Livin' the Dream

Over the past couple of months, I have vomited more times than I could keep up with and Neely, my 7 year old, has noticed. She began to become worried about her dear mom. I just told her it was because of the surgery, which in the beginning I thought was the truth. After we found out, I never struggled with whether to tell the girls so soon or not. I just could not fathom telling them this wonderful news of having another baby, only to let them down if we lost it. I would do the same I think for our adopted child. Until I knew it was going to happen, why build them up to possibly make them experience heartache if it didn’t. I knew I wanted to wait until at least 12 weeks, and a confident doctor visit before we told them.

The time came last Sunday at lunch. We were at Scholotzkys eating outside and Gabe began to tell them we had some big news to tell them He told them it was the biggest news, bigger than Disney World. Then he had me stand up and show them my growing belly and Neely immediately said “mommy, you’re having a baby!”. They both laughed and smiled and asked a million questions. It was such a fun time and a memory I will never forget. I will also make sure this baby knows how much his or her sisters wanted and prayed for him. Neely said she will not do any poopy diapers, but she will help with night duty if I need it:). Ansley Jane said she would take care of all the poopy diapers since Neely didn’t want to. She said if the baby poops on the wall she’ll clean it up too. Sounds like I’m set with helpers for now…hope it lasts:)

Neely said if it’s a girl, her name will be Danielle and if a boy, Daniel. Not sure where those names came from. Ansley Jane said her name will be Laura Grace. Not sure if its a boy. We shall see!

I’ve sat to write this post several times and get overwhelmed with all that has and is happening around us. The last several months have been a roller coaster and I don’t know exactly where to begin so I’ll dive right on in.

In mid-January it was recommended by my doctor to have laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis. It was scheduled for early Feb. but then we decided to post-pone it so that I could go to seminar in San Antonio with Gabe. It was re-scheduled for March 1. I went in that morning and had my surgery and went home later that day with no real complications. It took a few days but I started to feel better and Gabe left to go to Brazil on a mission trip. The next day I got really sick. My friend Norma took me to the doctor who felt it was just due to the surgery and that I was trying to do too much too soon, so thankfully Katie Underwood saved me and moved in with us for a few days to care for the girls so I could rest.

Several days went by and I did start to feel better, but still not 100%. I was vomiting a lot and just feeling really tired, and my doctor assure me that this could be part of my recovery and to wait to come in until my follow-up on March 16. Well Gabe came home on March 12 and he kept telling me to take a pregnancy test. I seriously told him he was crazy that me being pregnant was not a possibility due to my surgery and there was no chance it could have happened after it, so I refused to take a test. For some reason, on March 14 I decided to take one, mainly to show Gabe how wrong he was:) and it was positive. We just stared at it. I took another one. It was positive. The next day I took another and yep, it was positive too. I called my doctor the next day to tell him what was going on and he said he’d see me the next day.

When I arrived at my appt. my doctor was very cautious and prepared me that this was not likely at all- like less than 1% a pregnancy would have survived the type of surgery I had, and my pregnancy test before the surgery was negative. Well, he did my bloodwork and rushed it and my HCG was REALLY high, so high the nurse made a comment about twins. I did not laugh. Then he took me to the ultrasound room because he didn’t think there would be a heartbeat. Sure enough, there was, only one, but it was there and strong. To say I was shocked is an understatement.

I had to pick a different OB because my doctor does not deliver babies anymore and an appointment was set-up for the next week. I went to my next appointment and this doctor was cautiously optimistic too. He went ahead and did another ultrasound and the heartbeat was even faster this time, and showed that I was 7 1/2 weeks pregnant.

We didn’t tell anyone because of my history of miscarriages and because honestly, in my mind, I prepared myself that that is how this would turn out. There was just too much stacked against it. Surgery, the drugs I was given during and after, Neely had the flu during this time so I had to take tamiflu, I had had LOTS of dental x-rays the week before, I could go on and on. But, I went back last week and the doctor was more confident and I got to hear the heartbeat which was awesome. I’ll be 13 weeks on Wednesday.

We told the girls a few days ago and they are pumped. I’ll write more about that later. For now, please join us in praying for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby to join us in November. We are praying and trying to discern how this affects our adoption. We are in the waiting phase and will be talking to our caseworker next week to talk through all this. We know this will affect the timing of our adoption so we would appreciate prayers on this front as well.

I’m still feeling shocked and feel like my world has been completely rocked- in a good way. God has truly blessed us and we are extremely thankful. This is another time in our lives where there is no explanation other than God is actively involved in our lives and has chosen to bless us with an awesome surprise!