More Precious Than Emeralds

August 12th 2014, the day I found out I was pregnant, was also my 29th birthday. Prior to meeting my wonderful husband, I was kind of ambivalent towards the idea of kids. I was definitely open to the possibility, but becoming a mom wasn’t my first priority. I was more concerned with carving out a niche for myself, pursuing a job I really liked and building a career.  Then I met him, the man I would marry. People say that the everything changes when you meet the one, and that’s exactly what happened to me. Finding the perfect partner made all the difference. I knew almost immediately that I wanted a family and a future with kids with him. The making babies conversation began before we got married—we were that certain we wanted that dream family. I remember that it was my 28th birthday. We decided to stop using birth control, putting it in the hands of fate. To my surprise, I became pregnant naturally after about a year.  July of 2014 was one of the roughest months of