Close call yesterday

Yesterday afternoon around 1:30pm we got a call from Sarrina saying that she was headed to the hospital because she was bleeding quite heavy. Shaileen was the one that spoke with her and she said that she sounded quite scared. From what we remember one of her last pregnancies started labor the same way with heavy bleeding. Shaileen was about ready to head into work because she was working 3-11pm last night. I am working 11pm-7am this week in dispatch because I helped out a coworker by picking up his shift so I drove in with Shaileen to make sure she was not alone at work. I stayed there for about 3 hours until we found out that Sarrina was not going to deliver then went home. It is the weirdest feeling being an adoptive parent through the birthing process of your future child because your hands are tied and all you can do is wait and worry about what is going on. The good news is that the doctors stopped the bleeding after a while, however; they were unable to tell where it was coming from. They sent her home on bed rest and asked her to come back in the next several days. Some more good news is that the placentia moved away from the cervix. We did find out that "Baby Cline" is breech currently though. We are so thankful to be where we are with this adoption process and are anxious to meet Baby Cline. The third time is the charm.

We Are Going To Be Parents

I first off have to say thank you to everyone for all of their continued support. We have felt your love and prayers. You have no idea what it means to us and we would have never been able to be where we are today without you guys.

The evening of Fathers Day (6/16/16) Shaileen received a text saying someone is looking to place their baby boy  for adoption and wanted to know if we were still looking to adopt. We replied saying of course we were. We provided this person our blog address and personal information so they could give it to this expecting mother to look at us. She said that she would pass our information along and about an hour later we received another text saying that if we are up for it she will choose us. Holy Moly, that was quick and we didn't know what to think but were extremely excited. We were told that this expecting mother would contact us probably the next day. As you can expect we were excited all day to hear from her and later that evening on Monday June 17, 2013 we got the call from Sarrina. Shaileen was the one that spoke with her. It was a good conversation and she reaffirmed her decision to place with us. Shaileen said after the call that she kept referring to the baby as our baby. We decided that we would get together the upcoming weekend so we could get to know each other better. Sunday June 23, 2013 we picked up Sarrina at her friends house and drove to Baskin Robins. We spent around 1 1/2 - 2 hours getting to know each other and talking to each other. We talked about everything from what her other children are like to openness and even names. It is crazy to think that our crazy adventure is going to be coming to a new step here pretty soon in the next month when he is born so we can start a new adventure. He is due on Friday Aug 5, 2013 but she was telling us that all of her other children have been at least 2 weeks early. So, we are expecting probably closer to 4 weeks instead of 6 weeks until he is here. We learned that Sarrina has 8 children, the last 2 she placed with another family for adoption it sounded like several years ago. Shaileen and I believe we have a name picked out but are not positive yet so we are going to wait until we are positive that it is what we want to choose. Sarrina said that she is completely open for us to choose the name and does not care at all what we choose.

I am sure there will be more posts coming here soon, but again we just want to say thank you. Also, remember that there are tons of couples out there that are hoping to adopt that need your help to build their family. Each of our situations that were brought to us were because family and friends were thoughtful enough to open their mouths and not be shy to talk about us. We would like to ask that you continue to search and pray for hopeful adoptive couples as well as expecting parents. If you ever run across a situation let us know and we would be more than happy to pass it along to one of several couples that we know that are looking. Anyways, thanks again.


WE ARE GOING TO BE PARENTS!!!!

Praying for all in the adoption world

During the processes that we have gone through to get approved to adopt and now waiting/searching to find a child we have felt so many peoples prayers through all our success and struggles.There has been so much support for us and we truly appreciate it more than any of you could ever know. People have passed along our information and that is how we found the first 2 situations. Not just randomly, but because someone remembered us.

