Being pregnant with my sister—Some people would absolutely love it, while others would do all they could to avoid it. Since day one, I’m on the love it side and have been ecstatic about being pregnant alongside my younger sister.
The Best Kind of Sister
Brooke is three years younger than me, and we grew up being each other’s best friends. We were closer than close. I mean, we shared a room until I was 18 and left for college, and that’s the way we liked it! When I was completing my senior year of college, she was in her freshmen year, and guess what we CHOSE to do? Share a room again as roommates on campus. People thought we were crazy. We felt completely normal.
Unbreakable Bond
Every day now, I cherish the bond built between us in all our years together. That closeness was a foundation I needed when it came time for me to move 1,500 miles away to be with my husband, who was serving in the Navy. It would be six years before I was able to move any closer. Fast forward to eight months ago, and now we’re in the same state, just a two and half hour drive away from each other, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.
So it should come as no surprise at how much joy and appreciation we exchanged when learning that we were both pregnant at the same time. She is about seven weeks ahead of me with her very first while I carry our third. It’s incredible how different the journey feels when you walk it alongside someone so special to you.
The Ups and Downs
We definitely haven’t enjoyed sunshine and rainbows through it all, but we have been able to experience and support each other with every coming symptom. She was nauseous, and then I was nauseous. She started to explain to me her day-halting migraines, and a couple of weeks would pass when I was Snap Chatting her with a cold cloth on my forehead, and the lights dimmed. Again, a reason to be so grateful to share in the journey together. It’s always easier to support someone when you quite literally know exactly what they’re going through.
Unfortunately for Brooke, things got a bit more complicated. You could say she has been hit with every symptom in the book: nausea, migraines, sciatica, leg cramps. . . .You name it; she’s probably experienced it, including, and most shockingly, gestational diabetes. Being on my third pregnancy, there were definitely many advice and personal experience tips I could give for many of her symptoms. I had nothing for gestational diabetes.
Thankfully, she’s been able to handle it well. It has been a blessing for both of us. She may be younger than me, but I’ve always admired her for her strength and resiliency. As I encourage and support her through it, she encourages me to continue seeing my own pregnancy in a new light, even on the hardest days.
Now, we’re closing in on our final destinations. Her baby could be here truly any day now, and mine will follow a few short weeks behind. It’s a moment we can’t wait to reach, holding our babies side by side and reminiscing on all the months that led up to it. I’ve always been so fascinated by the miracle of what a woman’s body can do. This time it was only made more remarkable getting to share it with her.
