The decision to have a baby comes in many shapes and forms for each couple. My husband, Adrian, and I had talked about having children throughout our relationship and once we were married, the talk became reality. We felt we had accomplished our goals; our careers were established and thriving, we had traveled solo & together, settled into being married. Now we were ready for our life adventure of starting a family, we just didn’t think we would be blessed so quickly! We found out we were pregnant and our due date would be our 1st wedding anniversary but unfortunately we experienced the loss of that angel. Although devastated and fearful of many “what ifs” and “what next”, our relationship grew stronger as we pushed through one of the hardest moments we experienced together. Our positive outlook of “what is meant to be is meant to be” & “we are lucky to have what we had” allowed us to bounce back to our normal silly, loving, traveling selfs. We had a busy month between work, family & friend events, we weren’t worrying about “trying” to get pregnant…and thats when beautiful things happen. All worries aside and loving life, we were blessed with another pregnancy; our rainbow baby! Needless to say, both of us worried as we passed each week until the first, second, and let’s be honest, third doctor appointments. That tiny little heartbeat was stronger than ever & all the worries morphed into “we are going to be parents” worry! Being a pediatric nurse and being around babies/children can not prep you for your own little bundle of joy! Everyone would comment “you got this, you handle babies everyday, you are great with kids, this will be so easy for you”…but honestly, now I was on the opposite side; the days of cuddling and pacifying then handing them over to their mom/dad were over….I was mom and Adrain was dad! As the months went on, our family & friends celebrated our gender reveal and multiple baby showers.  We were settling in and the nursery was slowing but surely coming together. Adrian was actually nesting more than I was; he deep cleaned our carpets, painted the nursery, put furniture together and read baby blogs….he was determined to be ready!

As the big day approached, we brainstormed over 20 names and finally narrowed it down to two; which we kept a secret till we met her. I had a relatively “easy” pregnancy, so naturally I was expecting the craziest labor. We had joked about how the day would go once I went into labor; we kept quoting the movie Juno when her water breaks “thundercats a go!”. It became our code phrase to signify our go time. As the due date May 10th passed, we were scheduled to be induced on May 15th but our little one decided against that…my water broke at home midday Saturday, May 13th at home while Adrian was out running errands. I called him with our epic phrase “thundercats a go!” and I’m positive thats the fastest he has ever gotten home! We checked into Torrance Memorial Hospital that evening and had a relatively smooth labor. On Sunday, May 14th we welcomed baby girl Ellerie on the most appropriate day…Mother’s Day 2017. Weighing in at 8lbs 14oz and 19 1/2 inches, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen! The moment she was placed on my chest, my heart melted and we were consumed with a different overwhelming love. You think you know love for someone until your child is laying in your arms. Taking her home was both exciting and nerve wrecking…this beautiful little girl was all ours! Settling into our home with our new addition is still a process but the rollercoaster is full of laughs, tears, smiles, worry, distraught, reassurance….the greatest adventure we’ve been blessed to experience together as a family. Each day brings more joy in raising a child…its the hardest thing you will ever do but the most humbling and gratifying thing you will ever do.