Our little blessing

Eric and I couldn't be more excited that God gave us the most amazing wedding present possible, a new little life. Thanks to Creighton NFP and charting of my fertility cycle we know that we conceived on our wedding night. You might be saying to yourself "that is a little TMI Robyn!" I am telling you when we conceived only because I believe it is a beautiful witness to the will of God. Eric and I prayed that we would conceive on our wedding night. We desire to start a family right away and pray to be blessed with many children and a wedding night baby would be as quick as we could get started. More than that though we recognize the two-fold purpose of marriage which is for children and the good of the couple (CCC 1660). Praying about our marriage we knew it would be an incredible gift and witness to have both purposes fulfilled on our wedding day. In a culture riddled with a contraceptive mentality where marriages can become selfish and children a burden, Eric and I desired to have our marriage be a witness of self giving and focus on the reason God elevated marriage to a sacrament. Before we got married I told a friend of mine "I am very presumptuous with God and am just expecting to be pregnant right away, that's how extravagant His love is." I guess I was right but please know though that Eric and I do not take this gift for granted. We have several family members and friends who struggle with becoming pregnant and we do not for a second take for granted how easily this happened for us. We are eternally grateful and constantly praying for our loved ones who are still seeking to conceive and have healthy pregnancies. We know God has a plan for every marriage and in His time that plan is unfolded.

The reactions to our pregnancy have varied. We have heard a lot of "already?" which is to be expected. We have had people say "well so much for getting to know each other!" which to me is just a misunderstanding of what marriage is all about. We have had a lot of joy which always warms my heart. Sadly I have even had some people who seem to feel sorry for us giving a reaction that pretends to be happy but you can tell in their voice they are shocked and think this is all too soon and perhaps we should have waited. One thing I know for sure is that our sweet baby has drawn us close in new ways. The first night we went to bed after finding out I am pregnant I looked over at Eric and I will always remember that I felt like I fell in love with him all over again. This man who I love and admire is now and forever will be the father of our children. He has given me the great gift of motherhood and I am blessed to have been able to make him a father. I believe that he will be an incredible dad and I can't wait to watch him grow and perfect his masculinity through fatherhood. Just two days after our positive pregnancy test I began to get sick and the nausea has not let up since. Eric has proven to be a very caring and patient husband. While some newlyweds are spending their weekends out enjoying the world together my husband lay in bed with me and his baby snuggling us as I struggle to keep the sickness at bay. Any selfishness we had going into marriage was immediately forced away as we must now focus on the future that lays ahead.

We ask for continued prayers for our little one as we are in the very fragile early stages. We had our first doctor visit yesterday and baby Mattson has a good heart rate and everything looks to be going perfectly. Mommy is very nauseous all the time which is supposed to be a good sign. They say a sick mommy = a healthy baby. I sure hope they are right.

Baby's first picture!