I am writing this because if you would be kind enough we would not only like you to pray for us but more to pray for all involved in the adoption world. We as hopeful adoptive parents make up a very small portion of people involved. In each of our prayers we have been praying for comfort for ourselves and patience. More importantly we ask for blessings for expectant parents, their children and their families. We don't pray that they will place their children but we ask that they will be comforted and know what is right for their situation, not ours. I cannot imagine the thoughts that run through the expectant parents heads when contemplating adoption and that is why we ask them to be comforted. With our 2 failed adoption placements we saw first hand how much of a loss it was going to be for not only the expectant parents but also their families.

Again I write this to please keep them in our prayers as well as us as you have already done because we feel them. Thank you.

Failed adoption placement #2

Today was one of the hardest days of our lives. Let me tell the story even though it is going to be tough to write this. Back on Oct 30, 2012 we met "K". We met at Leatherbees and had the best conversation that we could have ever imagined and she pretty much told us that she loved us and wanted us to parent her unborn child that was to be born on March 20, 2013. She said that she was finding out the next day if it was a boy or girl. She asked us if we had a preference. We were really honest and said that we did not care but it would be much easier if it was a boy because we had all of the stuff.
The next day she sent us a message and said that the doctor did the ultrasound and said, "it is definitely a BOY." Our minds were racing in excitement just as we expected.
Over the next several months we became closer than we would have ever expected. We even considered each other best friends. During this time she received some really bad news that would cause this adoption plan to be an extremely high risk placement. I will not go into the intricate details here just for their privacy and the safety of the child. We were both really scared with the situation but decided together that we would proceed because that is what would be best for the child. Shaileen and I decided that we would only tell our immediate family and a few others ;again, just for his safety. It was extremely hard to keep it a secret and not shout it from the roof tops but we knew it would be best.
During the last several months due to what was going on with the adoption process K and baby were in major stress and it was causing him to be under stress in the womb. We were ejecting him to come early. On Thursday morning February 28, 2013 we got a message from K that she was in labor and had been since about 2AM. We got ready for the day real quick because we did not know what to expect throughout the day. We were extremely antsy the whole day. It caused us to spend lots of money because we did not want to just sit at home and drive ourselves crazy with anticipation. We received a message saying he was born at 3:43pm and both momma and baby were healthy and happy as can be. We were both elated knowing that our son was here on earth now. He hugged and kissed celebrating with more tears than you could imagine. A while later we got a photo and was such a good looking little boy. After that we did not hear any news for several hours. Both of us were getting worried. Not worried about a failed placement but about the health of K and baby boy. Later that night around 9:30pm we got a message saying that they have not forgotten about us and if we wanted to come over for a bit we could and could meet him. We felt really bad going over there because it was so late but we couldn't turn down the offer. We ran to the store to get some flowers and sped to the hospital in the car. We showed up and gave K big hugs and she handed baby to us. Holy crap, that was the best feeling I have ever felt. He was and is perfect. He was so tiny, with a full head of hair, luscious lips, the longest fingers, and we think he even had dimples. It immediately came to my mind that he was just in heaven with Heavenly Father. I immediately felt the spirit with him. He was so calm. We left that night the happiest couple in the world. We woke up the next day knowing they wanted us to go to the hospital. There was some major drama going on at the hospital that I will not elaborate on which caused pain for K emotionally. We didn't hear from them until late afternoon which was causing us to go insane wondering what was going on. Again, this caused us to spend way too much money that was not needed! When we got the call to go to the hospital we rushed there. It was so nice to see them. K's sister was there so we let her hold baby the whole several hours that we were there. We knew that if this placement were to take place it could be a while before they would see them most likely. So, we were happy that they were taking him in. We stayed for several hours and then decided that it would be best if we left to give them some time and for K to get a bit of sleep. On Saturday morning we woke up nice and early not knowing when discharge would be for K. Because of some things that were going on at the hospital it was a security threat and we were only going to gain temporary custody until some court stuff was resolved with another party. They were trying to figure out a bunch of stuff that I was talking about as