Our Birth Story (Better late than never right?)

I know, I know! It has been 9 weeks since Miss Emily was born and I still haven't blogged our birth story or anything. I'm sorry! At first it was because I couldn't find the words to describe it. And then it was Emily being in the nicu. And then it was adjusting to life at home with a newborn. And then it was adjusting to life at home with a baby with severe reflux. And then, I just forgot. So now that I am out of excuses, and Emily is now over 2 months old, I figure I should go ahead and blog about it. Anyhow, here goes nothing!

It all started the week before Emily was born. Kristina was having contractions, an hour apart, but they were regular and consistent. We went to her 39 week appt. on Thursday and the doctor said that he thought the baby was over 9 lbs. and ordered an ultrasound,saying that if she was over 9 lbs. we would probably have to do a c-section. They couldn't get Kristina in until Monday morning so we waited. Saturday afternoon I get a text from Kristina telling me that the contractions had stopped (this was a surprise because the contractions were regular for several days and then nothing.) So we figured that we would find out news on Monday. Saturday we celebrated Pioneer Day (Utah state holiday) and went to bed fully expecting to go to church and have a normal Sunday.

Sunday morning I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I was just starting to get tired again and was considering whether I should get a short nap before church or just wait till after church for my nap when my phone rang. I went racing up the stairs as Jacob shot straight up in bed and fumbled for the phone (it was my cell which was on the charger in our bedroom). Jacob dropped the phone and we missed the call. I grabbed it from the floor and saw it was Kristina. A phone call, from our birth mom at 6:40 a.m.??? It could only mean one thing! So I called her back, apologized for missing the call, and she said "guess what?!" "what?!" was my response as my heart pounded faster and faster. I was NOT expecting what I heard next. "My water just broke!" WHAT!!!!! So we hung up the phone telling Kristina that we would be there as soon as we could. We hadn't packed anything. Strike that, I packed the things we would need for Emily, but nothing for the rest of us. I did make a list of what I needed to pack but hadn't packed. So I woke Tamara up, and we all packed in a hurry deciding that if we forgot it, we didn't need it. ;o)

By 7:30, after a quick call to each of our mom's as we hopped in the van (my mom was watching our animals for us), we were on the road. We called a few people from church to let them know we wouldn't be there. I asked my friend Beth to tell the bishop because we didn't have his number with us. We called our lawyer and let him know Kristina was in labor and we were on our way. We called to check on Kristina and my stepmom (Kristina's mom) answered and said that they were keeping Kristina at the hospital only because her water had broken, and that Kristina was only dialated to a 2. Kristina was in good spirits and excited to see and hold Emily after all these months. On our way into Logan, where the baby was being born, the song "tonight's gonna be a good night" by the Black Eyed Peas came on (I think that is who its' by). It seemed fitting for the occassion.

We got to the hospital and were suprised when Kristina was still at a 2. I asked if the nurses knew that we were supposed to have an ultrasound the next day and that the baby was possibly 9 lbs. or over. They said yes they knew, and we would just wait and see. Kristina's dr. was not on call or I'm sure they would have done an ultrasound and decided to do a c-section sooner. (She has an awesome dr.).

Hours passed and Kristina remained in good spirits. Emily responded better to the labor when Kristina wore the oxygen mask, so she spent a good chunk of the labor with that on. Labor progressed slowly, but yet Kristina kept a smile on her face. She kept saying, "Guess what?!" I would say what. And she would get a big smile on her face and say "Emily's coming!". More hours passed and still, not much progress. The dr. decided to start potocin that afternoon. Things speed up after that but not by much. As midnight approached we wondered if Emily would wait till the 26th to be born, or if she would decide to be born late on the 25th. Midnight came and went. That answered that. Kristina was at a 10 right around 1a.m. They decided to give her an hour to rest and then let her start pushing. At 2:30 Kristina started pushing and the warming bed and all the supplies were brought in for the delivery. This was it! When the pushing started almost everyone went into the hall. The only ones in the room were Kristina, myself, my stepmom Sally, and our cousin Shelley (and the nurse of course). Everyone else waited anxiously in the hall. After 2 and a half hours of pushing, Emily just wasn't coming out. After 22 hours of labor, Kristina just cried when she found out she would have to have a c-section. I cried too. I hated to think of all that she went through, and to have it end like that. I couldn't bare it. My heart broke for my little sister. And all she could say, was that she didn't try hard enough. Are you kidding me? She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm so sorry. I didn't try hard enough. I should have tried harder." My heart broke even more. I tear up even now thinking of it. Kristina was amazing. She was more amazing then anyone ever could have been.

