Becoming Mothers: Timing Isn’t Everything

Most people would have said we were stupid. Starting a family (on purpose) while I was in college and my husband in grad school doesn’t sound very logical. Right? It actually sounds crazy.

The first two years of our marriage had not lacked for adventure. TJ, my husband, was deployed on a one year tour to Iraq just 2 1/2 short months after we tied the knot. When he got back, we breathed a sigh of relief, then went right to work at the college we were attending and continued taking classes.

Just one year after his return, I was getting the baby itch and we decided to let nature take it’s course and see what happened. Why not? We wanted to start a family while we were young and energetic.

The day of our second anniversary I shared the good news with my man over dinner. He was going to be a daddy. Thankfully, he was ecstatic.

The first 22 weeks were miserable, as many women can attest to. I was not one of those lucky women who look perfectly slender (with the exception of the baby bump) but felt like a bloated water balloon even though I was sick much of the time. To make things even more interesting, we visited my husband’s home island of Guam during my second trimester – a trip that proved very eventful due to nausea.

We chose to find out the sex of our little bundle of joy (I’m too impatient to wait), and after nearly 30 minutes of “hiding” from us, we finally found out we were having a baby girl. Surprised, but thrilled we shared the news with anyone who would listen.

By the way, a baby bump makes it very difficult to slide in and out of traditional college desks. It’s even more awkward when most of your classmates are unmarried and childless and stare at your ever entrance and exit.

As my due date neared, I prayed so hard that she would be born on time. The second semester of the year was fast approaching and we wanted time to adjust to parenthood before our jobs and classes were back in full swing. Our baby girl decided to be stubborn and an induction was ordered.

One misplaced IV, a vomiting session and six hours after the evil (and I do mean EVIL) pitocin was administered, it was show time. A few pushes later, our healthy baby girl was in our arms and we couldn’t have been more thrilled. Aria Hope was the name we had chosen for her, which together means “Song of hope.” Our joy was soon interrupted by the news that I was loosing a lot of blood and had a retained placenta. I was rushed into emergency surgery and my worried husband was left alone in the birthing room holding our new baby girl.

It’s been 4 1/2 years since that day. We have been blessed with 2 more children (both boys) and the three of them are the best of friends. Needless to say, with three very young children, we are a busy little family. Thanks to the help of family and friends, I was able to finish my degree (complete with student teaching) even though our wonderfully lively and mischievous babies were filling up many of my study hours.

These days, much of my time is spent changing diapers, runny noses, ABC’s, carpet stains, boo boos, lots of hugs and kisses, and no lack of pretend (and real) adventures. I wouldn’t trade my life for the world. I’m a work at home mom who is so thankful for a hardworking husband that gives me the freedom to do what I want (which is stay home with our three little blessings).

Though some would say we were crazy for starting a family so young and having our kids so close together, we disagree. If we would have waited until we were rolling in money, had our own home, and not busy with life situations, we would still be “waiting” and missing out on so many wonderful joys.

And here’s a little encouragement for all of us. Warning: grab a tissue first.

Hannah Camacho is an educator, mom to three wonderful children ages 3 and younger and proud wife of an Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran. She is the founder of MyAppinions.com and TheAppNanny.com. When she’s not chasing her three busy little ones, she does freelance work for app developers as a marketing and pr specialist.

Author: hannah