Disclaimer- This post is scattered brained. I hope you will somewhat get the point of what has been going on. Also, spelling and grammatical errors are inevitable. Sorry!
I have already proven that I am not good or consistent with the blog thing, but I do want to let whoever wants to know what's going on what we are doing and why.
The last time I posted we were in TN waiting on Holland Grace to be born. Alecia had gone into labor, they thought an emergency C-section was about to happen, we immediately left Hartford and went to the hospital. They were able to stop labor and even though the doctor thought for sure that HG would come in the next week, she didn't. After one week in TN we made the decision to go back home and wait. It was not an easy decision. The doctor told me point blank that if we go home, the chances of being at the birth were slim to none. It was also determined that Alecia could deliver via VBAC instead of C-section, which is what she really wanted, but that also decreased our chances of making it to TN from Hartford in time. Being at the birth was important to me. Alecia wanted me there and I wanted to be there. However after lots of prayer and wise council we made the 8 hour trip back to Hartford, we went back to work. The first couple of days back I drove myself and poor Alecia crazy. I constantly wanted to know how she was feeling, hoping that at the first sign of labor we could go right back to TN. After a couple of days I just couldn't take it anymore. I sent Mindy (CRNP and close friend) a text asking for her to either put me in a medically induced coma until labor started or pray really hard for me not to go crazy. She chose the latter. I went home that day and got in bed and started praying. Within a hour I received the comfort we asked for, without going into detail, 2 phone calls later I knew it would be ok financially to go to TN a week before the scheduled induction. That meant we only had to wait one more week before going back. Just having a plan made me so much more at ease. All bags were packed and plans were in place in case labor started before we got to leave. Lots and lots of people were praying for us and I for one could sure feel the prayers.
Fast forward a week. We headed to TN on June 21. After stopping in Montgomery to pick up my Mom we were on our way and I was excited!
We were so very blessed with options of free places to stay. One being a cabin outside of Cookeville and the other being with a friend of Jarrods he played baseball at LBW with. (side note- Jarrod did not know that his former teammate lived in Cookeville. When we came up in February to meet Alecia and go to the gender ultrasound, we went to Sams Club. Jarrod ran into Chuck there and they exchanged numbers. When we spend the week in TN thinking HG was about to come, we hung out with Chuck and his family. I guess they liked us ok, lol, because they offered for us to stay with them when HG was born.) (Additional side note- Chuck and his wife Tiffany, who is currently 35 weeks pregnant, own the Fun Factory in town. The Fun Factory has a bunch of inflatables and a ball pit, toys and arcade games.)
It is such a blessing not having to pay for a hotel!
Ok, back to the trip. We arrived Friday night. Saturday we hung out with Alecia. Her mom helps put on a junior rodeo for children. Easton was able to participate! He rode on a horse in the opening ceremony and then participated in the stick horse races. He had a blast!!! Everyday since we have been here (with maybe an exception of a couple of days), Easton has gone to the Fun Factory. After almost 3 weeks here, he has pretty much conquered every inflatable by himself, from the slides to the obstacle courses. He does front flips and back dives into the ball pit. He knows exactly what arcade games are his favorite- shooting "gopers" (gophers) and cow patties.
Chuck and Tiffany have 2 precious children. Kenadi is five and Kannon turned four June 29. They love Easton and Easton loves them!
Oh yeah, and on the day before Alecia was induced, Jarrod, E, Alecia and Chris (her awesome extremely supportive boyfriend) and Alecia's kids, Damion and Dakota went to the Nashville Shores water park. Before that we ate at Cracker Barrel and were able to meet a group of our church family that was traveling back home from Jamestown NY. (The mission trip we went on last year and hate timing wasn't good for us to go this year.)
I want everyone to know that Easton is having a blast here and is probably going to have a hard time leaving.
I have 3 more things to write about- the hiccup before HG was born, HG's birth, and the current hiccups. I'll try to be brief.