The nurse said that only one person could be in the OR with Kristina. My heart broke again. I looked at my stepmom, I looked at Kristina, and I knew that she needed her mom. As much as I wanted to be there. As much as I ached to hold Kristina's hand and see her through the rest of this. As much as I longed to hear my baby's first cries, I knew Kristina needed her mom, and I knew Sally needed to be there for Kristina. So I choked out that Sally needed to be the one to go. I could barely talk, and my voice broke more then once. Sally looked at me with tears of gratitude and asked are you sure. I wanted to say no that I wasn't sure. I wanted to say that I needed to be the one in there. But I looked at Kristina, and I looked at Sally and I just couldn't say that. I nodded yes, and said that I was going to go tell everyone what was going on. As I went into the hall to tell everyone that Emily would be coming via c-section, I fell into Jacob's arms and just sobbed. I sobbed harder then I had in a long time. The exhaustion from the day had caught up to me. I could barely stand. I was scared. Scared for Kristina, scared for Emily.

We waited in the waiting room outside of the nicu. They were going to take Emily there for quick observation after she was born and I was to join her when they brought her in. We waited for what seemed like another few hours, althought it was only 40 minutes or so. Then the blinds to the nursery window were raised and I saw her. Next to my Tamara, she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. The nurse waved me back, they put the bracelet on me that matched the ones on Emily and Kristina. I asked how Kristina was, the nurse said she didn't know, she had left with Emily, but she was sure Kristina was fine. Then I asked for the details. Emily had been born at 5:26 a.m. Almost 23 hours after Kristina's water had broken. She weighed 9 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 inches. Even if Kristina had a short labor, Emily still would have had to be born via c-section. She was just too big. They checked her blood sugar levels. A common practice for babies so large the nurse assured me. The results came back at 38. They like them to be at above 50. The nurse said that they would probably go up after we fed her. My stepmom came out. Kristina was doing well and resting in recovery.

Kristina wanted to be the one to place Emily in my arms so I hadn't held her yet. It was time. So we rolled Emily back to the recovery room so we could see Kristina. Emily was placed in Kristina's arms, and then I held her. It was the most beautiful moment. Unlike I ever could have imagined. The nurse handed me a bottle and I fed Emily. Sally went to get Jacob and I got to introduce him to his daughter. Now that was the most beautiful moment. We introduced Emily to my dad, and then took her back to the nicu nursery so Kristina could rest. We gave Emily her first bath and they checked her blood sugar levels again. They had gone down to 34. Not good. So they started an IV, which Emily kicked out. The nurse started a new one, Emily kicked her hand and blew the vein. The nurse put it in the other hand and eventually realized how much Emily likes to kick and moved it to her head. We brought Tamara back to introduce her to her new baby sister. And then went to the hotel to get some much needed rest. Emily would be in the nicu for a day or so, and then would be able to go to the regular nursery we were told.......... Obviously, that didn't happen.

Next post will be about our week in the nicu and the faith and strength we had to rely on to get us through it.

Happy Sweet 16 to the most wonderful birthmom ever!

16 years ago I met a person who would forever change my life. Although I didn't know how at the time. 16 years ago, a little baby girl, was born to my aunt and uncle. Shortly after my dad and stepmom took custody of her in preparation to adopt her. 16 years ago, this little angel became my little sister.

(the little one here is my Tammy at 6 months old. The toddler is my little sister Kristina)

Many years passed and one Sunday afternoon in January of this year, I got a call from my dad asking if we were still looking to adopt. Yes was of course my answer. The conversation continued and it turns out there was a girl who was pregnant and considering placing her baby for adoption with Jacob and I. Something just told us that the expectant mom was Kristina, my sweet baby sister. 5 and a half weeks passed and the phone call came. Sure enough, our feelings were right. Kristina asked us to be the parents of the little baby girl she was carrying. We were honored. Months passed, doctor appointments came and went. Our relationship went from one of sibilings who didn't really know eachother that well (I was almost 16 when Kristina was born, so we didn't grow up together). And now our relationship is one of not only sister's, but friends, who have this common bond of love for a very special little girl named Emily.

Yes, Kristina forever changed our lives. 16 years ago I had no idea just how much my life would be changed. How complete my life would now be because of the love she has for the little one she carried.

To celebrate Kristina's birthday (which was actually yesterday, the 22nd, but I was busy with Emily so wasn't able to post till now) we had her come down on Saturday (along with our dad and my stepmom-Kristina's mom). We had a small BBQ, cake, ice cream and opened presents. It wasn't a big celebration, but we hope that it showed Kristina just a little of how much we love her.

Happy Birthday Little Sister! We love you!

(I know that I haven't shown Kristina's picture, or used her name on my blog until this post. Kristina said it was o.k. She is ready for the world to know her story, in hopes it will help others. She is going to do a guest post for my blog soon.)