well as K was really emotional and wanted her time with baby which is completely understandable. We started going insane and worrying when we had not heard from them by about 3pm approximately. With us going through a previous failed placement we did not know what to expect. We got the call to meet them at the hospital. It was one of the most bitter sweet calls I have ever received because I know that our happiest day ever was also the saddest day ever for K. As we were driving to the hospital I lost it and was bawling like a baby mostly because I was worried about K and the feelings she was going to have. I got myself put together as we pulled into the hospital. When w walked into the hospital room and saw K I lost it. You could tell that she was a mess all day with the placement that was about to take place. The nurse came in and told us the things we needed to know with baby. I then went out to the car and grabbed the car seat and clothes for him to change into. We let K have the honors of changing him and putting him in his car seat because she wanted to. The nurse said to let her know when we were ready to go. We told her that we needed a few minutes. We hugged it out and told each other how we all felt. When we left with the nurse almost immediately after we left the hospital room both Shaileen and I immediately broke down and stared to bawl in each others arms knowing how much pain she was going through. It is the most bitter sweet thing I can imagine. Like I said earlier it is crazy how someone's best day can also be someone's worst day ever. We got in the car and drove home. On the way we put our phones on speaker phone and called our family letting them they could come over to meet baby. We were at home for about an hour before family started to arrive. It was such a cool experience to have out families meet him for the first time. There were many tears of joy cried with excitement and people were at our home until almost 10pm. We were exhausted. We got ready for bed and put baby in the cradle in our room. He did not want to be mon his own. The only way he would sleep is if we were holding him. How I will cherish those moments last night in the wee hours of the morning, just the two of us. He was so peaceful and absolutely perfect. I know that Shaileen really appreciates that time she had with him also. The next morning we woke up and even face timed with some family. I got a message that read "I am not sure is K can do this". I commented back to them trying to be as helpful and letting them know that we are here for them. A couple hours later I got another message saying that she needed to talk to us asking if she could come over. At that point we knew in our hearts what was going to happen next. Luckily for some reason or another it took them about an hour I would guess for them to show up at our house. During that time Shaileen and I held baby as tight as we could and cried. I kept telling him how much I loved him and that everything was going to be ok. That he would grow up to be just perfect. Shaileen was so heart broken that she hardly said anything, she just held him as tight and as close to her as possible crying so loudly that I was starting to get scared that was was doing damage to her body. After about 40 minutes or so we both calmed down enough to just sit and stare at baby. We were brushing our fingers through his hair, kissing on him, talking to him and doing what we learned that he loved most quickly, tickling him. When I noticed that they arrived I told Shaileen not to move and to take him in as much as she could. I went to the door and as soon as K came in we hugged and cried. I brought her back with some people she brought for support and she immediately went to Shaileen and hugged her and started crying. It is crazy how much love we have for these people even though we are hurting so much. We talked for about 45 minutes I would guess with tons of tears on both sides. We finally said our good-byes and we let them leave. Shaileen and I stood there and cried for quite a while. The next thing was almost just as hard. We had to get on our phones and call our families and tell them the news. It was extremely hard because it was not just us who was invested in this baby but grandparent, cousins, Aunts,uncles, grandparents, friends and ward members. We had a rough night but I know that we will make it through it. We are some of the most resilient people I know. The thing we ask is to not have any bad feelings towards K and her family. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and we love her very much. Baby is going to be watched for and protected very well, I am assured of that. The one thing we would ask for is all the prayers that we can get. We know that Heavenly Father surely answers our prayers. Certainly not in our own timelines but in his. We do not and will not know his plan until the afterlife but I am assured that there is a reason for everything. I am so lucky to have Shaileen as my wife for time and all eternity. She is the rock in my life and makes be want to be a better person every day. I love her with all of my heart. I know without a shadow of a doubt that she will be a Mommy here one day to a boy or girl that will be so lucky to call her that. Shaileen, when you read this know that I will always be here for you regardless. We will make it through is even stronger as a couple than when we started. I LOVE YOU!
If I feel up to it tomorrow maybe I will put a few photos on here.