God's Blessings Keep Giving
Today is my baby’s 22nd birthday. She was born on the anniversary of my baptism. This is extremely special because it was during my pregnancy with her that I found my faith again.
You may be skeptical, but I felt myself ovulate and knew I was pregnant. My husband and I panicked a bit because our financial situation didn’t look good and the future looked worse. In our estimation the timing wasn’t what we thought was ideal for us to have a third child.
We were renting a two-bedroom duplex; us in one room and our two daughters in the other. They were both in toddler beds which they were outgrowing. I had to rotate through toys, books and games, putting them away in totes in the garage because there just wasn’t enough space for everything. We were already outgrowing the home we had and didn’t know how another child was going to fit.
My husband was working as a Painter. He was part of the union, so we had monthly dues to pay in addition to our regular living expenses. His job was not only to complete the paint contracts they received, but also to go out and find projects to bid. He was gone for 10-12 hours many days and often worked weekends. They even picked up a few out of town jobs which kept him away for 3-4 days at a time. It would have been great, but he didn’t get an hourly paycheck and was only paid for the time he was actually painting.
I was selling Avon and doing in-home parties for Cooking the American Way, a company similar to Pampered Chef. In addition to these two jobs, I delivered the Weekly Shopper to homes within a 5-mile radius of my house. I also took on delivering the phone books. These jobs I could do with my daughters around and when needed, I dropped them off for a playdate with one of their Grandparents.
I couldn’t afford an over the counter pregnancy test so I scheduled my well check with my primary care doctor. I knew they’d give me a test when I admitted my period was late. They confirmed what I already knew. I got my prenatal vitamins and scheduled an OB appointment.
The next few months were a blur. I had to find a job where I’d make some decent money. Between my family, friends and the occasional Parents Day Out Program, I was able to handle daycare for my two daughters while I worked as a Bank Teller. I didn’t tell them I was pregnant when they hired me and with baggy clothes, I didn’t tell them until I was 7 months along.
It was during this time of my husband working a lot of weekends that I was taking my daughters to a Christian Church each Sunday. Though it was a Church where we’d been attending as a family for over a year, I began to question why I was taking them there. My husband and I had decided together this is where we’d attend services but he wasn’t coming anymore because he was at work. I decided I needed to start attending the Catholic Church again because I’d been raised Catholic and that was where I felt at home.
I walked up one afternoon to the Catholic Church a block from our duplex, just to remind myself what I was missing. Since I was a kid, I’d always loved the feeling of being inside a Catholic Church. The statues, the stained glass, the smell of incense and the candle burning by the tabernacle. I knew that I belonged.
So before my third daughter was born, I quit my job, we moved into a three-bedroom duplex, bought a second car and changed Churches. My husband also started his own business doing home remodel projects and our oldest daughter started Kindergarten. There were a lot of changes happening.
However, we were sure about one thing, I needed to be at the hospital at 7:00am on Monday, November 23, 1998 to have a baby. We’d chosen not find out the gender, though we were pretty sure we were having a girl. My other two pregnancies were not scheduled and happened so quickly family members wanted to be sure they didn’t miss this one. The waiting room was packed with family waiting to meet the newest member!
It was the week of Thanksgiving so even more family traveled in to meet the new addition. My Parents even invited my in-laws to join us for the meal. This became the tradition for over 20 years. We’d all gather for the meal and then celebrate our daughter’s birthday.
She brought all of us together. She saved our marriage. She brought me back to the Catholic Church where I ended up working for 15 years. She did all this just by being born. We didn’t know how we would manage with her but God did. And now we don’t know we’d ever manage without her. Thank you, God, for blessing us beyond measure!
