One Week and Counting!

We finally heard from Tiffany last night! What a relief! I was getting nervous even though I had no reason to be. Tiffany just chuckled at how nervous I am. She says I sound just like every other new mother it's just that I have to direct my worries to a different source!

Apparently she decided to opt against having her membranes stripped. Her mom talked her out of it. She told her that it was very painful, which I confirmed through my research, and she also told her that the success rate wasn't high, which I had also confirmed. So, I can't say that I blamed her for not wanting to try it. Apparently her doctor did irritate her cervix quite a bit though b/c she said she had contractions all day and night on Monday and they were pretty consistent at about 15 minutes apart. However, they just quit at some point Monday night and haven't been regular since. She reported that she is now 1 cm dilated, but that's it. We've got to make it to 10 cm dilated before a natural birth can occur. She went ahead and scheduled a planned cesarean for Thursday July 6th! YEAH! Our baby will arrive one week from today, if not sooner! She doesn't know a time for the surgery yet, but said she should find that out on Monday at her next doctor's appointment if she hasn't delivered by then already. She also has one final stress test for the baby tomorrow. Prayers that it would go well and that the baby is still active and healthy would be appreciated.

I ended up talking to Tiffany for about an hour last night. She said she even bought us a onesie for the baby to wear the first night in the hospital :) She asked us what name we had settled on and we told her that we had decided on the name we had told her we were considering at our match meeting. She also managed to get the middle name out of us too. I think Kyle is cracking as we get closer to the due date. Someone might just be able to weasel some info out of him now that he's already let me tell Tiffany the full name!

Well, that's really all I have to report. We are very excited and can't believe that we finally have an actual date to look forward to! It won't be long now! YEAH!

Crib Bedding

Sunday Mom gave us the crib bedding she made for the nursery. Kyle and I had picked out some cute Finding Nemo fabric at Walmart and then found a pattern we liked for the bumper, dust ruffle, and quilt. We dropped it off at Mom's and viola! Now we have beautiful, custom made crib bedding for less than half the price of the sets in the store and we didn't have to buy any pieces that we didn't need like a curtain or a diaper stacker and stuff. It took me about a half hour to figure out how to get the darn bumper on the crib, but I perservered and now it looks fantastic. I'm going to post as many pictures of the nursery as blogger will let me on here when I'm done. We now have total of 4 Finding Nemo blankets and they are all different! I love them all!

The nursery is really all set to go. We just need to add a baby. We haven't heard from Tiffany yet, but I did leave her a voice mail this morning. Hopefully we'll get a call sometime today to update us on how things are progressing.
Well, I managed to get three pictues on here, but I still have two more I want to post. I'm going to go back and try to add those two to yesterday's post which didn't have any pictures originally. Happy reading!

Practice Makes Perfect

Well, we went to the Clod Reunion yesterday and got lots of practice holding babies. Matt and Regina were there with their 3 week old twins, Jonah and Owen, and JJ was there with her 6 month old McKinley. You should have seen Kyle with those babies! I've never seen him smile so much. I was positive that Regina wasn't going to get Jonah back!

On Thursday Kyle left a message on our answering machine that said, "We've been diapered!" I wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but when he got home the meaning was all too clear. He hauled in a HUGE trash bag filled with packages of diapers. I bet we were given over 600 diapers! Kyle's department chipped in and bought us lots of diapers and a cute little outfit and bib with the Lilly logo on it. It took some major rearranging to fit all those packages of diapers into the closet! Kyle took a video of me when I walked into the library and saw all those diapers. I'm going to try to post it here although I'm not really sure how to post videos or if it's even possible. Bear with me please.

Today is the day that Tiffany has her membranes stripped. According to the experts at WebMD this procedure has a 30-40% chance of putting her into labor! Yikes! We could be parents today! If this doesn't do the trick a C-section will be scheduled for sometime next week.

I'm sorry to report that I was unable to post the video clip. I'll try to consult with Tina, my computer expert, sometime this week to see if it is even possible to do so. Until next time. . . . Happy reading!

Sitting on Zero

Well, Tiffany called today and both Kyle and I got to talk to her. She had a doctor's appointment on Monday and she wanted to update us on how things were going. So far she's not dialted at all and is pretty much sitting on zero as far as progressing towards labor and delivery. She said that she has another appointment on Monday and if she hasn't gone into labor by then they are going to scrape away the membranes on her cervix and see if that puts her into labor. If that doesn't do the trick fairly quickly, they are going to go ahead and schedule a c-section for the first week in July. She said she is doing well and holding up against the heat fine. She says the baby is kicking even more now and has gone from little leg kicks to whole body throttles! She said she can watch her hand or foot push out her stomach on one side and then feel her do a huge whole body flip and then see that same arm or leg push out her stomach on the opposite side! She says it's a pretty weird sight and feeling. All together we chatted with her for about 30 minutes and she made sure that we knew that she was still committed to her decision to place the baby with us. She also reported that she is definitely ready for the baby to be born so that she can fit back into her capris. She says wearing pants in this heat is for the birds! :)