Fasting and Prayers

Dear Family and Friends,
As you all know our little Emily was born early Monday morning and has been in the NICU since shortly after birth. She is improving, and if all continues to go well, we should be able to take Emily home next Tuesday (which how cool would that be! That is our 9th wedding anniversary). This Sunday is Fast Sunday. We would like to ask that you and your individual families remember Emily and her birth mom K in your fasting and prayers on Sunday. If you are unable to fast, will you please say a special prayer. Please bless that Emily will continue to improve and that we will be able to take her home soon. Also, K is going to court on Monday to relinquish her rights which will allow us to bring Emily home when the time comes, and allow us to proceed with the adoption. K is doing well and is very much at peace with her decision. Please bless her, that she will continue to feel strength, peace and comfort in her decision. That she will always know of the love that we all have for her. Thank you for your continued prayers and love.
With Love, Sharon, Jacob, Tammy, & Emily

She's Here!!! Welcome to the World Emily Rose!!

Born July 26th at 5:26 a.m. weighing 9 lbs. 5 oz. 21 inches long.

Born via c-section after 22 hours of labor including 2 hours of pushing.

Our birth mom K is trully amazing!!

K is doing well. Really well. She even felt up to coming to the NICU to see Emily this evening. She has been walking here and there and is feeling better every second.

Emily is in the NICU because her blood sugars have been low. Although they seem to be under control now, she is doing well, but they are still monitoring her for a while longer. She will hopefully be released tomorrow from the NICU and be able to go to the regular nursery.

The last two days have been overwhelming in so many ways. I will write our birth story soon, when I can find the words to without bawling.

I'll post pics when we get home and I can edit the size so it doesn't lock up blogger. She is trully beautiful!

39 weeks!

Our expectant birth mom K is 39 weeks! We had her appt. today and the baby's heart rate is still nice and strong at 138. K has been having regular contractions, they are an hour apart, but have been steady since yesterday morning. So she is in labor, just the very early stages. She is still 70% effaced (has been for 3 weeks now) but is dialated to a 1.5 (she had been a 1 for two weeks, so that is progress). She has consistently been measuring slightly bigger then she actually is, when they measure her belly. I assumed she would measure at 41, and was even willing to bet on it, but I would have lost that bet. K is 39 weeks, but is measuring at 44!! What the! Yeah, even the dr. was shocked at that one! Dr. O thinks the baby is possibly 9 lbs., if not more. They have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday morning (at 7a.m.) to measure how big baby girl actually is. The dr. wants to avoid a c-section, or induction at all costs, but we will see. I did ask him how long they would let her go before inducing. He said the hospital actually has a "strict policy" against inducing before 41 weeks unless they have to. So we'll see. He said if baby is too big, they may need to do a c-section, but he will try to avoid that, now we wait till Monday (unless K's labor speeds up which is what I'm hoping for! I so don't want them to have to do a c-section! Ecspecialy since she is supposed to start school again in 4 weeks!) We were expecting a July baby, we may have an August baby. I hope not though! K is so completely miserable at this point. She is so swollen and can barely move. Baby girl needs to be nice to her her birth mommy and come out!

Here is a pic of our angel that I took after her appt.

38 weeks!

Today our expectant birth mom is 38 weeks. We also had her 38 week appt. today as well.

The dr. says there really isn't much change since last week. 70% effaced, dialated to a 1. Baby's heartrate is 152 and she has dropped slightly, but not much. We had a little scare when the doctor checked the position of the baby. He couldn't tell where her head was so he did an ultrasound (when I was pregnant with Tammy we had to do a c-section because she turned back around so she was butt down. Dr. was afraid K might have to have a C-Section too). Luckily baby's head is down so all is well. Here is a pic of K at 38 weeks.

37 weeks, and a contest!!

Today was K's 37 week appt. I can't beleive we only have 21 days till her due date! Crazy! After all these years it seems a little surreal that this is all happening and truth be told I keep waiting to be woken up and told it's all been a dream. Oh, but if it is a dream, what a sweet dream it is, that I don't ever want to wake up from!

K is doing great! She is healthy, happy, and ready to not be pregnant anymore. LOL I can't even imagine. Being 37 weeks pregnant in Utah, in the heat! Wowza! K is 37 weeks and is measuring at 39. (We're thinking maybe a lot of water? Not sure why she is measuring so much bigger.)

Baby Emily continues to grow and do well. Her heart rate is at 156. She is head down and ready.

K is 70% effaced and dialated almost to a 1 but not quite at a 1 yet.

