Photo: Holly Durst Julian/Instagram
Holly Durstand Blake Julian are opening up about their journey to welcoming their first child.
The couple, who met onThe Bachelorspin-off showBachelor Padand married in 2012, recently welcomed a daughter through adoption namedPoppy Marieafter seven years of infertility struggles.
“Poppy is incredible!” Durst tells PEOPLE. “I cannot imagine anyone else in our lives. She is everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more. I cry happy tears all the time because I feel so lucky that I get to be her mom!”
In a Julyvideo on Instagram, Durst opened up publicly for the first time about the couple’s struggles withinfertility. The formerBachelorcontestant explained that she was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2014, and had surgery to help treat it later that year.
“I really struggled while taking all the hormones,” Durst tells PEOPLE. “I cried a lot! I ended up signing up at a gym around that time and Blake started to notice all the days that I didn’t cry were thedays that I went and worked out. The gym became my release.”
“I knew deep in my soul that I was going to be a mom, I just didn’t know when or how,” Durst adds of how she remained strong during the hardest parts of their pregnancy journey. “My faith kept me strong. I knew that God wouldn’t have given me a mama heart and not make me a mama!”
“She is our Poppy that grew on our barren battlefield,” the mother of one says.
And though she’s enjoying new motherhood, the former reality star tells PEOPLE, “No one can warn you about the lack of sleep and lack of showers. I was not prepared for that!”
“I want Poppy to grow up knowing where she came from and be able to ask her first mom any questions she may have,” Durst explains.
The former reality stars wed in June 2012, after meeting on season 2 ofBachelor Pad.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Dursttold PEOPLE at the time. “Blake is my best friend and now my husband. I have a beautiful future ahead of me with this man. I love him with all my heart!”
source: people.com
