Change...

I alluded to the fact that life might be changing for us in the near future…

I may have already known that we were expecting when I wrote that comment.  Dwayne and I will be welcoming our first child into the world with an anticipated due date of May 20th, 2011.  This is really exciting for us as most of our news coming from doctors contains “doom and gloom” this time it is great news.

With this come worries however, most of which we really scrutinized before making the choice to start a family. The number one concern which never gets discussed ~ what if Dwayne dies? I know, horrible thought, but a serious concern for me, especially after the awful life expectancy talk. I decided it was more important for me to have a child with Dwayne with the likely chance of raising it together instead of waiting for the right moment and potentially never having children, and more importantly, never having a child with Dwayne. I know that Dwayne and I will both be here to raise this child, but sometimes you have to talk about the hard things before you make a lifelong commitment!

The other decision we now have to consider is do we go ahead with any risky procedures we had previously discussed. Will he be too sick and tired to enjoy his new baby? Do we attempt it before baby arrives? Do we wait until baby is older? Do we just go for it? Many things need to be considered. We are planning on going to Vancouver next month and hope to walk away with some answers.

Other things we have considered are how Dwayne feels on a daily basis. Will he have enough energy to raise a child when I go back to work after maternity leave? What about when he gets admitted into the hospital at the last minute for a 4-day stint (or longer, its happened!) It isn’t feasible to bring a baby to a hospital from 7am-midnight like I would generally do. Even most recently with the pain in his arm ~ he told the doctor it needs to feel better as he has to hold his baby in 3½ months. Most people think about financials, daycare, lifestyle change when considering starting a family. We thought about those things too, but for those who wondered what took us so long to start a family, you can see we had some big things to think about.

On the brighter side…we are VERY excited to have a little de Ruiter in May and can’t wait to see the joy this baby will bring into our everyday lives and our families.  Stay tuned!