So, here is what I am thinking. A few people I know have done this, including my FB/bloggy/adoption friend Brittany, and I thought it would be fun.

I want to hold a contest to see who can guess the closest to the baby's birth date, weight, and height. If 2 people guess the same date, the winner will be whoever guessed the closest on the weight and vice versa. If two people guess the exact same, the winner will be the first person to guess it. I may do a runner up prize in that case though. Not sure what the prize will be yet, but we'll see. I'll make it good, I promise. :D Maybe something I make, maybe a gift card to my favorite restuarant, not sure yet.

Anyhow, here is what I have so far (from FB):
Matt B. July 24th
Shantell L. July 20th 7 lbs. 6 oz. 20 inches
Melinda C. July 22nd 7 lbs. 8 oz. 21 inches
Merissa C. July 23rd 7 lbs. 9 oz. 20 inches
Jennilee M. July 24th 7 lbs. 10 oz. 20 inches
Gina T. July 28th 6 lbs. 9 oz. 20 inches

Carly J. July 22nd 5 lbs. 8 oz. 21 inches

Jessa S. July 27th 8 lbs. 6 oz.

Shelley I. August 2nd 6lbs. 11 oz. 20 inches

Theresa S. July 29th 8lbs. 19 1/2 inches

Barbara D. July 25th 7lbs. 2 oz. 20 1/2 inches

Mandy E. August 5th 7 lbs. 9 oz. 20 inches

Joy G. July 16th 6 lbs. 10 oz. 19 1/2 inches

Stephanie W. July 23rd 7 lbs. 12 oz. 20 inches

Schyla C. July 14th 7lbs. 8 oz.

Alison G. July 27th 7 lbs. 8 oz. 23 inches

Lisa Z. July 23rd 6 lbs. 8 oz. 19 inches

Sabrina C. July 24th 8 lbs.

Jill B. July 20th 8 lbs. 7 oz. 20 1/2 inches

Celeste July 25th 7 lbs. 10 oz.

Any more guessers? Leave a comment here, or email me, or FB me. Tell me your guess on weight, height and the date that Emily will make her arrival. (I will update this post with guesses as I get them. :D)

36 week appt.

Wanna hear the latest in baby land? Jacob and I went to K's dr. appt. on Thursday. Jacob hadn't been to an appt. yet, so this was his first time hearing the baby's heartbeat in person. I have videotaped the heartbeat before, but there is just something about actually hearing it that blows you away! He sat there in stunned silence. I sat there trying not to cry as my hubby listened to that precious sound, knowing that very soon, she will actually be here.

Emily's heartrate is at 150 and she is doing great. It was K's 36 week appt. but she is measuring at 38. I'm thinking the baby was stretching maybe? Not sure. She hasn't completely dropped but she's getting there. K is 50% effaced but not dialating yet. We are onto weekly appts. now so we will see what next week holds. Can't wait!!! We now have 26 days left!!

We have had a couple of baby showers. Both were family showers. The friends shower will be after Emily comes because the friend who is throwing that shower is in the middle of a move so ya, after will be better for her. That way she can get settled in to her new home without the stress of planning a shower. I'm tickled thats he offered to do the shower. We have been friends since my sohpmore year of high school (almost 18 years now) so that makes it extra special.

I will do a seperate post about the showers later. For now, here is a belly shot of our birth mom K.

What we do to pass time......

So last week hubby was at the store pricing shingles for the roof. We didn't need to replace the roof yet. We were told we had about 2-3 years when we had the house inspected before buying it, before we needed to replace the roof. But in 2-3 years we will have a child prepping for college and a toddler getting ready for pre-school, and possibly another newborn. So we figured while we had the money and time, we would go ahead and do it. Well hubby found some great ones at the big orange box on sale. 30 years, architectural design, slate in color. Gorgeous!

He had them delivered (roof top of course, cause it was free, and having to lug these heavy shingles up ourselves would just have been silly), got a couple of his brothers and a member of our church to come help and 3 days later, they were done! Well, the first day, his brother Joe came for 4-5 hours, the second day it was just Jacob, and the third day is when Joe came again, John came and the member from our church came. Seriously, the help was soooo appreciated. And I love LOVE how it looks now. As Tammy commented, our house actually looks newer, just by reshingling the roof. :D Next project for the outside of the house, repainting. :D

Above: Before (taken May 5, 2010)

And now, for the big reveal (that is, if you aren't on my Facebook and haven't already seen it)

The after (taken June 25, 2010)

We also bought a new dishwasher. The old one was leaking so we decided to buy a new one. We spent a little more than I would have liked, but we opted to get the one we would want when we redo our kitchen next year. Figured it would save money rather than having to get a new one now for a couple hundred and then spend more later to get what we actually want. Plus, it was on sale so we're happy.

