Wow, were we surprised. Within that first month we had conceived again and nine months later we had another bouncing, baby girl. The pregnancy itself was rather uneventful but the delivery was a little more difficult. With our first baby I had tried an epidural but it didn't work very well; everything was completely numb except this small area above my left hip bone. All the pains of labor came pouring out of that one small spot. However, this time I was more optimistic, so I tried again. Unfortunately this one didn't work at all. To top it off, I had gone into labor right while I had the stomach flu. Try having contractions while you're running to the bathroom to throw up...well, I won't go into all the gory details.
Our little girl was born (sunny side up, I might add) and...slept, and slept and slept. I look back now and wonder why no one told me she looked so emaciated. You could light a bomb under that girl and she wouldn't wake up. Good for my sleeping, not good for her nursing.
So we managed to make it through that time, as well as all of the adjustments that come with having two children instead of just one. At that time, my husband and I began searching. It just seemed as if there should be something more to life. I had my two kids (in my mind, I was DONE :), I was working on getting my teaching certificate, I should be fulfilled, shouldn't I?
It was during this first year of our second daughters life that God started to make His presence known. It was time for me to do my student teaching and I got hooked up with some great fourth-grade teachers who also happened to be Christians...you know, the kind who actually TALK about their faith.
I'd come home and share with my husband what they would talk about and what they would tell me of their churches and we began to wonder if maybe there wasn't something better to be found beyond the confines of our lack-luster Catholic faith. Maybe we should go shopping, we thought...
