Changing the name of my blog...

Because we are no longer adopting (at least, not at this time), I'm going to change my blog address. The new one is here:

http://nick-and-kristal.blogspot.com/

2nd trimester!!

Today is the first day of my second trimester. I am feeling really good. No more morning (all-day) sickness! I still get tired pretty easily, but I'm able to stay awake until 9 or 10 at night now! I started back up with my personal trainer this week as well. I'm really sore but it feels good to exercise again. I'm no longer trying to lose weight, but I am trying to make my arms/back look better for Matt and Audra's wedding! (I'm a bridesmaid in their June wedding.) Not really much else to report. It's been a pretty uneventful last couple of weeks. My next appointment is Feb. 4. They will start taking measurements and listen to the baby's heartbeat. I'll also be scheduling the "big" u/s, which should be the first week of March. That's when we'll be able to tell the sex, if the baby cooperates! :-)

Dancing Baby!!

I had my second (and much more detailed) appointment this morning. At my doctor's office, you always meet with a midwife and she does all the yucky stuff (bloodwork, pap, cultures, etc.) for your 2nd appointment. It was awesome . My blood pressure was good (120/80) and I'd lost 5 lbs (thanks morning (aka all day) sickness!!). Then the poor nurses tried to draw blood. My veins are TERRIBLE and one nurse stuck me but got nothing. After searching for another vein, she called in a 2nd nurse. She looked too and found nothing. They said I lucked out because my midwife (Casey) used to work in a lab. Casey came in and we talked for awhile about the dos and don'ts and then she tried. First stick and she got it (whew!) They needed 3 vials and she filled them quick. After she put a band-aid on it, I immediately bled through it. Mini-crisis until she could get it to stop, but it was fine. She laughed that I was impossible to stick but once I got going, I wouldn't quit. Then she did the fun pap and internal. Not much fun, but I survived..haha. After all that, she got the doppler and tried to find the heartbeat. She tried for a few minutes and then turned the ultrasound machine on. She tried with the external ultrasound and of course, the baby wouldn't cooperate. (She said it was a boy since it was being a pain..haha). Then, because Casey is the best person in the whole wide world, she offered an internal ultrasound! She said that her sister and husband tried for 6 years before getting pregnant so she knew how much I'd worry if I didn't get to see the baby or hear the heartbeat. It was the best thing ever. The baby was doing flips and dancing around. There is music pumped through the rooms and "Footloose" was playing. Casey said it looked like the baby was dancing to it! Then, I swear, it looked like it turned towards us and waved! I got a little teary-eyed, but held it together. Because it's an older ultrasound machine, she couldn't listen to its heartbeat so I don't know the heartbeat rate but I'll take looking at our baby dancing any day!! :-)

My next appointment is Feb. 4. I'll be 16 weeks.

Back to work...

Vacation is over! What a way to start back... a hour and 45 minute drive to work! There wasn't much snow but the wind was blowing it over the road so it was impossible to see the lines. Makes interstate driving interesting!

Well, morning (and afternoon and evening and night) sickness began with a bang over the Christmas break! The best way to describe it is having a bad case of motion sickness that never goes away. I've told and read that it eases up in the 2nd trimester but that seems so far away (1/25). But I can take it (I think..haha)

I was shocked but very excited to get some baby things at Christmas. My cousins bought the baby two very adorable outfits. We also got a very soft turtle bid from mom and dad. Mom and Dad also bought me lots of maternity clothes for Christmas. Nick's sister bought the baby his/her first Snoopy and it plays the ABCs. She also got the baby an orange onesie (Nick's favorite color) and some bibs. I also got a nightgown for me and matching onesie for the baby. The day after Christmas, I went shopping with my sister-in-law and niece. They bought the baby a yellow onesie (that says "I love Mommy"...aww) and a pair of maternity shorts, capris and pants. While we were out, I used a gift card I got and bought a sleeper and a very soft blanket from Kohls. It seems much more real now! Maybe it will motivate me to get the nursery cleaned out now.

My next appointment is a week from today. They will draw blood and try to pick up the heartbeat with a doppler. I hope they can find it or I'll worry until my next ultrasound! I will also be scheduling my NT scan (which is an u/s and more bloodwork) and that *should* be within a week or two from next Wed.

I'll try to take some pictures of my baby gifts and post them so everyone can ooh and aww over them like I did! :-)

The truth is finally out....