Today is July 1st. I never thought July would come. July is the month Baby Emily is due. It seems surreal honestly. We have waited so long for this, and now it is almost here. We have had a couple of baby showers for family. My mom did one for her side, Jacob's sister-in-law did one for Jacob's side of the family and there is still 1 more before the baby comes. Our birth mom K and my stepmom, are throwing us one next week. My friend Annette offered to throw us one after the baby comes. She is in the middle of a move right now so when we talked, we decided after Emily comes would be better. We will probably do an open house as well but we haven't decided that yet. Since we are also doing an open house when the adoption is finalized and we are able to bless her and go to the temple, we may wait on that.

Later today we have a dr. appt. that we are going to. Hubby is coming with so that he can hear Emily's heartbeat in person for the first time. This is also the appt. where they do the tests to make sure all is good for a regular delivery, and I think they will start checking K as well to see if she is starting to dialate. K is 36 weeks today which means we have 28 days left till her due date. 4 weeks (give or take depending on if the baby comes early or late of course). Or as my friend Brittany would say, 4 Saturday's (it always seems less when you count in Saturday's). YAY!!!

33 weeks! That means 7/49!

Our birth mom K is 33 weeks today. That means only 7 weeks. Which also means only 49 days!! Such an exciting time for our family! K is doing well, although she had a headache today, but she is doing well. She gets those a lot. I hope that the dr.'s are able to figure out what is causing them. I don't like it when she isn't feeling well. :(


The baby's heartrate is at 145 and at her last appt. last week K was measuring right on target at 32 cm. So things are progressing. We hired a lawyer who is really awesome. Since K is related to us, our adoption is a family member adoption so the agency can't facilitate it. But our lawyer is going to do a great job. He has even met K and she really likes him as well. He also came recommended by two of my friends. Can't get much better than that!


Anyhow, not much happening here. Just thought I would update quickly. So that this isn't a completely pointless post, I thought I would share some more of the photos that Ashley from Monarch Photography did last week. Please, no copying or sharing of these photos without the permission of myself or Ashley. Thank you. First of all, our awesome new blog banner is one of the photos Ashley took. Here are a couple more:

Not even born yet, and she already has Daddy wrapped around her finger. *grin* Can't wait for you to come Emily! We love you! And We Love You K!!

The story of our necklaces made by the r house

We recently got our pictures done with our birth mom K, by Ashley from Monarch Photography. One of the pictures she took is of our necklaces. This is the picture:

I explained to Ashley the special meaning that these have to us, and she wanted to capture the meaning by capturing this beautiful shot. (If you know Ashley's work, you know she specializes in the details. One of the many, many reasons I love her photography) If you have been a long time blog reader of ours you may remember this post where I talked about my necklace (the circle one). For those who are new to our blog, here is the story.

My necklace has two charms. One says hope. It is to represent the hope we have that our family will grow. The other says love. It represents the love we have for each other. The beads on it are my husband Jacob's birthstone, and my daughter Tamara's birthstone, (I will add Emily's after she is born). I got this necklace in November, which was a few months before the call telling us that someone was considering us, and it was several months before K called and asked us to be Emily's parents.

K made our hope a reality by giving us this amazing gift for which we could never repay her.

One day shortly after receiving K's call, I saw a listing for a necklace for your birth mom with a matching bracelet for baby. My heart fell in love, and I knew we needed to get this for K. We gave it to her for birth mother's day (which is the day before Mother's day. I love that there is an extra day to celebrate birth mother's. :o) Not that a reason is needed to celebrate birth mother's they should be celebrated every day, but still. It's a wonderful day.)

I contacted the awesome Lindsey (mrs r from the r house) and asked her if she could do a custom necklace for us to give to K. So she made this gorgeous creation. K's necklace says "Always and Forever in my Heart." It has a pink crystal which symbolizes healing and birth mothers. And it has a glass bead with rosettes. Emily's middle name will be Rose, which is K's middle name. We wanted to honor her by giving Emily, K's middle name. We have a baby bracelet that matches K's necklace, reminding her to always remember how much K loves her. We also wanted K to know that no matter how far apart they are, Emily will always know who she is, and how much she is loved by K. And that they will Always and Forever be in each other's hearts.

K hasn't taken her's off since she got it and I wear mine every chance I get. They are gorgeous, and so special.

If you would like more information on where to get a ready made peice of jewlery, or a custom made one. Or if you would like adoption wear for your little one, check out the r house couture on Etsy.

