After our second daughter was born my husband and I thought our little family was complete. We love our kids but aren’t huge fans of the infant stage. I remember gleefully throwing away or giving away baby items as we stopped needing them – the diaper genie (see ya!), the bottle sterilizer (curse cleaning bottles three times a day!!), the baby swing, etc. FREEDOM!!!
Around the same time I started to have trouble with my oral contraceptive. I felt that the hormone changes it cause made me super anxious and irritable. I looked around for other options and ended up choosing the Mirena. I think I had the Mirena in for about two years. It worked fine and I hardly had any period while it was in. But for some reason I wasn’t really comfortable with how it worked. Different doctors explained it to me differently and the Mirena website is very vague about it… and i’m not sure if anyone really knows the answer other than it makes the uterus an “inhospitable environment”. So in my overactive imagination I thought little fertilized eggs were trying to make a home in my uterus and were repeatedly rejected. I have no idea if that was really happening but regardless it was messing with me mentally so I had it removed. My husband and I talked about what to do about birth control. He decided to schedule a vasectomy and in the meantime we would use condoms.
Time went on. I remember distinctly the day we needed to go car shopping and my husband suggested a mini van and I vehemently refused. No thank you! We only have two kids. I don’t EVER want to drive a mini van. “Get a pick up truck” I told him. You have been wanting one! So we did.
The day of the Vasectomy procedure was approaching. One night about two weeks before it we had some rare alone time and used it to our advantage. We shrugged and didn’t use protection because hey it would probably would be the last time that pregnancy would even be a slight chance for us. I felt a small twinge of nostalgia for our baby making days but it quickly passed as I enjoyed a full nights sleep without waking up to feed a baby.
My period was due a few days before my husbands procedure and when it was a day late I shrugged and figured it would come soon. But it didn’t. I warily purchased a home pregnancy test but still thought “no way”. When it was positive I think I fell into a crumpled pile on the floor screaming. Like I said, we love our kids but weren’t prepared to go through the baby stage again. We have a small, quaint house that was pleasantly filled with our two kids. This would require renovations, money, more room, would they all fit in our vehicles?!?! I was scared to tell my husband! I couldn’t believe this “last chance” baby was on it’s way.
My husband was amazing about it. He took the news in stride and we slowly started accumulating baby stuff again. I was horrendously morning sick the day of his procedure and the weeks after. The nurse told him to use protection until he could have his sperm tested to make sure the procedure had worked…. he said “My wife’s pregnant so I have a little time until I have to worry about that…”
Fast forward to mid September and we have a beautiful healthy baby boy. We already can’t imagine life without him and was absolutely meant to be here on this Earth.
photo credit for first photo goes to Chelsea Cross