I couldn't update my blog for awhile we wanted to tell our families before they read it on here. Our adoption plans are on hold for now because I'm pregnant! It was a complete shock but we couldn't be more excited. We did meet with AL on Nov. 30th and told Naomi. She was super sweet about it and let us know that if we wanted to continue, we could. However, we put our plans on hold and told her we'd be back if (God forbid) anything happened or if we decided to adopt our second child.

Here is the story about how we found out (sorry in advance if there is TMI):

Mom, Sarah and I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I started spotting and was so happy because my period was late and I was starting to get very cranky and was very bloated. But when I got home, it had stopped. So I was going to call my doctor on Monday to ask for Provera (it forces you to start). However, before the doctor will prescribe it, they always ask if you've taken a pregnancy test. So I thought I'd save myself a phone call and take one before I called. So when Nick and I went back out to shop Friday night, we stopped by the Dollar Store and picked up a pregnancy test. I forgot to take it upstairs with me Friday night and was too lazy to go back downstairs to get it. I remembered to take it upstairs Saturday night. The plan was to take the test, go change into my pajamas, go back to read the test, throw it away and go to bed. However, after I took the test and before I left the bathroom, I happened to look down and saw two lines! Having never seen two lines before, I just stared at it. Then I took it into the office to where Nick was on the computer and asked him, "How many lines do you see?" Nick said, "Two. How many should there be?" I just stared at him and then he said, "Really??" That's about the time, I started shaking. Of course, I hadn't showered that day (we had put up all our Christmas decorations) so I made Nick go to Kroger's at 11:00 at night to pick up a digital test. Being the smart boy he is, he got a 2-pack. I took the digital test and we both stood over it and watched it. It seemed like forever (although I"m sure it was just a few seconds!) and the word "pregnant" popped up on the little screen!

I told Nick that I had to tell Mom and ran and got the phone. Mom asked if I was serious..haha. Nope, I thought it would be funny to call you at 11:30 at night and tell you I had gotten two positive pregnancy tests! :-) Mom and Dad were so excited for us. Nick and I just kept looking at each other, laughing. I didn't even cry! haha

Of course, things never go that smoothly and over the next few days, I continued to spot. I was terrified something was wrong but when I called the doctor on Monday morning, the receptionist told me it was normal and set my appointment for Dec. 10. It was only Nov 26 and it seemed like forever. However, on Thursday, I was still spotting (and flipping out) so I called the doctor again. They called me back on Friday and told me to come in on Monday for an ultrasound. Nick had an interview in PA on Monday and Tuesday so I went by myself. (Mom offered to go but I didn't want her to have to take time off work.) The tech turned on the u/s machine and I could immediately see the baby (or the blob as it looked on screen..haha). Then she flipped a switch and I could hear the heartbeat!! She printed off two pictures for me to show to Nick.

We went to our first appoitment on Dec. 10th and saw my doctor (Dr. Sosnowski). He was very excited for us. He didn't really do much though. It was too early to hear the heartbeat from the outside but he said everything else seemed normal. My next appointment is Jan. 9th.

Appointment Tomorrow!!

I just verified our appointment tomorrow with Naomi at AL. We are taking a draft of our profile with us and we're hoping she'll look over it and give us suggestions (if needed). I'll be back tomorrow to tell you how it went!

Pictures of Nashville!

Here are just a few of our pictures. They aren't in any particular order.



We went to ICE! We had to put on heavy coats over our own coats and then we got to walk through the scenes from The Grinch carved out of ice. It was amazing! Here is Nick getting ready to take a bite out of the turkey carved in ice.

This is the cake Audra and Matt made for my birthday. Isn't it awesome?? I believe it's called "Happy Beach-day".

We went to Aquarium for my birthday dinner. This is a picture from our table. Yes, that is an aquarium in the far right of the pic. It was huge and was floor to ceiling in the middle of the restaurant.

This is the back of Andrew Jackson's mansion on his plantation, The Hermitage.


This is a replica of the Parthenon.

We went to a NHL hockey game, Nashville Predators vs St. Louis Blues. Unfortunately, the Blues won but we did get to see a shoot-out!


This is the front of the Belle Meade. It's another mansion that used to sit on a plantation. However, most of the plantation was sold off. It was beautiful on the inside, all decorated for Christmas.

I'll try to add some more pictures later.

Back from our trip!

We are back from our trip! We had a wonderful, relaxing time! I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Nothing new on the adoption front. Our appointment is still set for Nov. 30th!

A little bummed...

We have an appointment with AL on 11/30 at noon. It seems so far away right now. Of course, the time will fly with Nashville, Thanksgiving and SHOPPING!

