Deployment Babies.

If you read my page "Always & Forever" you would know my husband Henry is in the military. Army to be exact. When they sign those papers, you don't realize at that moment all the sacrifices you're going to be going through months even years to come.

We had Cameron before Henry joined so he was there for my whole pregnancy, my labor, the birth, & afterwards. We got pregnant with Ethan a few weeks before he left for basic. Henry had no idea I was even pregnant, because when they go to basic they have one phone call & thats to tell you what their address is. By time he called me I didn't know if I was pregnant or not. But when I found out on November 1, 09, I had to break the news in a letter. So from October 2009-December 2009, Henry missed the beginning of my pregnancy: the morning sickness & the exhaustion of taking care of not only myself but Cameron who was only 18 months at the time. Thank goodness for my parents, they flew in to stay with me while Henry was at basic to help me. Henry came home for Christmas exodus which was 2 weeks long. Henry had to go back to Fort Benning for his basic in January 2010, one week before finding out the sex of the baby. I tried calling and explaining them the situation because I atleast wanted Henry to be there, I didn't want to have to tell him the sex of the baby in a letter.. Well, the imaging place wouldn't move it up a week because I was only 17 weeks. Once again, I had to break the news in a letter that we were having another boy.

In February 2010, Henry finally graduated from basic and by now I was 6 months pregnant. That March we moved to my husbands duty station good ole Fort Drum, NY. I was excited to be moving back to NY, but it's definitely not what I expected. I knew of NY as the city and where we are now, it's all farmland. Anyways, we had to live in the Fort Drum Inn on post until we got offered a house. Being 7 months pregnant now with a 20 month old in a small hotel room all day long, I was losing my mind. After two weeks we got offered a house. A month later (April) we received horrible news. Henry was set to deploy! All these emotions came over me thinking what?! We just moved here and I hadn't seen Henry in 4 months minus Christmas leave. Thank goodness they decided to hold him back since I was already over 6 months.

On July 11, 2010 at 1:58 am our little boy was born. I kept switching his name up until he was born. Originally he was going to be Mason Henry, but I fell in love with Ethan Alexander :) & that's what we named him. Now that I just had Ethan, we had to pack up AGAIN and move back to Florida with my in laws.

Henry left for deployment when Ethan was only 10 days old. That was one of the hardest things I had to do was say "see you later". I will know how Henry felt leaving his 2 year old and 10 days old son behind. Henry returned in March 2011, Ethan was 9 months old.

2 years later...

There were rumors circulating that Henry's unit would be deploying the beginning of 2013. With the Army you found out nothing is definite unless you have orders or information in hand. We decided we wanted expand our family since Cameron and Ethan are 2 years & 8 days apart. We got pregnant in July 2012 & in August Henry got sent with his squad to NTC (training before deployment), so The boys and I went and stayed with my family in PA since I hadn't seen them in years. (End of 2012-beginning of 2013 was the worst time of my later, story to come later...) In December Henry got his orders to deploy.. Again. 2nd time in 2 years.

January 2013, I was 7 months pregnant and again Henry and I had to say our "see you laters". I found myself alone again pregnant, but this time with two children. I was overwhelmed and upset about Henry leaving. My in laws came up to stay with me to help me with the birth and such. 

On March 2013 at 8:19 pm our little boy Landen Derick was born. Exactly 2 minutes after having him, Henry called. He said "how are you feeling?", I said "I had the baby".. It was so hard to go through a labor without him. I did have my mother in law by my side but it just wasn't the same. This time Henry missed my labor, the birth, & a few months of his life. Henry did get the chance to come meet Landen a little before he was a month old, but that was due to certain circumstances. (Another story later on)

Most people don't see what soldiers and families have to sacrifice. Especially to women who have to give birth alone without their spouse. Yes, we did choose this lifestyle because we want to support our husbands. But we always don't realize what we have to sacrifice until it happens.

Are you a military spouse who went through this or something like it? Share your story in the comments, I would love to read about it. :)