Plus One More.

Hello everyone!

I'm sure that, based on this picture, you're VERY clear on what this post is about to reveal... but I'll go ahead and bore you with the background info just for fun. ;)

Back in March, Weston and I saw my doctor to talk about getting pregnant. We had been advised to start trying as soon as possible after my surgery - sort of a “now or never” mentality. During this appointment, Dr. T stated that to her, the most concerning part of our conception plan is my extremely high sensitivity to progesterone - a hormone that you obviously make a lot of when you’re pregnant. Her biggest fear (aside from me struggling to become pregnant from the start) would be my unstable ability to maintain a pregnancy as my body tries to reject the progesterone. We decided to give it a shot, despite the risks, so my doctor got me set up with a bunch of vitamins and teas and we continued to try to plan for a family.

About two months ago, you may have heard about a particularly terrible flare-up that I had. This was a result of taking one, tiny, progesterone pill on recommendation from a doctor to "help" with some endo-issues I was dealing with at the time. I had always known I was sensitive to it but I had never realized exactly how sensitive until I was that sick, exhausted, and in so much pain. Once the progesterone was finally flushed out of my system a few days later I felt immensely better. 

During this flare up, Weston and I had a lot of long, contemplative, sometimes tearful conversations throughout the sleepless nights. I felt that this was God’s way of showing us that my body wasn't meant to get pregnant and Weston has always been adamant that he wants me to feel well more than anything else in the world. The toll it would take on my body and the risks involved with a pregnancy for me and especially the baby outweighed any of our hopes of getting pregnant. In fact to be honest, as the days went on, the desire to get pregnant completely faded for us. Because we've had so many years of doctors warning us about the possibility of infertility, I feel like we were actually a little ahead of the game as far as grieving that loss and moving on. For us, the desire was never specifically to be biological parents - it was just to be parents. So instead of continuing to mourn what wouldn't be, we actually just felt undeniably led towards the other thing that has been on our hearts for years now - adoption.

So family and friends, if you hadn't already guessed...

We are so excited to share that we are expecting a child! 

We aren’t sure if it’s a boy or a girl, what color their skin will be, or what their hair will look like. We don’t know when our due date is or which town our child will be born in. We don’t know if our baby will be a newborn or several months old. All we know is that we are expecting a child. We are going to be parents! And we’re going to be parents to EXACTLY the child God had planned for us all along.

After weeks of (secretly) meeting with other families who have adopted through the county and hearing their stories, we felt confident in our decision to adopt a 0-2 year old through foster care and were excited to share the news with our families. One of my biggest fears was that when we announced we were adopting, people's first reaction wouldn't be joy - the way we know it would be if we announced a pregnancy. And while sometimes the joy has come with concern about whether or not we know just what we are getting ourselves into (promise, we do!) there has been an unspeakable joy in every reaction. We have been filled to the brim with support and encouragement.

Now that we are several weeks in to the process, I feel safe to admit how strongly I feel God’s hand over this entire process. We keep getting lined up with all the right people who are kind and encouraging, but most importantly, honest about the struggles and joys of this process. We aren't blissfully unaware of the challenges that come with adoption, we just feel as ready as we can possibly be for them and we're ready to learn and grow through the madness. 

Our background check has begun, our references are being contacted, we're waist deep in paper work and in three more weeks we will have finished our adoption/foster training sessions. After that, we wait for a social worker to contact us so we can start our Home Study, which involves in-depth interviews with me and Weston, investigating every nook and cranny of our lives. Eventually, there will be a home inspection. Once the home inspection is done, if (hopefully "when!") we pass, we wait for the amazing phone call that tells us “You’re parents! A baby has been placed for adoption and you’re the best match!” And then our lives change forever in the best, most challenging and significant way - at least… so I've heard. :)

So please continue to pray for us as our family grows. Pray for us to have patience, faith, and strength through the paperwork, classes, interviews, inspections, and possible heartbreaks. Please pray for our baby to never question how loved and wanted they are and for them to be well cared for by others until they can be cared for by us. And please pray for the birth parents to have peace as well - whether their rights are being terminated or they’re placing a baby on their own, that they would one day have confidence it was the best thing for this child.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about this as we continue learning and going through the process but for now I'll just leave it at that. Thank you in advance for all the support and love. 

Can't wait to meet you, Little One.
xo