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It's been a tough time at the DrMommyKC household.

We recently found out that my husband, who is in the Navy, has been selected to be deployed to Iraq shortly after our baby is due.

At first, it seemed unbelieveable, especially at this important time in our family. Don't they know I'm pregnant and about to give birth? Wouldn't that be a reason not to send him?

Then, the reality sunk in that in these matters, family has no bearing on who is selected to go and fill a need that the military has. Countless military families go through the same thing --children born without their fathers, soldiers having children a year old and never having seen them. It's a huge stress on so many families. Postpartum depression is three times more likely in mothers whose husbands were deployed during their pregnancy.

Suddenly, we've had to deal with a situation I never anticipated: caring for a newborn and a toddler on my own while worried about my husband who is many miles away in a war zone.

To say the least, it's been stressful.

Beyond concerns of how I'll deal with not having my husband here for 8 months while trying to raise two small children, my biggest concern is for Jolie. At 2 1/2, she is fiercely attached to her daddy and I just hope the adjustment of 1) having a new baby in the household and 2) having her father be gone will not affect her too negatively. It's going to be so important that she feels not left out and gets as much affection as possible.

We're lucky that she has both sets of grandparents that are fairly close by and hopefully, my parents can be with us for a lot of that time that he's away.

We're going to need all the support we can get to get through this as a family.