Fundraiser

When we started the adoption process I realized we would need to raise some money. A lot of our family and friends would always tell me to let them know if we need anything. I decided it actually act on that and see if they might help a little. 

In October we are doing a race in memory of the babies we've lost and have a group of people that want to run/walk with us. So I was going to design a shirt for that and ended up with a fundraiser. 

I posted the pictures of the shirt on my Facebook and was hoping to sell 50 shirts. I was blown away by the response I got, so far I've sold 161 shirts! I'm placing the order tomorrow and am going to get a few extras because I keep having people see it and want one.  The place I'm ordering from is local and it will take them 5 days to get them back to me. 

If we get enough orders after we get these I can place a second order and the setup fees will be less. I'm not counting on having a second order, I'm very happy with the results from this one. This is just another door that God is opening for us that shows us we are doing what he has called us to do!

These are a little blurry, but this is the shirt I designed. Its hard to tell in this picture but in the branches of the trees are all of our angle babies initials. 

First meeting with the attorney.

As you can tell by the title, we met with our attorney for the first time today. It was just a consultation to learn about the process of private adoption. We got a lot of great info and are so excited to start this process. I've already completed and faxed back the background info packet they have and so now they will start a file for us. 

The next step is to work on a brochure to send out. He suggest a smaller trifold brochure over a scrapbook or preprinted book. These are easier to mail out to people. Since we are doing a private adoption we need to find our own birthmom so we will be mailing these out to family and friends. 

Our attorney also suggested waiting until you get matched with a birthmom to get your homestudy done, but we may go ahead and start that process after we get the brochures mailed out. That way it's something to keep us busy, not only that but we can go ahead and have that part paid for and we'll know we are ready as soon as God puts a birthmom in our lives!

Until next time...

Praying

After having the triplets at 19 weeks 4 days due to severe preeclampsia the specialist suggested that I not get pregnant again. That was so hard to hear, especially for someone who has wanted to be pregnant and have babies since I was 5.

Through this we feel that God is drawing our hearts to adoption. He has a plan for our lives and a child or children meant for us. After talking to Chase and us both together and separately praying about it, we feel lead to adopt.

Out of the many ways to adopt we are going to pursue a semi-open private adoption. We are comfortable with sending pictures and updates on the baby but we aren't sure how comfortable we would be with having ongoing visits. Doing a private adoption has many pros but also some drawbacks. It is much more affordable for us to do an instate private adoption than going through an agency, but you have to find a birthmom. Where in an agency they give your profile to birthmoms to look at.

We have an appointment set up for a week from today, August 6th to meet with an adoption attorney. Then we will be able to find out specific things we need to do and have ready. The plan is to go ahead and start the homestudy process to have that done and ready to go.

On another good note, we have already been contacted about a possible baby. I don't want to go into any details yet, I don't have many anyways, but we should be finding out more soon. It could be a great situation and I will definitely be praying about it.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

Jeremiah 29:11

From the Beginning!

Hey, and welcome to my blog! I wanted to start a blog to to have a journal I can look back at to see how our life changes. My name is Amber, I'm 25 and have been married to my best friend for just over 3 years now. My husband's name is Chase, he's 26, we've known each other our whole lives. I know God put us together and can't imagine my life without him. He has definitely been my rock as we've gone through such a crazy few years. 

 

To start off, here's a few pics of us as kids. 

We started dating when we were in high school, and dated through college.

Then 2 weeks after graduation we got hitched!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were going to wait a couple of years to start a family, but after 4 months we decided we wanted to start trying to get pregnant. Month after month nothing was happening. So after a year of trying with no success we decided to go see a fertility specialist. They discovered that I had unexplained infertility, my body does everything it's supposed to but the eggs produced don't grow big enough on their own.

 

After all the testing we started treatment. I took clomid and hormone injections when I did get pregnant in January of 2012. We were ecstatic when we found out it was TWINS!!

 

 

At 9 weeks we had an ultrasound and found out that we lost baby b. It was devastating but we were happy we still had our other baby.

 

4 weeks

10 weeks

14 weeks

 

 15 weeks

 IT'S A GIRL!!

 18 weeks

 22 weeks

 

 

Then at an appointment at 24 weeks they couldn't find a heartbeat. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, we were sent to the hospital where they induced me. Just over 24 hours later I delivered Ellie Reese at 4:27 pm on June 20, 2012. Nothing can compare to the loss of a child, but as time went on Chase and I started to get back to normal. A few weeks after the loss after switching Drs. we found out I have a clotting disorder that only affects me when I'm pregnant. The placenta got so many blood clots in it that Ellie didn't get enough oxygen. This is a treatable condition, I would just have to take blood thinner injections during any future pregnancies. It was such a relief to finally have some answers and know how to prevent it in the future.

 

So with these answers, after 6 months of trying and yet again not getting pregnant on our own we went back for fertility treatments. The Dr said we were going to be careful and try to keep my levels lower so that I could get pregnant but with only 1 baby this time.

 

It took 2 months of trying, medicine and hormone shots...then we got this!!

 

 

Then at the first ultrasound we were in for the shock of our lives!!

 

 

IT'S TRIPLETS!!!

 

 

We were definitely surprised! Yet at the same time over the moon! Things were going great with the pregnancy. I had horrible morning sickness everyday from week 6 until like week 14 but they were worth it so it wasn't too bad.

 

 4 weeks

 8 weeks

 11 weeks

 14 weeks

 16 weeks

 18 weeks

 

 

We found out that Baby A was girl and Baby C was a boy. At first they thought Baby B was a boy then thought it might be a girl.

 

At 18 weeks I went to my OB for a regular check up and she said my blood pressure had been slightly elevated the last few check ups so she was going to have me do a 24 hour urine collection to check the protein levels. The next day we started to take my bp every couple of hours to monitor it. Then two days later on July 4 it was getting higher and not going down. I ended up going to the emergency room just to get checked out.

 

When we got to the ER my bp was 186/116 so they admitted me right away. I was started on medicine to get my blood pressure down and did a urine collection. The protein level was 1130 when it's supposed to be no higher than 300. The specialist came in and started talking about severe preeclampsia.

 

Over the next few days in the hospital my blood pressure was down and closer to where it should be but the protein in my urine was still getting higher, which is an indicator that my kidney's weren't doing what they're supposed to.

 

 

Goodies from a friend

Chase was there everyday and every night

After 6 days they put compression sleeves on my legs to prevent blood clots

I hit 19 weeks while in the hospital

 

At 19 weeks and 2 days, the specialist and my ob came in and said my protein levels had hit 6200 and some of my bloodwork showed that I was getting close to seizure level. At such a risk for seizures, heart failure, kidney failure, stroke and other things the Dr's suggested delivering. I fought it as long as I could, but my ob (who I love and trust completely) said if I was closer to viability they would let me go another couple of days but still needing several weeks it was just too risky. She was so upset and said she had thought of everything possible to do we had just run out of options.

 

So after starting me on a magnesium sulfate iv to prevent seizures they induced me. About 28 hours later on July 12, 2013 I deliver McKinley Reese, Brayden Sanford(baby b was a boy!) and Colton Dane. We got to hold and love on them, unfortunately none of them survived birth but we still got to show them how much we all wanted them!