And if you would like to see more of the photos Ashley did for us, check out this post and this post. We got about 100 so this is just a small sampling. ;o)

Questions Answered

A lot of people have been asking me questions about who K is and how she found us. I haven’t said much up till now. Only that we have known her for a very long time (which in my case is an understatement) and that a family member called us and asked us if we were still looking to adopt. I will still not be showing pictures of her, or using her name. We will continue to refer to her as K. You see, although our family now knows, there are others who don't. So like I said, we will continue to refer to her as K, and ask that if you know her name, that you do the same. And we will not be showing her picture. So why am I discussing this now. Well, like I said, people have been asking us questions, and our story is a really unexpected and special one. Here is our story:



You may have caught that I said OUR family now knows. You may have thought I was talking about Jacob’s family and my family. While they all know, that isn’t the family I was talking about. Well, at least not Jacob’s family. You see, I was talking about my family; my family and K’s family. Because my family and K’s family are one in the same. To tell the whole story I need to back up 16 years.



16 years ago my dad found out his baby brother and his wife were expecting a baby. They would be unable to take care of their little one. So my dad and my stepmom decided to adopt this baby girl. That baby girl, who was born their niece, became their daughter, and my sister. That little girl, is K. Now, almost 16 years later, K has found herself with an unexpected pregnancy. The family member who called us to see if we were still looking to adopt is our dad, mine and K’s. Placing the baby with us was K’s idea. As soon as she started considering adoption, she knew we were the parents for her little one. When I say we will have an open adoption, that obviously, is a big understatement as well. We will see K often. She lives two hours north of us, so not as often as we would like, but as often as we can. K has asked that Emily call her Aunt K. Emily will know that K is her birthmom. We will be open and honest with her. And she will above all, know how special her K is, and how special she herself is to come from K.



Trust me, this was unexpected for us. We thought that our baby’s birthmom would be someone we didn’t know, or maybe someone who was a friend of a friend. Never did we fathom that it would be someone we both know and love, let alone someone we are related to. What’s funny is over the last couple of years, the thought has floated in and out of our minds, what if our baby’s birthmom was K. We always dismissed that thought as quickly as it came. In Jan. of 2009, when we were sitting in church and got the overwhelming feeling that we needed to start the adoption process again, we thought maybe our little one would be coming soon. We were going to wait till we moved to Utah, but like I said, the feeling was overwhelming that we needed to start right then. Had we waited until we moved to Utah, we would have waited several months to even start the process after we arrived, taking the time to settle in, get the house in order, enjoy the holiday’s and then start the process. But because we started the process in New Mexico, we were already approved to adopt when we moved here. All we needed to do was update our file with Utah state background checks & a new home study. We were approved within a couple of months of our move. So why is that important to our story. Well, if we had waited until we moved here to start, we wouldn’t have started the process until Jan. if that. But because we were already approved when we got here, we were eager to get the updates done. Because we were, our file was updated by Thanksgiving and we were good to go again. Because of this, we told all our family at Thanksgiving that we were approved and hoping to adopt. K overheard us talking about that. She thought at that point she might be pregnant but hadn’t confirmed it yet.

When she went to see her dr. they discussed her options. When she decided to consider adoption, we were in the back of her mind. K took sometime to consider whether we were indeed the right family for Emily. When my dad called to see if we were still looking to adopt, we had a feeling the expectant mom was K. In fact months before, right around thanksgiving in fact, we had a feeling our baby was coming soon, and again, the thought came to us, not knowing that K was actually pregnant, “what would we do if K came to us and asked us to be her baby’s parents.” 5 and a half weeks after dads call, our suspicions were confirmed. Because we already suspected, we were able to take the time to pray about whether we could adopt K’s baby. When K called and asked us how we felt about being the baby’s parents, I can’t explain how honored we were. And to this day still are.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask and I will answer them if I can.

28 week appt.

Last Tuesday was K's latest dr. appt. She asked the dr. if he could do an ultrasound since I was there. So sweet of her to think of me! It was so neat to see baby girl on the screen. She even waved at us. So cute! K is such a sweetie. She gave me this card:

And these cute bows for baby girl's hair, and this adorable elephant to hang in her crib. The elephant plays Lullaby. So sweet!

I also got this cute cute baby bump pic of K at her dr. appt. Love it!

We all went up to see her a couple of weeks ago and gave her a birthmother's day present early. Jacob wanted to be there when we gave it to her. I don't have a picture of it, but I will get one and post it later.

Baby girl is growing wonderfully. K is glowing! She is amazing. We couldn't ask for a more wonderful birthmom for our baby girl. We love you K!