Just waiting...

Not much happening. We had to sign a release in order for Rima to transfer our homestudy and that has been done. Now we are just waiting for AL (Adoption Link) to get the homestudy and our application and check. I'll give it a few more days and call them if I haven't heard anything.

We made a decision!

Well, it's official. We picked our agency. It's called Adoption Link and it's out of Yellow Springs, OH. We sent in our application this morning and requested that Rima send them our homestudy. After we are approved, we will meet with one of their social workers and finish our profile. Then we'll be a waiting family. Rima is leaving soon to go to India for her sister's wedding and to visit family. She'll be gone most of November so I hope we can get all of our information transfered to Adoption Link before she leaves! It's hard for agencies to give you a timeframe on how long you will have to wait to be matched since the birthmom picks the adoptive family. However, we were told by the director that other families who have the same preferences as ours usually wait less than 9 months.

So here's where we are at...

Wow.. I didn't realize it had been so long since I've updated! So here is where we are at in the process. We went to Rima's on Friday to sign our homestudy. It is officially done and can be sent to any agency at any time we ask.

On Saturday we went to the Adoption Fair at the Vineyard Church in Tri-County. There were a lot of different agencies, lawyers, adoption services, etc. with booths set up and loads of information. We spoke with someone from Adoption Link and with Graceworks. We think we are going to go with either one or both of these agencies. Nick and I are going to sit down tonight and compare the two and write up a list of questions we have for both agencies. Then tomorrow, I'll call them both and get our answers. Then we can decide what we are going to do and just do it! :-)

We printed our profile off last week and had a copy of it made for Rima. Once we pick an agency, one of their social workers will sit down with us and help us conform it to their standard profile. I'm pretty confident that we won't have to do much else with it though!

Hopefully I will be back very soon to let you know what agency we decided to work with!

ALMOST DONE!!!

The picture part of our profile is done!!! Nick is going to have them printed off tonight while I'm in class tonight. We have to finish our dear birthmom letter and then buy something to put them all together! I am so excited to get it all finished!

Nothing new going on yet!

I just wanted to check in and let you know that nothing new is going on. We are still working hard to get our profile completed. We have 4 pages completely done, about 6 are a work in progress and we have about 12 more to go!! But I'm almost finished gathering pics so that makes everything go a lot faster!!

I'll be back as soon as I have something new to add! :-)

One of my worst fears nearly happened today

I know this blog is supposed to be about our adoption, but I just had to write about this. I periodically check the news while at work in case anything major is going on in the world. I was on wlwt.com and saw a breaking news headline about a child bringing a gun on the bus. I always read these because one of my worst fears is opening an article and seeing that school/school bus is in Mt. Healthy. (I taught at Rex Ralph Elementary in the Mt. Healthy school district for 3 years.) The article said that a 3rd grader at Duvall Elementary (in Mt. Healthy) brought a loaded gun on the bus and pointed it at 12 students that were on board. Rex Ralph Elementary was moved to Duvall Elementary two years after I left... so that's where a lot of my former co-workers (and some of them still good friends) work!! Luckily no was hurt. I am so thankful it wasn't worse and I pray that this child only brought the gun to show off or to "be cool". I hope he never intented to use it. This is particularly scary after the recent Cleveland shooting where the gunman specifically targeted teachers and the discovery of the Pennsylvania teen who was planning a "Columbine" shooting. Guess how he got some of his guns?? His mom. What is going on?!?!

Just working on profile...

Just wanted to write and say that nothing new is going on at this point. I'm still trying to gather pictures and need a day to just sit down and work on it! :-)

Thank you to everyone who helped/is helping us gather pictures. You have no idea how much I/we appreciate it!

Our homestudy is complete!!

I am so relieved it's all over!!! Rima came back yesterday and finished our home visits. This time I had to talk all about my life and then there was more discussion about us as a couple, religion, etc. Now all that has to be done is to type it up (Rima does that.) We have to work on our profile which consists of a Dear Birthmom letter and lots of pictures. I was given a terrific example so we are in the process of gathering pictures.

For the next day and a half, I'm going to have to try not to think about adoption and study for my mid-term!

Day 1 Complete!

Our first day of the homestudy is complete. Rima will be back tomorrow to finish the homevisits. The first part of the morning, we went over our training. She asked us some questions regarding the training and then asked if we had any questions for her. The majority of the morning was Nick giving him background history. He told about his family, his education, his work history and his relationship with me. I will do the same tomorrow. Then Rima did our safety audit (by walking around the townhome.) That was about it. I didn't realize how exhausting it all was until she left and I fell asleep on the couch!

