Hello there little hitchhiker!

This is how we announced our new blessing to family and friends in Facebook. We actually have already known we’re pregnant last August 23rd, but we kept mum about it until we had a sonogram (because secretly we’re praying for twins/triplets, haha!) for confirmation a week after.

If you ask me if we planned this, well, we did not. But even if we did, how impeccable that it is calculated exactly as Ziki’s expected due date. Only God can cause things like that. I’m not sure how our little “Kuya” will take it once his sibling arrives exactly on his birthday.

Chill Mom, I don’t mind getting a baby brother or sister on my birthday. It’s all good!

Right now, my readings are mostly about how to deal with sibling jealousy, especially that Ziki is still very clingy at 16 months. We are also still breastfeeding. While it’s really more of how I prepare and train my child for the great adjustment before him—the attention shift, the sharing of toys and “mimilks” and his new sleeping space—I guess we just have to take it one day at a time.

The day my husband brought home the pregnancy test kit, I didn’t want to take the test just yet. Maybe because I still wanted to hold onto the thought that Ziki is still my baby. So that night I laid on our bed with Ziki in my arms, letting him nurse until he unlatches on his own. “You are still my darling firstborn,” I whispered in his ear. I felt his arms tighten around me and I cried a little. At that short moment I felt selfish and irresponsible. We should have been more careful, I thought. Just when we are getting back on our feet, a new responsibility presents itself. But then again, how can you question God’s timetable? On that moment, I communicated with God all my anxiety and my emotions and let it all out, just as how the Apostle Paul advised the Philippian church:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

~Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

Because I cannot sleep, I ended up taking the pregnancy test past midnight just to get it over with. I was already expecting two lines to show up, so when it did, I was laughing all by myself in the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning. I thank God because instead of feeling anxious about it, I was genuinely happy! In all sincerity, I was really grateful to the Lord that a tiny being is growing inside me. I said a quiet prayer exactly where I was and dedicated this child unto God.

I went upstairs, left a note with the test kit on our mirror table for my husband, and climbed back to bed. I settled between my two men sleeping peacefully, kissed them both and let out a joyful sigh.

In a few months time, we’ll be four. What happiness that will be!

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

~Psalm 127:3-5 NASB

Thank you Lord for this reward. Let us be good stewards of the “arrows” you entrusted to us. We will raise them in Your ways that they may grow up to be people who will honor and serve You. Grant us the grace to accomplish this role for the glory of Your name. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.