She's Here!

Elsa Mae 

Born on March 3rd at 7:55am

7 pounds 11 ounces

20 inches long

We are so excited to welcome little Elsa to our family! She is so sweet and perfect. We praise God for her.  We rejoice in God's faithfulness as his plan for our lives has been anything but what we imagined over the last four years.  God is so great.

The name Elsa is a form of Elizabeth. Elizabeth was Lindsay's grandmother's middle name, and is scattered throughout my family tree. Elsa means my God is an oath or God is abundance. We also liked the idea of giving her a strong Swedish name. Mae is a name we really liked and also has some family connections. Mae was Lindsay's great grandmother's middle name and is also her aunt's middle name.

Lindsay did wonderfully and I am incredibly proud of her. She get's a gold star.  She and Elsa are both in good health and recuperating well.

As with Aaron's birth, we were honored with the presence of both our mothers,  though in different roles than last time.  Lindsay's mom has been amazing help with Aaron over the last few days and been a huge blessing in our lives.  My mom was able to be at the birth in a doula-like role and was nearly our unofficial midwife when the doctor almost missed the birth.  We are so thankful for both of them in our lives.

We continue to praise the Lord for his many blessings.

and some photos...

Elsa & Lindsay

Aaron & Elsa

Carol (Nan), Aaron & Elsa

Elsa resting

Unexpected blessing and a detour

John, Aaron and I are so excited to announce a sweet little one will join our family in March! This pregnancy was a complete surprise. Being in the middle of an adoption, we were NOT trying. After over three years of trying to add a child to our family, three losses, secondary infertility and a year and a half in the adoption process we are so excited to become a family of four! 

It has already been quite a ride. This pregnancy had a rocky start and due to my history it was hard to be excited. Each appointment has continued to bring good news. It was quite a thrill to hear our reproductive endocrinologist say he believes we will have a healthy pregnancy and baby. 

This pregnancy has stretched my faith so much. I have been so fearful at times. Each of those times as I've prayed I hear God tell me to have peace. Not necessarily peace that everything will turn out the way I want it to, but peace in His sovereignty and that His hand is on this little one. 

Really, isn't that what parenting is all about? Faith that God's hand is on our precious little ones and that He will guide us in raising them? I do believe God's hand is on this child. He knew about this little one all along. We pray for God's protection and that He will continue to knit this sweet child together. (Psalms 139)

So, how does this affect our adoption? Let me make one thing clear. WE ARE STILL PLANNING TO ADOPT! Adoption was something we chose, it was never second best or a last option. We feel God lead us down the adoption road for a reason. Even though this journey is taking a detour, our hearts are still drawn to adoption. 

It is our agency's policy that if a couple becomes pregnant during the adoption process their file is put on hold. Our file will be on hold until this little one is six months old. At that time we would go "active" again and would likely keep our spot on the list. As excited as we are about this pregnancy, the timing was quite a shock. I would be lying if I said we didn't experience some disappointment. It's tough after working so hard on adoption the process has come to a screeching halt. We will continue to trust that this is all God's plan and timing. 

Many, Lord my God,

    are the wonders you have done,

    the things you planned for us.

None can compare with you;

    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,

    they would be too many to declare.

Pslams 40:5

Fun with henna

My very talented Sister-in-law drew this henna tattoo for me! Beautiful don't you think? Anna drew the design on my tummy free hand. The baby made things difficult for her by kicking and rolling around. Then, my other very talented Sister-in-law Rachael took some pictures.

Ultrasound

Here are the first pictures of our baby. We had the ultrasound last weekend at Birth Matters in Colorado Springs. A local midwife that John's mom knows graciously did the ultrasound for us on a Saturday without charge. We really appreciated the generosity! It was a very warm and friendly environment, what a great experience! John's parents came with us, which was a lot of fun. It was great to huddle together around the ultrasound machine and watch our little one.

We have decided to wait until the baby is born to find out the gender. Although, if we had wanted to find out we certainly could have! We had to look away numerous times because the baby was so willing to share! He or she was not as willing to let us get a good look at his or her face. We were also told that we have a very active baby. The little one is constantly moving, which I have noticed in the last week. After seeing our baby, we are definitely excited to meet the little one. Only 19ish more weeks!

I love this picture. The baby's head is in the lower left hand corner. In the upper right hand corner, you can see little feet!

A wave hello.

Profile shot.

This one is the baby's back. I love the spine and little ribs.

Belly Pictures and a new niece!

John and I decided to take a last minute trip out to Grand Junction at the end of February. We spent some time with my parents and some of John's family. We spent Saturday evening at the King residence. John's parents were also there from Colorado Springs. Jan (John's mother) had already been in Delta for a little while waiting for Rachael (John's sister) to have her baby. For anyone who does not know, Jan is a registered home birth midwife. Rachael and I took some belly pictures, we didn't think we would get another chance. Here Rachael is at 38 weeks, me at 16 weeks.

We didn't realize how little time we had left to be pregnant together. Rachael went into labor just six hours after these photos were taken! John and I had headed back to my parents house in Grand Junction. I got a phone call from Rachael at four in the morning saying maybe I should come back over. Of course I jumped in the car and drove straight over.

Around an hour later, Toby and Rachael had a beautiful baby girl, Sarah Bernice. It was such an honor to be at my niece's birth. Everything went great, Rachael did amazing! Now I am excited to meet my baby! Below is a picture of little Sarah and one of the family that was at the birth.

*Belly pictures and picture of Sarah courtesy of Rachael King

What a wonderful sound!

We heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time on Saturday. We were pretty excited!