I don't really have any new pictures to post, but I think the blogs look so boring without any sort of visual aid so I'm going to try to post some pictures of the nursery on here. Since we've been doing a lot of work to get ready for the baby this week, I guess it's only fitting. I washed and sterilized a few bottles, put all her blankets and sheets through the laundry, and reorganized the entire nursery yet again! If this baby doesn't come soon I'm going to wear out the carpet in there just by moving things around so much! :p

Football in the Rain

Well, we went to see Mike play football this past weekend and boy was it a nasty day! The weatherman forcasted a 30% chance of scattered showers, but we must have been "scattered" b/c we got downpours and more! It did however clear up long enough to get in the scrimage. It helped that the other team was over an hour late getting to the field. Mike's team, The South Central Broncos, played a scrimage against a team from another league. While the team was fairly good (I think anyway, but then what do I really know about football!), they sure weren't very nice. Lots of trash talking going on, but Mike seemed to be able to tune it out. Even though it was cold and wet, I managed to have a good time. I always love the chance to take photos and I got plenty of those chances at the game! I filled up the entire gig memory card! I'm going to send some to Mike and then print out some for the baby's scrapbook so she will know more about what her birthfather was interested in. I'm going to try to post a few pictures from the game on here if I can. Mike's number 85. He plays tight end and sometimes gets pulled in as the kicker too!

The day before the game I got to talk to Tiffany and it sounded like she was doing pretty well. She said the baby is getting big and is pretty active~lots of kicking her in the ribs! She's really ready for this baby to be born! Right now she's trying to decide whether or not to have a C-section. She really wants to have a natural birth, but is a little bit scared of the possible risks that go with having a natural birth after a c-section. Apparently there is a slight chance of her incision opening back up during the birth and causing problems. She's a little scared of that and I must say I don't blame her. Then again, with a natural birth her recovery time would be shorter. She has another doctor's appointment on the 19th and apparently she has to decide by then whether or not she is going to schedule a c-section or let things go naturally. Prayers that she will be able to make a decision that is best for her and the baby would be appreciated.

Thanks!

First off, I want to thank everyone who has visited the site and given us feedback. We really appreciate it.

Second, I want to assure everyone that the time stamps on the blog are completely wrong. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a night owl. I'm making all the posts in the middle of the day not at 3:00 am! I've tried to change the time stamp, but I just can't get it figured out. I'm doing what I think ought to change it, but so far it hasn't happened!

Third, we have had several requests to know the name we have chosen for our little one. I would LOVE to tell everyone. In fact if I had my way I would be shouting it to the hills I am so excited about it. However, Kyle wants very much to keep it a secret. He wants it to be a secret for two reasons. First, he figures everyone already knows pretty much everything about our little one that we do since I send out all these updates and he wants something that is his only to know. Second, he doesn't want any input on the name whatsoever. He doesn't want to tell someone and have them go, "Oh. . . . That's a 'nice' name." OR for someone to say, "That's nice, but have you thought about _______?" He doesn't want us to start second guessing ourselves. I can totally see where he's coming from, but I'd still love to tell everyone. Not only is it driving you all crazy, but it's making me crazy too! Oh well, I've kept it secret for about a month now. Less than a month now to go. Let's hope for my sanity that that I can keep this up! Kyle was so funny the other day. On our trip back from Columbus for our Memorial Day visit he said he wanted to start taking email "bets" to see if anyone could guess the name! He is curious what people think we are naming her. He said we should do it email b/c he doesn't think I could hide it or keep a straight face in person if someone really did guess correctly! :) He's probably right about that!

I'm going to try to post a few more ultrasound pictures here. We have six and I think I've posted 3 already. So I'll see if I can get the last 3 (which aren't nearly as good as the first picture of her face) to cooperate. Ok, I think I've got all three pictures on here although it took an almost Herculean effort to do so! All three pictures are of her head, but if you look closely in the first one you can see her arm as well. She's reaching across her face and it looks like she is sucking on her forearm. The other two pictures aren't nearly as flattering and remind me of those blurred out "proof" pictures of alien life forms!

Talked to Mike

Mike (our birthfather) called us yesterday and left us a message. We had been planning on going to see him play in one of his football games, but we needed more details. Mike plays semi pro football for a team in Indy and Saturday is his season opener I believe. It's a home game anyway. So, he invited us to go watch. Kyle called him back last night and talked to him about the details. It turns out we are going to go up around 10:00am and have an early lunch with him and just hang out until he has to be at the field. Then we will probably go wander around Babies R Us or bug Heather at Old Navy if she has to work that day since we are having lunch at the Applebees in the Greenwood mall again. On Mike's message he said that he had bought us a present for the baby. Apparently it is some sort of a calendar to record baby milestones with a spot for pictures each month. Sounds cool. I thought that was very sweet of him. On his message he said he thought it was cute so he bought it. It made me smile to hear a guy as big as he is saying something like a calendar was cute! He also brought Kyle up to date on his commercial appearance. Apparently he's been chosen from his team to star in some sort of a football commercial with Peyton Manning and Terry Bradshaw. He's quite excited about it since he really likes both Peyton and Terry Bradshaw! He said the taping will be coming up soon.