First, the first hiccup. As you may or may not know, in our adoption situation there is Alecia and there is the biological father, Ryan, who is in jail. There is also Josh, HG's "legal" father because Alecia and Josh have been going through a divorce for over a year now and its not quite final. All parties have to sign paperwork to consent to the adoption. First with a social worker and then with the lawyer. (We have our awesome Alabama lawyer that did Easton's adoption and we had to hire a lawyer in TN too. Same with social workers, one in each state.) All went way more smoothly that expected, all three parties agreed to the adoption. On the Friday before HG was born I got a call from the social worker who had been to the jail to get Ryan to sign that part of the paperwork (just a social medical history and an interview about how he decided on adoption and us and that he wasn't being forced). THe SW informed me that during Ryan's interview he mentioned possibly wanting his cousin to adopt HG. This was not good. Did it mean that we automatically couldn't have her? No. But it did mean that the adoption could be much more drawn out and much more expensive and could possibly get to the point where we would have to answer the question is it worth the fight. (that answer would be yes btw, God didn't get us that far to give up at the end.) We immediately started prayer chains. All that day I was a nervous wreck. Saturday I woke up with a peace. Sunday we got to pray with our church family and Alecia and that blessed my soul. Sunday night, Uncle Bob and Aunt Terri, our aunt and uncle as well as Alecia's (though we are not related), came into town. We all decided to meet at O'Charleys for dinner and welcoming them into town. When we walked up to O'Charleys Alecia was on the phone. She immediately handed me the phone and said "its Ryan". I got nervous. I said "Hey Ryan its Lindsey." He said, "I never said I didn't want y'all to adopt the baby. She asked me if I had EVER considered someone else to adopt the baby and I told her yes, my cousin. I was just answering her question, but I haven't changed my mind about y'all. I am in here another 22 months and there is nothing I can do about it. Alecia says can give her more than we can and I want that for her." WOW. It was all a misunderstanding. He went on to say he wants pictures, etc. I told him we will love her and take care of her and we appreciate his and Alecia's selfless decision. Can you say HAPPY and RELIEF! Wow again. God is so good.
We were able to get up the next morning and go to the hospital with peace and reassurance that HG would be uncontestably ours. July 1 was a fabulous day. Though the chances that HG would make it that long without being born was slim, she did it. God did it. Alecia was induced around 7am. Chris, Aunt Terri, Alecia's mother, and I all sat in the room with her. We were all guessing what time she would come. I thought it would be really cool if she came the same hour that Easton did because they already were going to share being born in July, at 39 weeks, on a Monday. At a little before 1pm she was dilated to a 9 and it was go time. I got to stand right there and watch my little girl be born. How many mothers get to do that? ;-) At the end I found myself pushing with Alecia, lol. After less than 30 minutes, there was our precious perfect angel. I got to cut the umbilical cord. It was an indescribable experience. Holland Grace was born at 1:42pm. (Easton was born at 1:44pm :-)
She weighed 7 pounds even and was 19.5 inches long.
I have to remind myself that I didn't give birth to Easton. I was there right up until he was born and then held him right after. Its like I blanked out during his birth or something. However, I will never forget I didn't birth Holland Grace, lol. It was very cool. Very graphic. I'll never forget it. Both birth experiences were awesome and I wouldn't change a thing about either one :-).
I know I am jumping around here, but I want to talk about how awesome Easton did with HG. We were worried he would be jealous or not understand. My mom brought him to the hospital hours after HG was born. I was sitting on the edge of the bed with her when they walked in. Easton came straight to me with the biggest smile on his face. He said. "baby sis! Hold her!" and tried to take her from me. He has been in love since then. Constantly wanting to see her, hold her, or give her kisses. He screamed bloody murder when the nurses took her back to the nursery at the hospital. It has been over a week and he is still smitten and so sweet to her. Hes going to be such an awesome big brother. On that note, its amazing and sad at the same time how my baby now looks and acts so much like a big boy!
Alecia. Alecia is amazing. She is an awesome mother to her children. She knew upon finding out she was pregnant with HG that it wouldn't be fair to HG or to her kids to keep her. The whole pregnancy she considered HG mine and Jarrods. A whole lot of people were praying specifically for her. She and any woman who has given birth knows the connection that is immediately felt when her baby is born. She knew there was a good chance she would connect with HG and the adoption would be hard. I also knew that and so did everyone else. After HG was born I went to our room in room and put on a gown so I could hold HG. I forgot something in Alecias room and went back in there. She said she wanted to hold HG for a minute. Though is may should have, the change in plans did not scare me. Alecia didn't know how she was going to feel, but by the grace of God she felt no connection. She held HG numerous times, fed her, changed her, got her from the nursery in the middle of the night bc she couldn't sleep and was bored. During all this I was never scared. Alecia told me the day after HG was born that she felt like she was holding a friends baby. Seriously y'all, tell me God didn't answer prayers.
I got an email from the TN lawyer the day HG was born that Ryan had signed all paperwork no problem. On Tuesday the lawyer came to the hospital for Jarrod and I and Alecia to sign paperwork. It was then she informed us that the state of TN allows for a waiver to be signed by the birthparents that made the 5 day wait time not exist! How did we not know that before hand? It didn't matter, what mattered was no 5 days of holding our breath, HG was already officially ours! Alecia immediately gave me a hug and told me, "see, I told you everything would be alright". I love that girl.
After everything was signed all that had to be done is for everything to be gathered then mailed to our AL lawyer for him to put together a packet to send to TN and AL interstate compact(ICPC) offices. We then wait for ICPC to approve for us to go home. The 4th of July holiday messed us up a little and the plan was for everything to be completed and to the AL lawyer and be sent out Monday (July 8th) morning.
Ok, I'm thinking this is a good place to end and I will follow up shortly with what has happened since we came "home" (Chuck and Tiffany's) from the hospital on July 2.
I'm also going to post without thoroughly proofreading bc HG is hungry. Sorry!
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