more waiting

This has been a hard week for me, we were so excited to hear some good news from Ethiopia on Monday but we heard nothing. Tuesday I sent an email to Hope Ethiopia (the agency in Ethiopia where Liam is living) to ask if his birth mother was able to make it to the interview and how he is doing. The response: "Tamirat (Liam) is doing great! The birth mother interview is scheduled for Sept. 19." no explanation, no sorry we didn't tell you anything ever.....I am getting more and more frustrated everyday, I know my crazy hormones have something to do with this but it is killing me not know what is going to happen. It has been one horrible waiting game all year. Now it is even harder because the 19th puts me at 23 weeks in my pregnancy, I am getting closer and closer to my third trimester which should be an exciting thing but for me it is closer and closer to not being able to travel to get my son. I will have to ask my doctor next week how long I will be able to travel and of course when flying internationally there are more strict guidelines for pregnant women so I will have to get their approval also once I am so many weeks along, not sure about their time frame yet. Plus I also really do not want to deliver my baby on an airplane or in an Ethiopian hospital :) I think everyone can understand that. I have just been feeling pretty down this week and wish I didn't have to talk about it sometimes but I know everyone is anxious to hear the "good" news when we finally get it.
Today I got an email from another lady who is also adopting and was in Ethiopia for court while we were. She has also been through the waiting game with us, she had spoke to the US Embassy via email and they told her that Hope Ethiopia had NEVER contacted them to set up an interview for the birth mother. Why then did they tell us we had one on Monday and why did they tell me there is one on the 19th??? I have no idea what is going on and neither does our agent here in the US. We also sent an email to the Embassy to see if we actually have an interview scheduled for 9/19 we wont hear back until probably Tuesday or Wednesday because of Labor Day. I really hope it is positive news.

Miss Raegan is doing great though, she is moving more and more everyday! It is so exciting! She refuses to move for Josh :) she will be kicking like crazy and he touches my belly then nothing.....he moves his hand she kicks some more hahaha. Its too cute but I think he is a little disappointed. I have an appointment next week and hopefully we will be able to confirm that Raegan is in fact a girl since she was being a little difficult last time.
I am blown away by how blessed we have been this year and how much has happened! God is so good and I know that everything works to the good for those who love the Lord! We just have to be patient and wait on His timing not our own. Sorry this was so long, I just need to vent sometimes. We still have NO regrets other than possibly our choice of agencies, but I feel God led us to this agency for this child, he will fit in perfectly in our crazy little family.

Please keep our friends the Vance family in your prayers, this week they lost their newborn daughter. I cannot even imagine what they are going through right now but I am sure they could use all the prayer they can get.

It's a GIRL

We had our ultrasound today! We had 3 doctors to do our ultrasound 2 residents and my doctor it was a very crowded room! The big screen was broken so we only got to see the baby on the tiny little portable machine which cant print pictures so we will have to take a usb drive to save them on next time. I was kind of disappointed but it was so exciting to see the baby that the disappointment didn't last long.
Everything was right on track! She looks like a very healthy baby! Still have the due date of Jan. 15th. She had her elbows up and her legs crossed hiding her hands and her feet and making if very difficult for the resident doc to figure out the gender, but our doctor took over and nudged her a little so he was able to tell the she's a girl :) but he said he is only 80% sure and we will do another portable ultrasound next month just to make sure (for free). We love our doctor! He is so nice and I think he is almost as excited as we are :)

We also heard yesterday that Hope Ethiopia the agency in Ethiopia has found the Liam's birth mother and has a interview planned with the embassy on Monday the 27th, hopefully they will get her there and we will pass! If everything goes as planned I think we should find out sometime next week when we will be going to get our little man. YAY!! Everything is falling together nicely finally!

boy or girl

Tomorrow is the BIG day for baby Wise! We get to find out the gender. I can't sleep, I am so excited! People are pretty evenly divided on what they believe we are having, I seem to be the only one with no clue.
I am carrying low-boy
I was sick as a dog-girl
The pencil swung across my arm- girl
Sweet cravings- girl
Sour cravings- boy (I have both)
no acne- boy
I love the way we justify things to make them say what we want! But tomorrow we will hopefully know for sure. We are having more luck on the names now since I really want to have a name when we find out we have been thinking hard (poor Josh). So here we go:

