she's here!

Our baby girl, Cora, arrived on July 31, 2017 at 6:17 am!

(I'm sorry that I'm so late in posting this. Chasing after a toddler and nursing this newborn have kept me quite busy. I've had this post saved in draft form for a few days because every time I tried to update and post it my son would run into the room and want to jab at every button on my computer - so then I had to hide my computer.)

We are so thankful for our embryo donors and embryo adoption. I can't write it enough! When I look at my kids I'm just stunned with thankfulness! Our journey to become a family is a miracle.

I got my VBAC! I went into labor in the early hours of July 30. I went back to sleep and called my mother in the morning to pick up Logan and bring him to her house. That being done the only thing my husband and I worried about for the rest of that day (Sunday) was keeping my labor going and stocking up the house for the new baby.

By midday Sunday I was having contractions every 10 minutes or so, they progressed to become 5 minutes apart at around 5 pm. I got in the tub. I thought the contractions were pretty strong, but when we called our doula and she dropped in she said that they could get a lot stronger and she stayed with us and helped my labor progress.

I didn't know that labor naturally intensifies in the evening, but that makes sense. My contractions continued to pick up and get stronger between 5-7 pm. At that point they were 3 minutes apart. My doula had me walk around the block and swing my legs in a half moon in front of me pivoting from my hip joint. She also rubbed my feet with clary sage and jasmin and put some clary sage on a cotton ball and had me inhale it as I walked. By the time we made it around the block my contractions had doubled in intensity.

I then sat on the birth ball and let the contractions keep coming. With each contraction my doula pressed on a pressure point in my lower leg and my husband pressed on a pressure point in my hand. She then had me walk up and down the stairs - doing the same time of movement with my legs that I had done on my walk around the block. At this point it was after 11 pm and I was just howling with each contraction and trying to breath.

Sometime after 11 I felt the urge to push. I sat through a few contractions on the toilet and then we headed to the hospital. (Which was only 7 minutes away.)

At check-in I was 4 centimeters, but the time we made it to the room and I got an epidural I was 6 centimeters. I had my bloody show between getting into bed and getting the epidural. A few hours after I got the epidural the Dr. broke my bag of waters because I wasn't progressing.

At that point everything went into hyperdrive. My body started shaking and I was fully dilated a few hours after my waters had been broken.

I pushed for a few hours and we started to see her head, but due to the fact that her heart rate was going down the Dr. wanted to use forceps if I couldn't get her out in a few more pushes. I tried a few times and then let the Dr. use the forceps. Out she came - beautiful and perfect and howling to beat the band.

Her cord was wrapped around her neck 2 times.

There wasn't a mark on her from the forceps. (I on the other hand needed a few stitches.)

So that's our birth story. It worked out for the best! Healthy baby and healthy mommy.

I'm holding her now and she's nursing like a champ.

Praying for all of you on this journey.

xo Jill

six months

Already six months old! I can't believe it. Our little guys is sleeping 6-7 hours each night - in his crib! We're on a roll this week - he's slept in his crib four nights in a row. I hope we can keep it up. I have to admit on the nights that he sleeps in his bassinet next to our bed the main reason is I still love to have him him right next to me. I sleep easier, because I can wake up and hear his breathing.

My mother-in-law was the one who told me that I just have to trust in God that he's safe and sound in his crib at night (after my husband and I have each checked on him twice) and I'm getting better at trusting in that. He cries pretty loud when he's unhappy or wet, so there's no way we can't hear him.


The home study packet for our adoption and all of the paper work for our sibling adoption and transfer through the NEDC are waiting to be opened and started. I'm supposed to call the RN from the NEDC this month to talk about next steps and preparing for our check up appointment in August and our hopeful transfer in November.

I'm praying everything is okay with my uterus after my c-section and that I'm cleared to get pregnant again. I worry about these things. When the doctor walked in and told us that she was recommended at c-section when I was in labor with Logan (after 59 hours of labor) my only hesitation was because I knew it could effect future transfers (we had a monitor on Logan at the time and he was doing okay and did great the entire time I was in labor with him.)

I know I'll have to trust in God about my body being able to carry another baby again as well. It would be another huge, huge blessing. One I will not take for granted. So far my body seems to be recovering well from my c-section, but I haven't had a scan done on my uterus. I will have to wait until August to see what is in store for us and our family.

Sending prayers and hope to all of you on this journey.

xo Jill