The birth of a child is always a life changing experience. There is always a reason why they’re here. This family shared the reason for Wyatt’s presence with me and I knew other people would want to hear it too. This is his story:
I wasn’t someone who saw myself with a house full of kids. I knew I would have a family some day, but it wasn’t the focal point of my daydreams. So to see these images of us as a family of five is such a testament to how life takes you on twists and turns you never saw coming. What makes it even more unlikely is the lack of ease that’s come with my first two, deepening the fear I wasn’t equipped for the role of new motherhood.
Six years ago Owen arrived followed by a long go with PPD. As a first time mom it was hard to identify the feelings were not a Necessary struggle and left a wide gap between our fist two children due to the fear PPD would come again. But the things you do for love… I wanted Owen to have a sibling to share life with and future adulthood memories. We jumped in with eyes wide open and a plan to lessen the difficulty of that season. Little did we know the journey we were about to be taken on.
Our second child arrived with a birth diagnosis of Down Syndrome. It was not detected in my pregnancy and took us on an emotional roller coaster over the first six months of her life. As soon as she was born my husband felt strongly we needed to keep our hearts open to expanding our family. That Owen and Rory would benefit greatly from a larger family. I wanted nothing to do with the thought of it, shutting him down instantly. As time passed I kept feeling a baby boy was in our future. I would shut the door on the thoughts as soon as they would pop up. I would shake off the vision of him as I would pass pictures of our family of four, but seeing five. He was a real presence in my mind and heart for a year or more before I was willing to admit it.
One early morning in February there was no denying it was a plan for our family beyond me making the choice for it to be. A season of victory was promised and I stepped out in faith 6 months later trusting Gods promise, finding out we were pregnant on Christmas Eve. Each child calls the next. Just as Owen called Rory to my heart they both called Wyatt. They came as three. Each one to be the others teacher, helper and friend. They came to teach Evan and I that perfect isn’t easy, that faith is rooted in risk and that the prize of all of this is love. Our victory isn’t just that Wyatt arrived safety and heathy. It’s that we were able to do all of this. We were able to enter the difficulty of parenthood with would disillusion of its risks and impending difficulty small or big. It’s that we are actively allowing God to walk us down a unique path he designed for our family. Just like these pictures captured beauty in the chaos of our children in that hospital room, God has shown me the same thing over the last six years.