Girl: Raegan Alexa
Boy: Jasper Levi or Levi Jasper

exhaustion

Whew I seriously think I have over done it in the past couple of weeks. Whenever Josh is gone I try to stay busy and I usually do but its a lot different now that I'm carrying this little one around with me. I drove to KY the week before last for the unexpected death of my uncle, its about a 17 hour drive = no fun ever and especially not when you have to stop every couple of hours. The week was so busy with the visitation and the funeral. I also took my dad to Lexington to the wound care clinic so they can hopefully do something about the ulcers on his foot that keep getting worse even though he has been going to wound care weekly since May. By the end of the week I was exhausted! Got home on Monday night, went to the doctor on Thursday, flew to San Diego, CA on Fri. I was in CA for 3 days for Family Readiness Training (FRG) which is a group of soldiers, families, friends, and other volunteers that help put on events for the soldiers and work to keep their families informed and up to date on resources. It was a great training, I learned a lot, met a lot of great women, and got to enjoy beautiful San Diego. I got home late Sunday night and have been feeling a little under the weather ever since, I think I have just pushed myself a little to hard. I cannot do what I used to do and I am having a hard time accepting that.
The baby is just moving around like crazy! I love the feeling! I can sometimes feel a little nudge too it is so awesome. On Tuesday the 21st we get to have another ultrasound and find out the gender! I have been feeling pretty nauseous this week, I hope its only because I'm exhausted and it will go away again when I finally get rested up. Until then Zofran is my best friend again.....
Still no news on Liam, I am getting so anxious again I cannot wait to get that email from the embassy telling us we passed and we can go get our son! He is getting so big and we are missing so much. I am just glad that we know he has a great team of caregivers taking care of him. My Dr still says I am okay to travel and that the 2nd trimester is the greatest time to travel, but I have to walk every 30 minutes to an hour on the plane ride...awesome.
I have another funny embarrassing story: Last night Sam and I went for a walk, I always go out through the garage door and use the key pad to close it behind me and then to get back in the house that way my house is locked and I don't have to carry a key. Yeah so when we got back from our walk it was dark and the battery on the key pad died. So I was locked out. I thankfully have roadside assistance on my car and my insurance will cover to have my car unlocked. That way I could use the garage door opener in my car to get back into the house. When I called USAA the rep I talked to laughed and laughed and laughed at me. Yes it was funny but not at the time.  Finally by 10 pop a lock came and unlocked my car which set off my alarm so any neighbor who didn't notice me locked out before definitively knows now hahaha. Never a dull moment here. I can laugh now, but at the time it wasn't so funny :)

week 17 dr. appt

Went to my 17 week doctors appointment today. Got to hear the babe's heartbeat again. Such an amazing sound, I am nervous for every appointment but as soon as I hear it I am fine. The doctor said everything looks good and right on track woohoo! I am feeling so much better finally, I have been Zofran free for 2 days now hahaha. It is a miracle drug, I could not have survived this long without it (its for nausea). I gained weight yay! Never thought that would make me happy but up until now I have lost about 8 pounds but I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight.
The computers were down today so I could not schedule my next ultrasound but I am supposed to schedule it around Aug. 25th and we will know the gender!!!!!! According to the spinning pencil trick (whatever its called) its a girl....don't really believe in that but it will be neat to see if its right. We are very excited to find out, we have a girl name but no boy name yet. I am able to feel little flutters now that are sometimes more like little nudges sooo cool!

Embarrassed myself today!!! The tech that took my vital signs had a name bagde on that just had a  "J " on it so I said...you just got a letter, no name? WHY do I have to think outloud?!?!!? Well apparently that is his name. Yep open mouth insert foot. But I got to hear the whole reasoning behind his name, yep should have kept that thought to myself!