Meghan Patrick opened up about her journey to become a mother — including years of infertility and her reaction when she learned she was pregnant — on a new episode of The Upload with Brooke Taylor.

Patrick, 39, and her husband, fellow country artist Mitchell Tenpenny, 36, announced on Tuesday (March 31) that they’re expecting their first child this year. The sweet announcement also revealed it’s a baby girl on the way. Tenpenny, who married Patrick in October 2022, shared in the caption: “We’ve been blessed with the greatest gift of all this year! God is so good and always right on time… we can’t wait to be Mom and Dad 💗”

Patrick joined iHeartRadio’s Brooke Taylor on a new episode of The Upload on Wednesday (April 1). Taylor kicked off the faith-based podcast by congratulating the singer-songwriter on her pregnancy, and the pair began to talk about Patrick’s journey to motherhood.

“That’s something we prayed for for a long time,” Patrick said of her pregnancy. “We tried for over four years. …At the beginning of last year, we were like, ‘OK, it’s been a few years. Do we need to do something? Do we need to start looking into other options? What does this mean for us?’

“Last December, we took a little mini vacation to Florida after we both got off the road, and we were talking about it,” she continued. “And we were kind of at a place like, ‘man, maybe it’s just not in the cards for us.’ And I felt very, like, ‘if it’s meant for us, then it’ll happen. And I don’t know if I want to try and push it or attempt these other avenues. I don’t know if that feels right to me.’ We started accepting, ‘well, maybe it’s not for us and that’s OK. We have such a full, beautiful life together. We love each other…’ So, we kind of let it go. And of course, that’s when God says, ‘hold my beer!’ …Like, three days after Christmas, I had a ‘late Christmas present.’”

Patrick went on to admit that even when she learned she was pregnant, part of her felt “terrified” amid the joyous news, especially given her work in an industry that can pose challenges when striking a balance between music and motherhood.

“I’m gonna be really brutally honest about what it felt like for me when I found out I was pregnant. And it caught me off guard a little bit because I did pray for it for so (long). I cried and I begged and I prayed and I hoped and I wanted it and then there were times where I even started grieving that maybe it wasn’t going to happen for me,” Patrick said. “And then when I found out, I was so excited, but I was terrified. I will be honest. My first thought (was), ‘well, what am I going to do about my career? How am I going to continue this?’ …And I knew, I’m like, ‘well, I can’t do that anymore. I cannot sacrifice myself, my health, my sleep, my wellbeing, because now it’s not just about me. There’s a baby that’s growing inside of me that I need to take care of.’ But then also, ‘well, how am I going to provide for her when she comes out? How am I going to show her that she doesn’t, that one day if she decides she wants to have kids that she doesn’t have to lose herself, and everything that she loves, and everything that she’s worked for to be a mother? That she can have both?’ But, ‘can I even do that? How am I going to be a great mother and still do the thing that I’ve loved and the only thing that I’ve thought about and worked for my whole life?’ …I was being just attacked by so many negative thoughts that time. It was like spiritually and emotionally a very challenging time at first. ...I reminded myself of how much better my life got and how things changed when I trusted God, when I had faith in his plan for me.”

Find the full conversation between Patrick and Taylor on iHeartRadio here.

Tenpenny and Patrick are the latest country artists to announce a baby on the way this year. Others include Emmy Russell (former American Idol contestant and granddaughter of late legend Loretta Lynn), Parker McCollum, Drew Baldridge and more. See the list of pregnancy announcements here.