Photo: Shanann Watts /Facebook

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A diagnosis of thechronic autoimmune disease lupushad sent her reeling and put her in a “really, really, really bad place,” Shanann said ina Facebook Live video about four months ago, before she and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, were found murdered earlier this month, allegedly at the hands of her husband and the girls’ father,Chris Watts.

Shan’ann Watts (right) and her daughters.Shanann Watts /Facebook

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Her joy continued with the arrival of Celeste, born on July 17, 2015.

“Oh how Shanann was so excited to be able to have another child because of her battle” with lupus, wrote her family. “She was determined to stay healthy and with her love for her Celeste, every moment with her was a blessing.”

Prosecutors say they have evidence that Chris, 33, washaving an affair with a co-workerat the time he allegedlykilled the 15-weeks-pregnant wife Shanann, 34, and their two daughters earlier this month.

He has not yet entered a plea to multiple charges against him, including first-degree murder and tampering with a body in all three deaths. His attorney has not responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

The charges against Chris include one count of first-degree unlawful termination of pregnancy for the death of the couple’s unborn child.

Shanann’s younger brother, Frankie Rzucek, alsoremembered his family’s “excitement”when, with Shanann’s health condition, “she beat all the odds and [became] pregnant.”

“And she was SO into her family,”Kris Landon, a friend of the couple, told PEOPLE. “Like, that’s all she talked about. She talked about her girls as miracles, because she had some health problems and didn’t know if she’d have kids. But she really embraced motherhood, and I thought she embraced her marriage, too. They seemed like partners. Amazing partners.”

Shanann Watts/Facebook

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In her Facebook Live video from four months prior, Shanann marveled at how her relationship with Chris and the arrival of their girls hademerged from her deep despair over her diagnosis, which had led her to lose friends and quit her job at the time.

“My health challenges happened for a reason,” she said. “I was told I couldn’t have kids, you know, and here I have two amazing, crazy, wild children I love dearly. Everything happens for a reason.”

source: people.com