9 more days!!!!
Well the countdown has begun, that’s for sure!! Our son will be here in nine days, on January 12th! In 9 days, we will (God willing) become parents, meet and hold our child for the first time. We have been anxiously waiting for this day for 2.5 years, but I have been dreaming about this day since I was a child. Coping with infertility was the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced, but THIS, this is unlike anything I’ve ever imagined. The joy and happiness we feel in preparing to meet our child is unreal.
Psalm 113:9 “He makes a dry woman sit in her house like a blessed mother of children;
Psalm 30:11 “You have turned my crying into dancing;
These days approaching the birth of a child are the ones I want to remember and cherish forever. The emotion is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Every day I feel different, from extreme happiness, to worry and anxiety, to feeling like this is too hard to do, to LOVE (which leads to a lot of tears), and back to happiness. Last week I felt like I was in la la land because it all just felt so empty. Wes on the other hand, is mentally stable and it amazes me that he manages to live a normal life. He’s happy, but it doesn’t affect his every waking moment like it does for me. This week I feel joy and happiness. We are so blessed to have a special relationship with this expectant mother. He talks to us often and tells us about his happiness. Hearing her talk about how ready she is to have a baby and how excited she is to be the one to make us parents for the first time brings tears to my eyes. I am in AWE OF HER. Absolutely terrified.
Our Plans
We leave THIS SUNDAY, in 5 days!!! We decided to drive to save on travel costs and to avoid catching the flu on the plane. The drive from Chicago to where we will be staying in Florida is about 20 hours. We hope to arrive Monday afternoon to pick up our expectant mother for dinner. On Tuesday I will buy her dresses, then I will take her maternity pictures so that she has something special to remember when she is pregnant with a boy. I saw a friend of mine who raised me doing this and I thought it was amazing. I want him to feel that he is beautiful and special and I just want him to know that we accept this special role that he will always have in our boys’ lives. They are so loved! We are all very happy for this day together. The baby will come on Thursday and everything else will be played by ear. After the papers are signed and we are released from the hospital we are lucky enough to have my brother’s friends over. They were very kind to open their house to us for as long as we had to wait. We hope to be able to submit the ICPC (interstate compact for the protection of children) papers on Tuesday the 17th, and it usually takes 5-10 business days to get approval so we may have to wait a little longer. WE are so thankful to have such a wonderful community. We don’t know what to expect from this. We have been told that we will not have a separate room for the baby in the hospital, and we will be treated like any other hospital guest and we will be allowed to see the baby during the visit. We’re a little disappointed by this because we were so excited to start bonding with the baby right away, but we’ll go with the flow. Emotions will be high and we are as prepared as possible for the feelings that the birthmom will have. The best day of our lives will be the hardest day of his life. We have never experienced anything like this before and we are scared, but we also have love and compassion.
PRAY!!!
Please pray with us and all concerned. Please pray for us to have safe travels, and for the health and recovery of the mother and child. Please pray for the birthmom to GO in peace and feel so much love through it all. That she can make the decision that is best for her and the child, and that whatever she chooses we will do our best to love her.
Our surprise
Finally we finished putting the picture together and we are very happy with it. It turned out so cute and will look amazing hanging on the nursery wall. This would not be possible without all of you who have generously given. We cannot thank you enough and will forever remember the love and support you have shown us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
