The Polyp & The Pregnancy

Hey,

How are you doing? I’ve been swept up into the bustling energy of back to school and fall.

Ginny started a part-time Pre-K program two days a week and in addition to loving meeting new friends, we’ve been practicing “Trick or Treating” in preparation for the big holiday on Sunday. This year, Ginny chose to be a spooky black cat. I remember pushing her around Park Slope, Brooklyn two years ago hankering for some free chocolate and being met with judgemental glances on 5th Avenue because Ginny was technically too young to partake in the Halloween festivities. But this year we are chocolate-rich! I’ve rediscovered all my favorite sweets- Butterfinger, Milky Way, Reeses- and am hiding my favorites from my father who is a notorious chocoholic and has been known to clean out my chocolate stash while babysitting.

Our family, in addition to transitioning into this new season, is making space to welcome a new member to the gang. I got pregnant shortly before the release of Year One, and I’d love to share this excerpt from my journal with you (scroll down below to read) about what it felt like to get pregnant this Spring.

May 27th, 2021

The doctor told me the polyp blocking the entrance to my cervix would make it very difficult for me to get pregnant.

“Ummm” I thought.

My body has created an abnormal growth in my uterus to stop me from getting pregnant. Sal and I had only been trying a few months but I thought it could be a sign. Maybe from mother nature herself, blocking our request for a second child.

I definitely felt a strong pull, the desire for another not a baby per say (god no, I hated the baby phase) but another soul to join our lives, and a companion for Ginny. I felt I had more space in me to create life, to bring them Earth side, to nurture. But maybe I didn’t.

Maybe this was best for me and I didn’t know it. I certainly don’t need to experience PPD again. Ginny - besides her horrible sleep patterns - was perfect in our eyes. Could we possibly love another baby as much as her? Maybe this was the universe's way of taking away the stress out of deciding, of having it not meant to be.

And before we could start trying again the polyp had to be removed anyway. There could be no movement forward without the booking of a medical procedure to make sure the growth was benign, which they most certainly always are.

The launch of Year One took precedence in my brain and the thought of a second child took a back seat. We would have to wait for the appointment, and wait for the results, and see what’s what. But the waiting turned into waiting for my period. Which never came.

I hardly noticed. Until I did, so I took a pregnancy test.

Then I took another.

Mother nature, as it turned out, had already made a plan for me.

I was pregnant.

Our family is excited to meet our new baby girl this winter. Ginny can’t wait to be a big sister and has affectionately named the baby “cha-cha.” And after a tumultuous first trimester of having morning sickness three times a day, I am starting to get a little bit of my energy back just in time to set up our third bedroom as a nursery. More photos and stories to come!

Until next time,

Erin