Your subtitle says, "Finding Hope in Unexpected Pregnancy." Where is the hope? Where did you find hope?
There are lots of moments of hope along the way. The first was when I went to the doctors and heard the heartbeat. I've heard heartbeats of all my children, but this last one was different. I walked into that office so burdened, so reluctant--and then there it was--this chug-chug, such a purposeful strong beat. And in that moment, suddenly what was been an interruption, what was a crisis in my life, a cause of great worry--suddenly became a life, a human being.
In the Starting Over chapter, I talk about the fears and dread we all faced--those of us who had made it through the baby years, the spit-up, dirty-diapers, up all night years...
and then we have to go through it all again!! Starting over at ground zero. You think you can't sing another lullaby, play another round of patty cake, eensy-weensy spider. But you know what? You do. And you nurse the baby through the night, change his diapers . . . You find out that while the activities are the same, you've never done them with this child. It's all new again, because this is a brand new completely different human being than your other children. And you find too, that you sing not because you have to. You don't change his diaper because you're forced to. You do it out of love. And that love comes, if you allow it, if you make room for it.
There are reasons for real hope---not just feel-better hope---all along the way. I say this because I found them myself through my pregnancies, and so did other women. More than this, I'm out of the tunnel now, standing in light, with my two surprise children, ages 3 and 5, in my arms. I'm offering a perspective to other women you don't have when you're pregnant.
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