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!

This is it!!

In 2 hours our homestudy will be underway. Our townhome looks pretty good and we've gone over all of our training materials again. I'm not really nervous, just anxious to get it over with!

I was talking to Scharlene on the phone last night and walked into the laundry room to get a stack of towels that were on the dryer. I had just started a load of laundry and when I walked in the laundry room, I stepped in a huge puddle of water! Isn't that just my luck?!?! Nick helped me clean it up and we tried to see where the water was coming from. I called Mom and Dad who were at a nearby mall and they stopped by to take a look at it. We still can't find the problem but the water is cleaned up. I guess I better go check it again to make sure the floor is still dry. I don't think a flooding laundry room would give the best impression! :-)

After the homestudy tonight, Scharlene, Philip, Nick and I will be going to me and Scharlene's 10th year class reunion. I can't believe it's already been 10 years! I'm not sure what to expect, but I hope we have a great time.

I'm not sure what time Rima will leave but if I have time before we leave for the reunion, I'll be back to tell you all about it. If not, I'll be back tomorrow morning.

Wish us luck! :-)

Another situation...

Rima sent me another situation just a few minutes ago. The baby is already here but the birthmom would like a family near California. Since Ohio isn't exactly close, we don't have much of a shot. :-) Plus, they want someone with their homestudy completed (and ours is sooo close, but not there yet.) Wow... it's such a strange feeling knowing that somewhere, a birthmom might be carrying our baby and we just haven't been matched yet. Even though I don't know her yet, she's in my prayers every night.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!

Tomorrow at 10am, Rima will be at our home to complete our homestudy. She initially said that it would take 2 days but since Nick and I have finished most of the training already, it may only take one day. But if she needs the 2nd day, she's coming back Sunday morning. Either way, our portion of the homestudy will be completed by the end of the weekend! She said it takes about a week to type everything up!

The next step will be to complete our profile. I've been trying to gather pictures that we want to use, but we don't have many pictures of both me and Nick. Most of the time, I'm the one taking the pictures so I have lots of Nick. I, however, avoid the camera so there aren't many of me or of us together. If you happen to have any of us together, could you please let me know??

My best friend's neighbor has been through this process before and has offered to help me put our profile together. (She and her husband now have an adorable baby boy!!) I can't wait to have it finished and ready to send out to potential birthmoms/parents!

Not much too report

Not much adoption-related info to post about. We need to read through our training materials again before Rima comes on Saturday.

Nick and I were in Louisville all weekend. Nick's mom had surgery Friday and the recovery has been rough so far. I really hope she's feeling better today but I haven't heard yet. I'm waiting for Nick to call me to let me know. Please keep her in your prayers.

What a Relief

My coworker told me yesterday that the birthmom was "forced" to choose another adoptive family. I don't believe it for a minute but I'm relieved. It turned out that it really wasn't a situation that we wanted to be involved in. Isn't it funny how things always work out like that? I was so upset that we couldn't get our homestudy done any faster to make it all work, but I know now that there's a reason we weren't legally ready to adopt.

Great News!!

Rima emailed me and told me that our background checks and Central Abuse Registry checks are back! (And for those who were waiting to find out... we both have clean records!) :-) One more thing off our list! Now we just have to do our home visits next weekend.

Home Visit Scheduled

Yesterday, I decided I needed the day off from thinking about adoption. I decided I wasn't going to talk about it, look at my usual websites, email anyone, etc. I wasn't expecting any emails and Nick had already said that he'd make some phone calls today if I needed any to be made. After the last few days on the emotional rollercoaster, I was ready for a break. That lasted until about noon. LOL. I got an email from Sara at Adoption Connection. She told me they had spoke with the birthmom the day before and wasn't sure what she was going to do. I wrote back and told her that I didn't know what she was going to do either but the last I heard, she (the birthmom) was waiting for Nick and I to finish our homestudy so she could look at our profile. However, I also told Sara that stories were being changed and that Nick and I had decided to stop all communication with the birthmom and let Adoption Connection handle it. Sara wrote back and said that she agreed and she'd let us know if and when the birthmom made a final decision. I felt so much better after getting Sara's email.



Then, around 4:00, Rima wrote and said that our first home visit was scheduled for Oct. 6 at 10:00am! We also have to keep Sunday opened as she might be back to do the 2nd and final home visit. It will then take about a week for her to type everything up. If our background checks come in by then, our homestudy will be finished!!