Chapter 4
How it ended
What happened next? What did you do, what changed, and where did it leave you?
The wedding was amazing. For the civil ceremony at the town hall, I wore a tailored outfit with a hat. I was almost five months pregnant, and our eldest looked absolutely gorgeous in his little three-piece suit. Only a few people knew about the pregnancy beforehand, so the guests had another reason to celebrate when they saw me. And all that exhaustion I’d been worried about? It didn’t happen. I wasn’t exhausted on the day, or even the day after. I got to enjoy the wedding I’d spent so long imagining. We had a ceremony where we exchanged our vows. There was a dove release. And our eldest contributed a little artwork to my dress. Thank you, darling. A truly personal touch. People looked after me even more than usual because I was a pregnant bride. Everywhere I turned, someone was checking that I was comfortable or asking whether I needed anything. After all my worrying, I felt surrounded by love. I don’t regret getting married pregnant. That day is still unforgettable, and even now, people tell us ours was one of the most beautiful weddings they’ve attended. And I don’t think they’re just being polite. Looking back, I’m also grateful my husband refused to postpone it. We got married in September 2019. If we’d moved the wedding to September 2020, we would have found ourselves trying to celebrate in the middle of Covid. We might have postponed again, perhaps until 2021. And with restrictions still complicating things, we might only have started planning again that year for a wedding in 2022. Even my carefully timed pregnancy could have turned out differently. Depending on the restrictions in place, my husband might not have been allowed to be with me during the birth. Instead, we had our wedding, our families around us, and our baby on the way before any of us knew what was coming. And during the Covid years, another surprise blessing arrived: another baby. Apparently, my children had never been particularly interested in my schedules. I’d wanted the wedding and the pregnancy to happen separately. I thought that was how everything would work best. But when I remember that day now, I remember our son in his little suit, the happiness of our guests, and the baby growing inside me as we exchanged our vows. I wouldn’t change it.
