The Feast of the Holy Family aka Our Son’s Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, precious boy! 

​I can’t believe that our son is TWO years old!  

It really does feel like it was just yesterday that I was taking several at-home pregnancy tests and willing a positive result.  As in all things, God had a greater gift for me.  While the tests all showed negative, I just knew that I was pregnant.  In my impatience, I took test after test and still nothing.

Then on Mother’s Day, 2015, I woke up bright and early, swearing it would be the last test I would take.  The minutes went by painfully slow.  But this time, I received my first and best Mother’s Day gift: I was PREGNANT!  We were elated! I couldn’t contain the excitement and felt overjoyed that there was LIFE growing inside me.

​From the moment he was conceived, our son has been our biggest blessing, despite the obstacles.  As I’ve written, my faith was tested but continuously strengthened from the day we learned there was a high “risk” of Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) to when our sweet boy was born and we were told that his screening was a “false positive.” 

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While we would have loved our precious boy just the same, an extra chromosome or not, I just always had a feeling that he didn’t have Down syndrome.  At the time, people could say that I was “in denial” or “delusional”, given the test had a “97%” accuracy for his 9 in 10 risk”, but my mother’s intuition turned out to be right.

However, I now realize that if I hadn’t been so impatient to learn the gender of our baby and did not take the test to screen for Down syndrome (it checks for gender as well as chromosomal abnormalities), then I may not have been able to deepen my relationship with Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother.

Again, God used my impatience to forever change my life.

During the last trimester of my pregnancy while we were celebrating the birth of the Lord, I spent more time than a pregnant woman usually would at my doctor’s office and the Prenatal Diagnosis Center at Women and Infants Hospital.  

​Our son was diagnosed with IUGR at the end of my second trimester and therefore required twice weekly screenings that a few times left me afraid that we would go to the hospital sooner than my delivery date.   

During this time, I would pray the Rosary and call out to specific saints (St. Anthony and St. Anne especially) to intercede on my son’s behalf.    These tests went up until the very end of my pregnancy.  In fact, due to his limited growth, I was scheduled to be induced early.   But as in all things related to our son, God had a better plan. 

My water broke two days before I was schedule to be induced.   Special note: my water broke just as I laid down to relax after a very long day, a taste of months to come with a newborn.   Our son’s due date was supposedly around the same time as the Epiphany of our Lord.  I say supposedly because from the start, I had a feeling it was closer to the end of December.

My mother’s intuition was right again as our son was born 18 hours after my water broke and on the Feast of the Holy Family!  Quite fitting for us, given the fact that we relied heavily on the Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph and, of course, Jesus Christ during the pregnancy.

God not only listened to and answered our prayers for a healthy baby, regardless of Down syndrome, but he gave us our biggest gift on this great feast day.

God knows what He is doing!

The time I was in the hospital during and after giving birth, a week after the Nativity of Our Lord, I couldn’t help but think of the Blessed Mother and how she brought Jesus into the world.

Whereas with my son’s birth, I was warm, albeit in significant pain, in a hospital, surrounded by my husband, my mother, my doctor and nurses.   She was alone with Saint Joseph, most likely without very much shelter, surrounded by animals and without a proper bed to place Jesus in when he was born.

It almost makes the 15 hours of unmedicated labor not as bad (I opted for the epidural towards the end!)  Okay, almost not as bad!

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Now that our son is TWO years old, I am so thankful to be able to realize all these lessons.  I am still learning to be patient, let go and LET GOD.

I remember getting ready to go home from the hospital with him and asking my husband “I can’t believe they’re going to let us leave here with him!”   Still, two years later, it is sometimes difficult to think that God has entrusted us with a child.

But when it comes to raising children, we can do our best as parents, but we must realize that God is the ultimate parent.  In trusting in Him, He will guide our paths and make our lives better in all ways.

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If I haven’t said this enough, God, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OUR SON!

Our sweet boy: the love that we have for you is overwhelming and we are not able to put into words just how much you have better and changed our lives!  Thank you for being ours.  God bless you all the days of your life!   Numbers 6:24-26

Prayer to the Holy Family:
Lord Jesus Christ, who, being made subject to Mary and Joseph, didst consecrate domestic life by Thine ineffable virtues; grant that we, with the assistance of both, may be taught by the example of Thy holy Family and may attain to its everlasting fellowship. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.​
 
Please join me in wishing our sweet, precious, wild boy a very Happy 2nd birthday on Facebook!

As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

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