Today’s Delightfully Sweet Your Lines come to us courtesy of Miranda Gonzales, an expectant mom, Christian, and budding (no pun intended) entrepreneur.
From Miranda: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE your blog! It’s always encouraging to see your daily stories here, and to learn what other women have experienced on the journey of their lines! Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your blog for today.
Tell us the story of your “two lines:”
David and I met Memorial Day weekend 2009. His sister, one of my close friends at the time, tricked me into meeting him by going out to lunch with her. We hit it off right away at Macaroni Grill, eating off each other’s plates and making small talk.
Fast forward to summer 2010 when I was single again. When David heard about it, he made his move. Three weeks after our amazing first date he told me he loved me, two weeks after that he had bought the ring (unbeknownst to me), and one month and a half after we started going out, he put that ring on my finger!
We knew we wanted to have a family, we had talked about it quite a bit before marriage and the conversations really kicked up a notch after the wedding. I am a person who tries to keep things as natural as possible, food choices, recreation in the great outdoors, cleaning products, etc. My reproductive health and family planning choices are no different. We chose Fertility Awareness Method (tcoyf.com) for our birth control.
One day in January 2012, David decided he was ready to try for a baby. Sixteen days after my missed period I took the test. I was still nervous; I didn’t want to be disappointed. I didn’t tell David I was taking the test, though we were both aware I might be pregnant. I chose Clear Blue because I didn’t want to have to guess, I just wanted the words. It seemed way shorter than 3 minutes, and “Pregnant” flashed across the display. I was so excited I almost fell off the toilet!!
What do you think will change most about your life with a baby?
I think morning, afternoon and night, its not just about my husband’s needs and mine, doing what we want to do when we want to do it, baby is going to be totally dependent and we’ll need to take care of him first, watch out for him, and a little more of us will have to be set aside. Not to mention, I’ll have him the majority of the time, husband works 8-12 hours a day and sleeps 6 hours if he’s lucky… I will get baby most of the day and night to myself which seriously will change my alone and downtime.
Via
Biggest fear in becoming a mom?
Oh Chaunie, this changes daily and sometimes with the time of day. If it’s 3am and I’m up for the one hundredth time to pee, I momentarily freak out about the delivery process and bringing him home the first day and what it will be like for the first few weeks. If its the afternoon and I’m at work, I’m wondering how I will handle keeping up with the house, with my husband, and the projects I like to do, when I have a little one needing fed, changed, and nurtured.
Have you encountered any rude comments or judgment as a young preggo?
Oh MY GOODNESSS! YES!!!!! So annoying. When we told one of my husband’s sisters, the first thing out of her mouth was, “You’re kind of rushing into things aren’t you? Jumping the gun a little bit? Miranda is still kind of young.”
The last example I can think of, I went to Sam’s Club on my own one day, I was showing at this point, this woman with a child I suppose was her daughter, starts going off on how young people are when they have children, “Anyone can have children these days at any age. You need a license to drive a car, but not to have a kid.” I was standing right there, she just dove in on this tirade. So weird. SO rude.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future?
I’m looking forward to my husband and I raising our son (and if any more come along) together, seeing what we’ll be and do as a family, traveling as a family, just so many wonderful things that come from having children. David and I constantly talk about hiking and camping trips we want to do with the little guy! I hope to be the kind of mom that can manage the household and run a successful at home business. My ideas are not too different from so many other women out there in blogosphere/social media. Etsy shop (still developing my line) and writing. I picture my business cards all the time, something along the lines of “Artisan/maker; Freelance Writer; Full Time Mom”. I want people to know I’m all about creating and providing beautiful creations and useful services, but I’m always a Mom no matter what.
Hardest part about pregnancy?
I have often said the most frustrating part about pregnancy is insurance. Husband is supposed to have such great insurance, but the second you’re pregnant and need to use maternity benefits, they forget they cover you. Also, recently I’ve had yet another lesson in “You’re not in control.” I’m a planner. I like to follow lists and schedules. I make lists to coordinate with scheduled events. Everything happens in a certain order. This week we had a meeting scheduled with a lawyer to name our guardians officially, and an appointment with a state trooper to have our car seat installed and inspected. Baby boy decides he would like to try to come the night before. He threw off all my plans for the next day, of course, and made me panic about all the things I had set aside to do for each week after. Now hubby and I are rushing to get little details out of the way in case baby tries to make an early break for it again and succeeds!
What’s your plan for post-baby work and life balance?
This is a wonderful question! One that confounds my mind on the regular. Originally, the plan went like this: I would work part time in the afternoons. I get to mother the little guy at night, morning, and evening. Hubby works 3rd shift so he gets to have one-on-one time with the baby while I go to work. He can sleep in the mornings and evenings when I’m home with the baby. The problem there is that we weren’t sure when we’d hang out with each other, I felt anxious about so much time completely alone with the baby with little switching off, and wondering how I’d get anything else done around the house and be rested enough not to be a waste at what little time I would be at work. So, after a wonderful heart-to-heart a couple weekends ago, hubby reveals his deep desire for me to be home full- time and grow an Etsy Shop, spend time finding creative ways to save the family money, etc. So, the pressure feels a little off now since I don’t feel like I’ll have to rush back to work, I can be a full time mom, but know that husband will support me in my efforts to find ways to help the family financially. And it should be easier to score time together for the two of us and as a family.
Any tips for new/expectant moms?
I feel slightly inadequate to give “tips” at this point. I haven’t necessarily proven anything I’ve tried. I will say it was extremely difficult in the first several weeks of pregnancy for me to make well-rounded, healthy meals and snacks for myself. As soon as I could get back into the swing of things though, I felt so good from what I was putting in my body, physically and mentally. I think what you eat during your pregnancy is a big deal. Try to have fun with your food, but definitely eat well for you and your baby! Now as it is getting later in pregnancy I’m losing my motivation again, and it is so obvious the difference in how I feel when I just eat poorly. As much as you can while you can, walk, do yoga, stay active!! Carrying through this hot, hot summer has been so hard on me as far as getting out and walking. I would occasionally start having some mild contractions due to heat and exertion. Find another way to stay fit and you’ll feel better and look great!
Click here to read even more interviews from other inspiring young moms!
I just realized this was posted 2 days before my son was born, and on his actual due date. Too funny!