these early postpartum days, I have been challenged with the ample thoughts racing through my mind of what to share with you all, when to start writing again, and where do I start with all the information, answered prayers, and constant blog topics flowing through my mind. Do I begin with my birth experience, start from the day I found out I was pregnant, or just start here? I have come to the conclusion that starting is better than not starting, and to jump in somewhere is better than continuing to let the days pass without sharing at all. So here I am. I am going to let God guide me with each and every post, all written when the boys are both asleep, or when my husband feels like juggling two boys – one that wants to wrestle and one that wants to cuddle. This season is sweet, it’s challenging, it’s messy, it’s beautiful. It’s all written by God. And I am here to write it down the best I can, in hopes this will resonate with one of you some day, or at least be a gift for my boys when they are in this season of life themselves.

Let’s get started.

October 1, 2024.

Six weeks into a gut-health journey. From being diagnosed to Lupus in Spring of 2023 while postpartum with my first son, to functional med wiping that label clean and helping me with my gut health (which was causing an autoimmune response, which they labeled as Lupus without any other markers of Lupus – possibly more on that later), to a brief shift in feeling better & hormones regulated… I started that morning with a pregnancy test.

My husband left for work on Tuesday, October 1st, 2024. I was expecting my cycle to begin that week and was told to test to see if I needed to stop some of the supplements I was taking or if it was hindering my cycle to begin. I had taken a test the week prior, but quickly chucked it in the trash because I didn’t see anything on the test strip. Completely convinced I was not pregnant, as I was on a gut health journey, not a pregnancy journey, I non shalantly tested that morning after my husband left for work. Two lines. Two lines appeared. Shock. Pacing. Disbelief. Grabbing two more tests. Two more lines. More Shock. Praise to God. Realized I needed to tell my husband.

Moments later I went into my sons closet, grabbed the newborn/0-3 month clothes box, and sifted through to find a generic onesie, shoes, a hat, and placed them on the kitchen table. I quickly calculated the due date – June. Calculated it again, and again, and again… I had always wanted a June baby… I found a letter board and wrote on it “Dada, I can’t wait to meet you in June! Love, Baby #2”. I placed the sign on the kitchen table with the other items. I then chose to dress my son up, why? I’m not sure, I was still in my leggings… Then we went on a walk. I needed to walk. To praise. To talk to God.

“But what about my gut health?”

“This is a surprise! I have always wanted to be surprised by a pregnancy!”

“I need to stop my supplements”

So many thoughts, yet not many words. So much joy, but so much fear.

5:02pm Call Husband.

5:12pm Call Husband.

5:29pm Call Husband.

5:36pm. Call Husband.

For the record, he did answer all those calls, he’s a great, very tentative husband, but poor guy… I couldn’t tell him anything yet, but I was extra excited for him to come home and simply couldn’t wait another minute, clearly.

6:14pm. He pulls into the driveway. It’s trash day. I’m holding Gavin, impatiently waiting for him to bring in the trash, looking out the window, waving to Dada. Gavin’s starting to squirm, he wants to see Dada too. He comes up the stairs and sees the sign before we can get his reaction in the frame of the video I’m taking and he is in shock, excited, praising God. Then he begins to tell me about his drive to work.

He was quiet. God spoke. “The Lord will provide.”

Counting back the hours and minutes to when I took the test, God spoke to Garrett at the same moment in time.

Initially Garrett thought God was speaking to his financial fears, and he was, but there was so much more, and he knew just a sample of what he was speaking to when he came home from work that day. God spoke to Garrett’s fears – financial, health, money, and the words he would speak over me all throughout my pregnancy, the birth, and even today as we parent two little boys for the Lord.

“The Lord will provide.”

We spent the evening releasing our fears, saying them out loud, giving them over to God, praising Him for His workmanship and gift of a new child, praying together as a family, and looking forward to the real journey ahead – the journey of pregnancy.

I will get into details soon on our decision to have a home birth, our conversation with our function med provider, and other words God spoke over us throughout our pregnancy and birth, but I will leave this here for now: “The Lord Will Provide.”

For whatever season you are in, whatever fears you are carrying with you, what journey you think you are about to embark on, I encourage you to rest in His will for you. He will provide all your needs. God oversees all the details. God is the only one with the true why. He is trustworthy. He is sovereign. He is near. He might just be writing an even better story for you than the one you thought you were in. I know this to be true for myself and for you. Let His eternal plan trump all of your plans. And trust in The Lord that will provide.

“And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said, “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.” Genesis 22:14

“Also, The Lord will provide what is good, and our land will yield its crops.” Psalm 85:12