This One's Stickin'

Let me preface this by saying that there are a number of people that played a crucial role in my life over this past year. Every single one of you know who you are and I could not have survived this without each and every one of you. Each and every person blessed me at every step of this journey and I will share those times throughout my story so please know that I am not discrediting anybody's role when I share this one particular post.

There are two people that really took this pregnancy on right along with me, literally (in many ways). Marie and Jacquie were there from day one and never left my side. There are not enough words I could say or examples I could give that could quantify their meaning in my life. The three of us are in nursing school together, Jacquie lives two doors down and Marie lives one block away. During the school year we have the same exact schedules, which means that we are likely to see each other every day and most days, all day. They saw me through everything, sometimes more than they even wanted to. We individually had our hard times over this past year as well as the hardest semester of our lives, Fall 2010. It wasn't always easy for us, emotionally we were all tugged in so many directions, but we made it. And I could not have made it without them. They did the heavy lifting that I wasn't allowed to do, they were at the appointment when we found out Grace was a girl, they read the profiles and couldn't even finish Liz and Eric's because they were crying too hard, they met Liz and Eric before I gave birth, they took on my pregnancy symptoms, no joke. Both lost their periods for 3-4 months and Jacquie was pretty much pregnant in every way minus having an actual baby inside of her. They were there when my water broke, they drove me to the hospital (thank goodness I live close because I might have died if it was any longer - NEVER been in so much pain in life), they were there in the room with me and never left my side, they encouraged me through it all, we all bonded with Liz and Eric in the hospital and became and family in that moment, they are Grace's aunts, and I don't know what I would've done without them. I couldn't have asked for two more loyal and loving friends.

Austin knew first, and these girls knew next. After that it would be a few weeks before I could find the courage to tell another soul. Marie and I went out to Bittercreek the night I told her. Now there's something you have to know about Marie: she has some sort of sixth sense, she really does. She can sense things and she's pretty much right about them all the time. So we're at dinner and she wants a beer, I decline. So she gets her beer and seriously asks me to just try it about five times. I decline. Finally, she holds it up to me and says, "no really, Linds you HAVE to try this" Man alive! I tell her, "Marie, I can't I have really bad news, I'm pregnant" Her reply was, "that's not bad news, congrats!!" Later on we were chatting and she just found out that her friend had had a miscarriage and she said she had a feeling that might happen. I asked her if she thought that might happen to me. She looked at me and said, "nah, this one's stickin" At the time that response irritated me, mostly because I wanted her to be wrong. A couple days later Jacq and I had lunch plans. She was asking me where we should go. She knows two of my favorites are sushi and wine. So when I declined sushi and then didn't order our favorite noon-time glass of wine at Bardenay she is stumped and actually a little irritated at me. So I tell her what happened and I tell her my plan. We talk about it for awhile and she told me exactly what Marie told: that she would be by my side through it all and support any decision that I made. And they both were.

Two amazing people that I could never repay for their presence and involvement in my life. Two people that I hope Grace always has the opportunity to know. Until she arrived I did not comprehend just how much they loved her as if she were their own. But they truly do, they were with her from the beginning. They will always be her aunts and I pray she always knows the amount of love that they have for her.