Today Nick and I are celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary, and it’s totally bringing me back to that special day we said our vows. It’s hard to believe that it has already been 5 years – time has flown by. With that said, we have been through more in the last 5 years of marriage than we have in the last 15 years we have known each other (yes, we are high school sweet hearts).
I’m not going to get too sappy here, but I wanted to share a little bit about our journey with you all. Most of you know a great deal about our little ones and I, but Nick isn’t a fan of being in front of the camera so I figured this was a good excuse for you all to get to know him a little bit better (because he’s pretty amazing).
So, where to begin. Nick and I started dating in high school. We were introduced by mutual friends and pretty much fell madly in love after only a few months of dating. Toward the end of my grade 12 year, we ended our relationship – Nick was in College and I was applying for Universities, and we simply didn’t know anything other than one another. We needed time to find ourselves, come into our own, and experience life apart. I was heart broken and so was he, but we knew it was necessary. We lost touch for a year and a half, but truth be told…I never stopped loving him, and he never stopped loving me. So, the summer after finishing my first year of University, we connected again and well, the rest is history.
I got pregnant with our sweet Mila 8 months after we got married, and life was truly perfect. But what we didn’t realize was that Mila’s pregnancy would result in a massive test in our relationship – a test we didn’t predict would come, and one that would shake our entire world. I think that any relationship undergoes stress when a new baby enters the world – it’s such a huge change for everyone. But Mila’s pregnancy was the hardest thing I have ever been through. It’s a long, exhausting story so I won’t get into all of the details. To give you a gist – I got extremely sick during Mila’s pregnancy and developed HELLP Syndrome. This resulted in an emergency c-secton under general anesthetic at 36 weeks pregnant, many rounds of blood transfusions, and a hospital stay in the Intensive Care Unit. I didn’t meet Mila for 24 hours – she was in the NICU and I was too sick to hold my baby. The doctor’s wondered if I would make it, and we were all praying and hoping the blood transfusions and anti-stroke and seizure medications would work.
You know those moments in life that test your strength to the core? The moments that someone’s loyalty and courage are displayed for everyone to see (or not see)? Well, Nick became a super-husband, super-dad…super-person during some of the hardest days of our lives. He stayed by my side and watched my monitors beep over and over. Nick helped me pump because I didn’t have the strength to do it myself. He went back and forth between Mila and I, trying to juggle who needed him more. He didn’t leave either of us, refused to go and rest so that he could be there for us. Nick was our rock.
Nick is the type of person that everyone seems to love – he just has that personality. He’s kind and generous, he’s an incredibly hard worker, and the definition of “family man”. I can honestly say that I’m more in love with Nick today than I have ever been, and I simply can’t imagine my life without him in it. Even on the hard days when we drive each other crazy, or on the days we are both so overwhelmed and exhausted, I never doubt the love we have for one another. We do our best to always try and lift each other up, stay on the same “team” and be an example to our girls of what a healthy and happy marriage looks like. It doesn’t mean every day is rainbows and butterflys, it just means that we always try and put in the work to make our marriage the best it can be.
I’m done being sappy now (sorry, I totally went there). And, for those who are curious about how we are celebrating – Nick has booked a little getaway for us to an unknown destination (extra brownie points)!