Lou Holtz once said, “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.” This quote perfectly describes the person we have chosen for this week’s blog! She is one of our clients and has had a long journey to get to where she is today. Despite being told that she and her husband wouldn’t be able to have children and having health issues, God blessed them with a miracle! We can not wait to show you to beautiful mama-to-be! Everyone, we would like to officially introduce you to Alyssa Smith!
Alyssa and her husband, Ed, became our clients about seven months ago after they found out that they were pregnant with their first child. Alyssa and Ed got married on September 29th of 2018, and tried for over a year to conceive. After some time, they were told it was impossible for Alyssa to become pregnant because she suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis. Alyssa and her husband took time to process all of the information and emotions, but soon they reached out to their church family to pray for them. Alyssa told us that the night before she found out she was pregnant, she was wrestling with God and asking Him what more she needed to do to gain His favor. The very next day, Alyssa found out she was pregnant! At that moment, she felt God telling her “nothing, absolutely nothing,” which made her feel His love for her. Now Alyssa and Ed are excitedly preparing for their baby boy and can’t wait to watch him grow!
At Bella Vita, we have a wide variety of clients that we serve, but we treat all of our clients equally despite how they came to us. We love our clients and will do anything to help them throughout their pregnancy, and even after the baby arrives. Alyssa knew about Bella Vita for a couple of years because of her church; English Lake is one of our supporting churches. Before finding out she was pregnant, Alyssa never thought that she qualified for any of the resources at Bella Vita. But, after talking to Angie, she felt comfortable enough to come in. During Alyssa’s first 8 weeks of her pregnancy, she had a scare that resulted in an ER visit with a subchorionic hemorrhage. At that point, Alyssa was not scheduled for an ultrasound with her OB, so Bella Vita offered her free ultrasounds to help give her peace of mind. Alyssa was able to get an ultrasound and see that her baby was healthy despite the health problems she was going through. After that, Alyssa would come in for regular visits to check the baby every few weeks until she was able to finally see her OB. “It’s one of my favorite memories, hearing my baby’s heartbeat for the first time! I bawled my eyes out! It was not only a relief but a true sign of the miracle God had given me the gift of.”
Now, Alyssa and her husband are taking online parenting courses that Bella Vita offers to every client. The parenting classes are offered to help new parents prepare for what happens after the baby comes. Alyssa said, “The parenting classes are heaven sent! We both work full-time jobs and could never make the classes that were held at Bella Vita, so this has been a wonderful change of pace for us, and it’s allowed us to make time for what’s important to us, and we feel so much more prepared to welcome our baby.” We asked Alyssa what her favorite class is, and she told us, “The ‘Eating for Two’ course is one of my favorites! It’s funny because now since watching that video with me with my husband, he will make a comment about a certain type of food I’m eating. In the videos, I also learned about women who crave non-food items, so a friend of mine said she craved sand, and I knew exactly what she was experiencing because we had learned about it in this course.”
We asked Alyssa what she would say to other mothers out there who don’t think they ‘qualify’ to be helped, and we just loved her response! She said, “Just don’t think that you don’t qualify. Just because you may be stable in life, doesn’t mean that this organization doesn’t have wonderful tools to help you have a successful pregnancy. Take that first step and walk into that office, no matter how nervous you may be. Because once you do, your anxiety melts, and you realize that you have a village behind you now. Even if you have a good support system already, you now have people added to your tribe who do their best to help make things easier during this huge transition of life.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Our clients are our first priority and are so happy when we have our clients say things like that. Alyssa and her husband have been important members of our Bella Vita family since they first walked in for Alyssa’s first ultrasound.
Alyssa and Ed’s journey has been rough, but we are so happy to have the opportunity to be with them on their journey. It’s been amazing watching them over the past seven months as they’ve grown closer together as a couple, and we know that they’re going to be amazing parents. Going back to the quote by Lou Holtz, Alyssa and Ed have taken their pregnancy journey, which has been a rough road and put it all in the Lord’s hands. Unfortunately, infertility and other pregnancy complications are more common than people believe. Still, we are so grateful that we were able to tell you a story about a successful pregnancy story that has defied the odds. We hope you have fallen in love with Alyssa and her journey to motherhood as much as we love and appreciate her!