I am definitely not a blogger. Most of the time I think that no one really cares what I have to say but my precious ones in my little circle but I need to vent. This is going to become my outlet. Maybe no one will read this and that will be okay but maybe some will and eventually this will be come the beginning of a journey. My little family is in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. We have been on this journey for almost a year now and it feels like a lifetime. I want my babies and I want them NOW!!!! Talk about impatience.
Marcus and I have known each other for almost 18 years. I am 37 so that is my entire adult life. I think I fell in love with him the first time I met him. We were both in nursing school at Kent State University and I tried to make it so he had to sit next to me at class. Over the next 9-10 years we had many ups and downs and we made lots of mistakes but somehow God got us here. We got married in 2001 and we started our family in April 2004 with the birth of Abraham. He was soooo tiny. He was born early at 34 weeks because I had a liver condition called Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy. My liver enzymes were really high as was my bile acid level and they were fearful that it would be terminal to Abie. So instead of June 4, 2004 he was born on April 23, 2004. (Who knew that would be the birthday of my future best friend and kindred spirit).
Abraham was the greatest thing that ever happened to us. I had no idea how cool this mom thing would be. We knew as soon as he was born that we needed a ton of kids. I could not believe how blessed I was. Later that year I had an abnormal PAP test and we were in the process of moving. I put it off and finally dealt with it in December (3 months later). I had a colposcopy in Jan 2005 and it came back with mod - severe squamous cells (pre-cancerous). As soon as we could we got pregnant and I found out I was expecting 2 days before Abie's 1st birthday.
Instantly my little Noah knew he wanted out. I started bleeding the next day. I had already set up an appointment with a new OB and I called them. They thought I was miscarrying and told me to wait the weekend and call Monday am. I was a wreck all weekend. I called Monday and I went and had blood work done. The pregnancy hormones were going up but my progesterone was going down. I started on progesterone and went back a couple of weeks later to make sure that baby was developing normally and it was a viable pregnancy. Thank the Lord it was. Things went great until about 28 weeks when I started having contractions. Then on Nov 2 I ended up in the hospital for 8 days. The contractions never stopped and I ended up on a subcutaneous Terbutaline pump and and 2x daily fetal monitoring. Over the next 30 days I was in the hospital for 17 of those days with multiple medication changes. I also had the Cholestasis again and they were monitoring my blood work.
My sweet Noah B was born on December 2, 2005 2 days after my birthday and 4 weeks before his December 30th due date. He was the fussiest baby ever. Truthfully every Noah I know has a few issues. I am so grateful for my boy who is kind, loving, wild, and emotional but I don't recommend using the name Noah if you can help it:)
Everyone I knew at the time thought of course we were done having children with all of the problems we had but Marcus and I knew that we wanted many more children. We began trying again before Noah's first birthday and this time it took a little longer. We got pregnant with Ada in February. My doctor brought me in right away because of my history and at 5 weeks did and internal ultrasound. It appeared that there was no baby but and empty sack. He told me to go home and come back in 2 weeks and we would recheck. He was so kind and just let me cry. He then went next store to the hospital where he worked with my husband and told him what was happening. He told him that he searched the sac and was truly hoping that there would be a baby next time I went in. My best friend and I prayed faithfully during that time. With out her I don't think I would have made it. God placed Emily Maxwell in my life shortly after Noah was born. She was pregnant with a Noah of her own and by the end of fall I knew that she was a gift that God had placed in my life.
At 7 weeks little bitty Ada was there showing up at 7 weeks 3 days and little heart just a beating. My Doctor told Marcus and I that it was a miracle because he was not hopeful when I left there and was worried for us for 2 weeks. I had problems with preterm labor again starting a 24 weeks this time and ended up on bed rest. I had amazing support headed up by Emily. There was a wonderful group of women that brought food to my family 3x a week. We had to hire a nanny (very expensive) that my kids, especially Abraham, did not handle well.
My beautiful girl was born at 35 weeks on October 27, 2007 trick or treat night. Her due date was November 26. She has been the perfect addition to our family. For all of those critical people who thought we were crazy can you imagine her not being here now?
We still want more!!!! Unfortunately in December 2009 I had to have a hysterectomy with multiple repairs done. We knew this was coming so in April 2009 we decided to adopt. After a lot of research and prayer we decided on Ethiopia and choose America World Adoption Agency. We completed our homestudy in August but had to wait for our USCIS (Immigration) approval. Were were officially DTE (Date To Ethiopia) on Nov 20, 2009.
Well there is my LONG story for now. I am going to finish making Easter dinner and spend time with my Burhanna gang.
