In the beginning of June, we will be receiving the final (yes, we will be making sure it is final) expansion to our family. I found that making the decision to have our first child was so easy. Probably due to naivety and a love for children, Dustin and I jumped in with both feet and didn't really spend much time obsessing over the details. We thought it would be great to have a baby, so 9 months later we had one. With William, we spent a lot more time stalling, postponing, and getting cold feet about having another child. We knew we didn't want Theo to be an only child but it took a long time before we were ready to jump back into taking care of a young baby again. For this new baby, we spent nearly a year agonizing over whether we should or shouldn't have a third.
Truthfully, I never really intended on having three children. A family of four is quite simple and neat. You can avoid the self-centered and lonely life of an only child (sorry if I have offended any only children out there) but still fit your family into a small-ish car. Also, you aren't outnumbered by children in your home. Regardless of this logic and all the reasons not to have a third, I felt deep down that we were meant to have one more child. I knew that I would never regret the decision to have a third child but that I might forever regret that we didn't. I know this sounds like over emotional, hormone driven logic and pretty uncharacteristic my normal outlook on the world, but I can't really explain it any other way. Also, the decision to have a third child has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I have two sons. It absolutely makes no difference to me whether this baby is a boy or a girl. I am actually pretty touchy if anyone implies or assumes that we are only "trying for a girl". We were trying for a baby, not specifically a girl, so there! :)
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| Our newest addition at 16 weeks |
This week marks the halfway point of my pregnancy and hopefully the second half will be much better than the first. One of these days I will do a post on my experiences being pregnant here and the differences I have noticed between prenatal care in Canada vs. Japan.
9 comments:
Fantastic news. I chose to have both my children here and never regretted it. I didn't feel it was fair for my husband to miss out on the first few months of their lives and I personally had no problems with the health system here. I have never had any children in any other countries, but Japan did it well for me! I hope you have a positive experience too.
What if I hadn't had a third child???!!!! Fortunately, God made it clear that I would, even before I was pregnant, and what a blessing you have been, Laura!
Love, Marnar
Congratulations you guys! So excited for all four of you to have a new addition to the family. :) I love reading your blog and hearing about your blossoming life in Japan. I'm glad to hear all is well and will continue to look forward to new posts. :) Much love, Alea xoxoxo
Congratulations, that's wonderful! I'm from a family of five and although I am sure it was hard for my parents, there is absolutely nothing in the world that can take the place of brothers and sisters.
I find it so intriguing how you created your first child by "jumping right in". Perhaps that is why I don't have any kids. I wasn't doing it right!
Congratulations and think of a nice, normal name!
Love,
Auntie Hue
After Bill and Ted, you know it's going to be Rufus or Missy!
Congratulations!
Congrats guys! You may have heard through the grapevine that we're also expecting our third. I identified with many of your thoughts on making the choice to have another - most specifically the bit about regretting NOT having, but never regretting having... and that i never felt like we were done at 2. I'm also NOT 'trying for a girl', in fact, Josh and i are somewhat nervous of the prospect of that kind of new and different. ha. All the best as you gestate in Japan. I'm a bit envious of you being able to birth in Japan. If i could feel safe doing so here, despite my previous complicated births, i would do it in a flash - but probably only for the prideful reason of being able to say that i did. :-) When are you guys planning to return to Canada for a visit?
Congratulations to you too, Jocelyn! We actually didn't know, which is a bit weird knowing the Reimer family. Grapevines seem to wither and die over the Pacific Ocean as of late. I can see what you mean about the new and different. I have no idea what I would do with a prissy girly girl who didn't like getting dirty, was morbidly afraid of insects, and hated the outdoors. Let's just hope that if this baby is a girl she isn't too much of a princess!
About having a baby in Japan, the only thing that I am uncomfortable about is the language barrier. Everything else is just a petty complaint about minor differences in prenatal care. The truth is, the medical system is fantastic and I am actually safer having the baby here than in Canada.
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