Sick Days

So our past week has been filled with many sick days and visits to the doctor. To start us off, Hudson began having not so wonderful poop diapers on Monday morning - let me say it was something that was definitely not supposed to be coming out of there. So after monitoring for a day like the doctor said, I proceeded to collect a days worth of yucky diapers and take them to the doctor on Tuesday. After taking the samples, they confirmed that he is allergic to milk proteins. He never cried about any pain or anything! Now Hudson is on a hypoallergenic formula and the diapers are now back to normal (much quicker than the 4-6 weeks they said it may take).

Now, I got a phone call on Tuesday morning after the visit to Hudson's doctor and Lilly had a fever at MDO - so I go pick her up. She had the yuckies for 2 days and was able to go to her Christmas party at school on Thursday. She still has a cough.

Silly hats on sick days

Hudson had been getting congested throughout the week, but by Friday, he was really struggling to breath - panting really. Saturday I took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis - inflammation of his lungs basically with mucous and yucky things making it really hard to breath. They prescribed an inhaler with a mask to give him. On Sunday the breathing gets worse and I take him to the ER. He had several chest xrays, blood work, breathing treatments, among other things. The xray came back clear, thank goodness! So basically he had a very yucky virus for a 3 week old and it is going to take some time to heal with the inhaler and nebulizer treatments. Please pray for our little guy to get better and be able to breath better really soon!

At the ER, I really saw a wonderful picture of servanthood that touched my life. A mom (I think a single mother) comes in with her little baby that is screaming and sick. She sits down and proceeds to try to calm him down, but had no success. A man, a complete stranger to her, asked her if he could take the baby to try to calm him down. This man, I have to say, he must be a man of God, took this little baby in his arms and immediately the child calmed down. This man walked with a complete strangers baby for 2 hours up and down the emergency room hallway. He did not know them or have to do this at all. I don't really even know why he was there. But for that mom, this man was her angel. After talking to her, the baby had been screaming all day at home, and what a relief to see her little boy calm down by this mans selfless act of kindness. Things have been tough this week, but this was a reminder that God is there for us, he shows himself in and through so many different ways.

Busy Times

So, we are settling into somewhat of a routine at home. Last week, Brian's mom came to help out Wed - Fri, which was so nice. Lilly's 2 year old party was Friday morning in the freezing cold weather at the park (we all looked so silly out there all bundled up in gloves, hats, but I think the kids had fun playing. Needless to say, we did not eat the ice cream - BRRRRR! Saturday we had our adoption picnic. It was so nice to see some people in our adoption group, some still waiting and to see the other babies that have been placed with families in our group. Hudson was the youngest one there, but he did really well and ate a bottle and slept most of the time.

My mom flew in on Monday to help us for a week - how wonderful! I had finals on Tuesday and needed help watching the kiddos while I graded. She helped us clean and took some of the late night feeds. Thanks a bunch to both moms for helping us with little Hudson.

Hudson really is doing well, he is eating great and sleeping pretty good. Some nights he will do 4-4 1/2 stretches, others he is back to 3 hours on the dot. He was pretty funny the other day - he was having tummy time and all of the sudden started rocking and turned from his stomach to his back! Pretty cool!

Lilly is doing well with him as well - she does have her moments - but all in all, is very diligent about making sure where the baby is. She is quite the helper too! I can't believe my little girl is two! She has grown up so fast! She talks so much and loves to play. She especially loves her babies and now likes to do with them what we do with Hudson - changes them, puts them sleep, rocks them in the swing. Lilly loves to read and will sit in her chair while I get ready in the morning and read to herself. She also loves to dance and sing!

We're Home!

We are so excited to welcome our newest addition to our family. I thought I would write a little bit about our story this week. We got a call on Monday that the birthmom was in labor and that we should head on to the hospital. We took Lilly to Brian's brother's and then went to the hospital. I was so nervous to meet her, but the meeting went well. She was very open and honest with us and wanted us to be a part of the labor/delivery. We got there about 5 and they started patossin to start her contractions and she got an epidural. Then about midnight we went to IHOP to get some food and came back - the doctor had stopped the medication to induce labor and decided to wait until the next day. We went home from about 1-5 am and went back to the hospital. At about 8 am, they started the medication again and at 10:00 she was ready to push. She allowed Brian and I to be with her the whole delivery, which was so neat. With our first I had a c-section and did not get to experience any of natural delivery.

Then Hudson came out at 10:20 am, and Brian got to cut the cord! That was really cool! Then we spent about an hour in the room with the birthmom and the baby and they gave me an arm band to be able to go to the nursery with Hudson. Brian and I were allowed to go in the nursery and watch them do all the vitals and give him his shots and first bath and I gave him his first bottle.

The rest of the week we spent alot of time with the birthmom in her room, getting to know her and spending time with Hudson. Thanksgiving was funny - our family waited and we had turkey dinner at night and then went back to the hospital to give him his last feed before bed. Friday we got the good news he would be released. AIM - our agency received the baby from the hospital and then gave him to us to take home. We were official! All the signing went really smooth as well.

We are just so thankful for this precious gift. So many little details worked out so perfectly, God really moved and worked in our life and so many others. A big thank you to everyone who has been praying for us during our whole adoption journey. I can't believe when I look in his little face that he is ours - that we have a son. Lilly got to come to the hospital twice before we brought Hudson home, she loved saying baby! and got to push his basinet back to the nursery and was such a big helper. She likes to look at his toes and helped me feed him a bottle today. Such a good big sister!

Today was Lilly's family 2nd birthday party! She had a great time and loved all her presents and the cake and ice cream! We have so much to be thankful for!

tomorrow

We got a call today that the birthmom wants us to be in the delivery room tomorrow! We are so excited, I had been praying for the birthmom to be open to meeting us, but this is even greater! Please, please pray for the baby to be healthy. Stay tuned.....

News

So, after a tough few weeks, we got some news today. Our social worker called today to let us know about a situation where the mom wanted the agency to pick out the family. They thought of us and we definitely were interested and excited! The baby is being induced on Tuesday and then they will call us to let us know when and where to pick him up! Yes, it is a boy! What a God thing! We would probably get him on Thursday - a Thanksgiving miracle baby.

We are asking for lots of prayers in the next week, that this door will be opened and for prayer for the birthmom and baby.

A New Chapter

So this last month has been a roller coaster of emotions - are we getting a baby or not? So we found out today that we are not. Something happened with the communication between the birthmom and we assume she has decided to parent.

We are beginning the journey again. I was thinking that this is a little bit like when we lost our baby through miscarriage. Some of the same emotions are surfacing again - facing infertility and adoption are both so hard! Even though I was not physically carrying the child, we do carry adoptive babies in our heart, so my heart hurts for this loss. For the promise of a child that is now not ours.

I know that something good will come out of this and that God will reveal this good in His perfect timing. I know in my heart that there is another baby out there that will be a perfect fit for our family - that we just have to wait for that. Again, as I have said before, and I have to remind myself daily, it is not my timing, it is HIS. I take comfort that God is our mighty refuge and we can run to Him in our times of trouble.

Happy Halloween

Halloween was fun this year! We got to eat lunch with Brian at work. We also went trick-or-treating for the first time. Lilly enjoyed it I think. We just took her to the houses on street and she enjoyed knocking on the door. Everyone seemed to love her cutey pumpkin fairy costume! After that we watched a Winnie the Poo Halloween movie and she had a sucker and a twix. All in all, a good Halloween!