We didn't have a chance to talk to Tiffany this weekend, but Mike said that at her last stress test and ultrasound they said that they were going to stick with the plan to either induce or have a C section before she is full term. According to Mike the plan is to have the baby in about 3 weeks! So it looks like we will be parents sooner rather than later.

Well, I'm going to try to add some more of the ultrasound pictures and pictures from our match meeting onto this post. I hope you all enjoy.


This picture is of Tiffany and I. She's so much taller than I am that she took off her shoes for this picture! I just love Tiffany. She is so sweet and very easy to talk to. I was really nervous the first time we called her, but after about 5 minutes on the phone it was like I was chatting with an old friend that I had lost touch with!

This is a picture of her foot. The ultrasound tech said she is kicking herself in the head! Quite the little gymnast already I guess! Right before the tech froze this picture the baby was showing off for me and wiggling her toes! I would have never have know this was a foot by just looking at it, but when she started wiggling those toes it was really obvious! It was so neat.

Hmm. . . .

Ok, so the pictures didn't post for some reason. I'm going to try again although I'm not sure what on earth I did wrong.

Here we go. This picture is of Kyle and I with Tiffany and Mike. Lots of people have said that they can't believe how much like us they look. Really they are just bigger versions of us. Tiffany is 5'8" and Mike is 6'5". So, this baby of ours will probably surpass us both in height by the time she is 10! This next picture is the utrasound picture of her face. It's the best of all the ultrasound pictures b/c you can see her little eyes, nose, mouth, and chin just perfectly! Isn't she cute!

She's so big in this picture that she doesn't all fit on the ultrasound screen anymore. She's at 32 weeks in this picture I believe and she's already 4lbs 7 oz.









This picture is a but shot with her girl parts labeled for us. Apparently three little lines means it's a girl. Tiffany has another ultrasound done earlier in her pregancy and the baby didn't cooperate. So, they couldn't figure out the gender. She showed us one picture that looked like it might be a girl and another that looked like it might be a boy. This time she was mooning us and the ultrasound tech said there was no question. Watch it turn out to be a boy just like what happened to Billie Jo with Christian!

Well, I was going to post more pictures, but it's a pain in the butt to post them so these will have to do. Enjoy!

Bringing you up to date.

Hello all! Myrna suggested that we start a blog to keep everyone posted about our adoption journey and then later poste baby updates here as well. So . . . . . . I thought I'd give one a try. Myrna, I'm using the link you emailed me so I hope this works well!

To bring you all up to date on our adoption progress if you don't know about it already, we have matched with a birthfamily. The birthparents names are Tiffany and Mike. We've met them both twice and we also met Tiffany's mother. Tiffany invited us to go to her ultrasound on May 1, 2006 and we got to find out that she is having a girl! She let us keep the ultrasound pictures which I will attempt to post here when I'm done writing. We've stayed in relatively close contact with both Tiffany and Mike by phone since we matched with them. I just spoke with Tiffany on Monday and she told me that she has an appointment with the high risk pregnancy specialist again today and another stress test and ultrasound for the baby. She said she'll give us a call this weekend sometime to let us know how everything went. If you are wondering why Tiffany has to see a high risk specialist or have a stress test done on the baby, it's because she has asthma and allergies that have been giving her more and more trouble as the baby grows and begins to push on her diaphragm more. She said she was feeling pretty good although she had been having some of those false contractions (Braxton Hicks contractions I think they are called). Anyway, today the specialist will tell her if they want to stick to the plan of inducing or having a C-section at 39 weeks or if they will let her go full term and allow the baby to decide when she makes her entrance into the world. Tiffany's due date is July 4th, but 39 weeks would put her delivering that last week in June. June 27th I think . Even though I want the baby here as soon as humanly possible, I would rather have her go full term so that the baby can be as fully developed as possible and not have to spend extra time in the hospital.

We've pretty much got the house baby-proofed and ready. Kyle installed a cat door to the basement. We have those spinny thingys on all the door knobs to the outside and to the basement. Let me tell you those things are definitely child-proof b/c even I have a hard time operating them. Pray we never have to get out of the house fast b/c of a emergency b/c if I have trouble with them when I'm not stressed I can only imagine how bad it would be in a panic! We have outlet covers and cabinet locks installed that are a pain in the butt, but nowhere near as big a pain as the door knobs things! I've gone baby shopping and bought the essentials that I think we will need that first month or so. I consulted with Tina, my baby expert since she's a mother of 3 and soon to be mother of 4! I figure if anyone should know about babies today it's her!

Now we just wait and pray that all goes well with the delivery and that Tiffany doesn't change her mind. I can't say that I would blame her if she did, but it would sure crush us. We've got a name picked out and everything and are so excited we can barely stand it. Still, we know nothing is final until 48 hours after the birth so we pray that we can make it until then without getting too stressed out!

Ok, well I'm going to try to post those pictures and then I promise to update everyone once we hear from Tiffany this weekend.

The first ultrasound picture is of her face. The second one is her "girl parts" and they are even labled! The last ultrasound picture is of her foot and back of her head. Then we have a picture of Kyle and I with Tiffany and Mike and then a picture of just Tiffany and I.