For this weekend engagement I have decided to go for the option to write on children, since as we speak I am sitting on the couch with my 8 month pregnant belly. You could say the theme is relevant to my life at this point!
How we came to this decision
I think somewhere I always knew I wanted children and it was something that I was thinking about and wanting for a while but my partner was still a bit anxious about the whole thing. Understandably so by the way, he had just moved countries to live with me in the Netherlands, he had a job without a permanent contract and we lived in the tiniest apartment on earth. So where Matt was being all reasonable, I was turning into a hormone powered optimist who kept saying that all these things were not problems. And you know, all babies need is love, right?
Well last summer we both felt ready to take the plunge. Matt had gotten a permanent contract and we finally got approval for a mortgage so we were in the process of finding a house to buy. I had obviously still not changed my mind haha so we decided that as soon as we came back from our travels that summer I would quit birth control and we would see what happened.
Fast forward 24 weeks and the baby bump finally came through.
Project Baby
It turns out that where I thought I would have at least 6 months or so before I would get pregnant, it was a hit on month number 3. Coincidentally we got the news that our offer on a house was accepted the same week as me taking the pregnancy test and finding out we were pregnant. Funny thing is, I knew instantly that I was pregnant. I went to work that day and when I was cycling home I felt a bit bloated and gassy and just... different. I decided to take a detour to the local drug store for a test and twenty minutes later I was holding a positive test in my hands.
What we didn't take into account was that I would have nausea for 6 solid weeks and that after that we also had to move house while I was pretty pregnant and couldn't lift much, but luckily our friends helped us lots!
But Why?
I have plenty of friends who don't want kids, some because they feel the planet is full enough as is, some because they think life with a child ruins all the fun and some because they don't want the responsability. As my best friend always says "I can barely take care of myself". People have asked me what made you want to have a child? And I'm not sure I can give a clear answer to that question. Part is because I think it is a unique experience that I don't want to miss out on. Part is wanting to create new life with my partner but I think most of it comes down to this inner drive that I have always felt that I wanted to have kids. Biology? A natural instinct? Who knows, but we will become parents in about 6 weeks and are super excited to meet her!
Her first outfits are waiting for her!