And Baby Girl has a name. we were going to wait to name her until the hospital, but there was one name that kept striking us all as the right name for this little one. When I was up there last Tuesday K referred to Baby Girl as Emily. That is the name we have all felt is right for this little one. So Baby Girl will from now on, be known as Emily Rose. Here is the story behind Emily:

About 5 or 6 years ago Tammy said that if we had a girl she wanted to name her. I asked her what she would name her and she said she had "always wanted a sister named Emily". So it has stuck with us since. Rose is K's middle name, so to honor her, we wanted Emily to have her middle name. So Emily Rose it is. YAY!

Next dr. appt. is on the 3rd of June. I can't wait! Hubby will have drill that day so he won't be able to make it. And Tammy still has school until the 4th. In fact the 3rd is her 9th grade Lagoon day. She is so excited! I can't beleive she will be in 10th grade soon! That means driver's ed next year! AGH!!! ;o)

Book, classes, names, and the sweetest sound.....

On Tuesday I got to go to our Birthmom K's dr. appt. It was so neat. I took the video camera with me so that I could record the baby's heartbeat since Jacob couldn't be there. I was concentrating on holding the camera steady so I didn't really pay attention to what I was hearing until I put the camera down. When I stopped recording I realized that the sound I was hearing was that of our baby girl's heartbeat. I couldn't help myself, I started crying. After almost 9 years of waiting, hoping, and praying for a little one.... It was the sweetest sound...... K was beaming. We really do love her!

It was such a neat and emotional day. I gave K a gift. I gave her this book :

It is written by Michael McLean and has a CD in the back with 6 of his songs, all adoption related. It is such a sweet book. We bought a copy for ourselves and gave the other one to K. It is a book I have heard about from other adoptive couples and have been wanting to get for awhile. So when I was at Deseret Book the other day I saw it and bought it. A lady who was in line next to me said that she had just bought it for her daughter who had placed her baby for adoption a year before and that it had been a help to her daughter to help her heal. I highly recommend it to anyone involved in the adoption world. It really is a beautiful book.

K gave us a bunch of baby things she has been collecting, including some of her old baby clothes. So sweet!

K's next appt. is in a month. She is now at 24 weeks along. The dr. said everything is going great. K is going to start child birth classes soon. I hope to be able to go to at least some of them with her. Since she is 2 hours away I may not be able to go to all of them, but hopefully I can make it to some of them.

I have been asked quite a lot if we have picked a name yet. We have decided on a middle name, but the first name is still up in the air. The baby's middle name will be Rose, after her birthmom (it's K's middle name as well). As for the first name, we are deciding between Emily and Melissa. Although we are leaning towards Melissa. Mostly because Melissa is of course the name of my friend who passed away in January. The only problem is that Jacob's brother John and his wife Dawn named their baby Melissa last year. I don't know if we want 2 Melissa's so close together (they will be 15 months apart, although if we do go with Melissa, we will use a nickname like Missy or something along those lines). K likes both names so we can't go wrong with either. We will probably take a list of names to the hospital and decide on the first name after the baby is here.

Bye Bye Deck! A.K.A. what Jacob has been doing on Spring Break.

When we moved into our house the one thing we really had reservations about was the size of our back yard. The side yards, and the front yard are really a good size. But the back yard is small. Like from the house to the fence is around 14 feet or so. Tiny! Ecspecially considering what we're used to. Our backyard in New Mexico was massive! It was bigger then our house which was 2,000 sq feet. We miss that yard. So does our dog! But I digress.

We set out to find a way to make our back yard more user friendly. After all, when we bought this house we felt it was the one for us. And now that we live here, we know it is. If you recall from previous pictures, our back yard looked like this before we moved in (this is from the listing photos before we bought the house):

Incidentally, the green astroturf carpeting is no longer on the cement. Now it is just a nice cement patio. But as you can see, the deck takes up most of the back yard, making it really small, and really chopped up, and really, not user friendly, and definately not kid friendly. So, this week is spring break for Jacob and he has spent his time working on projects, this being one of them:
Good bye deck! It opens up the backyard soooo much! We are working on getting this all cleaned up and we will get some grass growing here instead of the deck. So by the time our little one is old enough to be playing back here, it will be nice and ready for her. :D We are also going to get rid of all the Ivy you see growing on the fence. It is actually from the neighbors yard and is overgrown into our yard. They want it gone too so we are all going to get rid of it. And that will open up this area even more!
In other news, "K" is 22 weeks along. Only 18 more weeks to go! She has an appt. on the 6th that I am going up for. I can't wait! We started a blog for her. We wanted to anyway, so that after the baby is born we can post pictures and updates for her to see. Yes, she will be very involved in the baby's life, but she does live 2 hours away, so she won't be able to see the baby every day. So inbetween visits, she will get to see lots and lots of pictures. The blog is private so only she can see. We started it early so "K" could see all the preparations that we are making for Baby Girl.

Our Birthmom "K"

5+ weeks ago we got a call from a family member. He asked if we were still looking to adopt. Of course I replied yes! He asked if we were still through LDSFS (our agency). Yes, we are. How could he see our profile online. So I walked him through how to find it. It was then my turn for a question. I asked him if he knew someone looking to place their baby for adoption. His reply? "We'll see, maybe". O.k. seriously! You can't just leave it at that! You have to tell me more! But, he did leave it at that! *sigh* So we had to wait to find out what was going on. One week later we found out, yes, there was someone who was pregnant and considering placing her baby for adoption, and she was considering us. But she hadn't decided.

O.k. so we wait. That's o.k. We've been trying to have a baby for over 8 years (almost 9, it will be 9 years in August). We have been hoping to adopt for 5 years. We've become experts at waiting. Besides, we didn't want to put pressure on whoever this person was. We wanted her to come to her own decision, in her own time. We would honor her decision whatever it was. Waiting was o.k. with us. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy! Every time the phone rang our hearts raced a little. Everytime we checked email, our breathing would speed up, wondering if maybe, just maybe, we would hear something. With each passing day we prayed for this unknown woman. That no matter what her decision, she would be comforted and know she is loved.

Fast forward to Wednesday, March 10, 2010. I was getting ready to go visit some ladies in our ward (local church congregation) and I was was filling out cards to take them with my phone # in them, when the phone rang. Yes, my heart skipped a beat. It was a bill collector who only spoke Spanish, asking for someone who doesn't live here (this is a weekly occurance). I explained in my best fake Spanish (cause I don't speak a lick of Spanish, I really should learn) that no, they had the wrong #. Two minutes later the phone rings again. Again, my heart skips a beat. It's the same #, so I don't answer, I figure when they hear the voicemail, maybe they will get the hint that whoever they are looking for doesn't live here (not sure why since this tactic hasn't worked yet). Five minutes later, I'm almost ready to walk out the door. I was filling out 1 last card when the phone rings again. This time, my heart didn't skip a beat. This time I decided not to look at the caller ID, sure it was the same #. A couple of rings in, I thought, maybe I should look. It wasn't the same #, so I answer the phone......

It was 5:22 p.m. according to the caller ID.

This young woman, we had been told about 5+ weeks earlier was on the other end of the line. She wants us to be the parents of her baby! She asked me how we felt about that. All I could say was, "We would be honored." She asked me to guess whether the baby was a boy or a girl. Our guess, we had a feeling it was a girl. We were right! A lot of tears later, I hung up the phone with an agreement to come up on Friday to talk. Jacob had already left for work so I called him on his cell praying he would answer. He normally doesn't hear the phone, ecspecially when he's driving. Please, please answer the phone! YES! He answered the phone! Through my quickened heartrate, fast breathing, and excitement, I could barely choke out the words, "She called! She chose us!" I don't know who was more excited, him or me! The next call was to Tammy. She was thrilled! So thrilled in fact, she told her dad's family before I could! Silly girl!

We visited with "K" today (today being Friday, even though I'm writting this and it's technically Saturday, it's only 1 a.m. and I haven't gone to bed yet, so it's still Friday to me). She is doing great! A lot of people have been asking me how she found us. How did our story play out. Details! They want details! (I totally understand!) Well, as I said earlier, a family member called us to see if we were still looking to adopt, because she heard we were. Out of respect for our birthmom, we have decided not to give out a lot of details, ecspecially not online. But we will say this. We have known her for a very very long time. She is not new to us. When we went to see her today, it wasn't our first time meeting, far from it. Somehow, we were still nervous. So was she. We were surprised when we found out the young woman considering us was "K", but, at the same time, we knew. We knew it was her. I don't know how we knew, but we did. We have known for weeks, months, really. Even since before we knew there was someone considering us, we had a feeling she was pregnant and considering us. She is a wonderful, amazing, young woman. We are very protective of her, and it is for this reason we have chosen not to give out a lot of details about her. Someday, when she is ready for the world to know, and when we are ready to tell, we might give more details. It really is an amazing story. But until then..... Here is an ultrasound photo we were given of our little one (With our birthmom's name removed of course). Doesn't she have the cutest nose!

There are a few people who know who "K" is. And if you are one of those, out of respect for "K" and us, please keep that to yourselves. Thank you everyone for your love and prayers, and support. Please continue to pray for us, but most especially for "K".

Baby Girl (we don't have a name picked yet, so for now, we are calling her Baby Girl), is due July 29th. And we could not be more excited! We will have a very very open adoption. "K" will be extremely involved in Baby Girl's life. And again, we could not be more excited about that too!

We love you "K"!