Andi Nicole

She's here and we can finally tell you all about her!

Andi Nicole Thompson was born on December 3, 2014 and her adoption was finalized today, December 29. She is officially and legally OURS. Forever.

Let's start with her birth story.

On November 17 Crockett and birth mom arrived in Topeka from Michigan. She stayed with us until my mom, sister, and 2 nephews came into town the following week for Thanksgiving.  Once they arrived she was given some peace and a quiet place to sleep at a local hotel. (Would you believe that between 4 adults, 2 toddlers, 2 dogs, & a cat in my tiny house not many people got sound sleep that week?) My sister left the Sunday after Thanksgiving (the 30th) which was the due date. My mom left Dec. 2 hoping to be here in time for the big arrival. Andi had other plans. 

We went to the hospital 2 or 3 times thinking it was time and they sent us home super bummed each time. Apparently birth mom needed to feel inches from death before they considered her in active labor. The night of Dec. 2 I took my mom and nephews to the airport in Kansas City (~1.5 hours from our house). On my way home Crockett called me and said, "We are going to the hospital!" I met them there at 8 pm, just in time for the nurse to come in and check birth mom. The last time we were there she was at a 2. (For all you non-labor/delivery goo-roos the goal is a 10.) The nurse checked her and she was still at a 2. :( Total bummer. She sent us home. 

Side note: During the last few days of this waiting game I was having EXTREME anxiety. I don't even know what was going on with me. I was nervous, excited, scared, jealous, afraid, and 1,000 other things. My pulse was elevated and I was shaky; I couldn't eat and felt nauseous. I felt like I was losing my mind. I made my sister go see a movie with me just so I could have 2 hours outside my own head. It was Mocking Jay part 1; I didn't have to force her too hard. ;) It never went away until we were home from the hospital with Andi in tow.

Back to the story. So we go home and birth mom is having pretty painful contractions. Crockett went to bed thinking he'd probably have to go to work the next day and I stayed up with birth mom. She took a warm bath. She tried several different positions to get comfy and finally at 4 am she decided she needed to go back to the hospital. I took her and told Crockett I would call if we were admitted. We got to the hospital and it was the same nurse from 8 hours before who checked her and she was at a 3.5! Hooray for progress! She called birth mom's doctor and they decided to admit us. (Before leaving triage birth mom got her IV and y'all... they couldn't get the needle in her arm! They, yes, TWO of them, stood there poking and prodding her arm for like 15 minutes trying to get the IV. I, being the soldier I am, had to walk away before I passed out. I felt pretty terrible about that, but at this point I hadn't slept all night and hadn't eaten for over 8 hours. Not to mention all that weird shaky anxiety stuff. Luckily, when I stepped in the hall to heeve nothing came up. The nurse at the station in the hall probably thought I was the weakest lesbian partner in the world.) Off we went to the huge labor/delivery room. (Seriously, biggest hospital room ever.) Enter Crockett with bags and coffee in hand.

Birth mom was a total champ. She labored to an 8.5 before getting her epidural and then it was only about an hour until Andi arrived. I was able to be right there with her through the whole thing. It was amazing. Crockett sat in the corner of the room waiting for that little girl to make her debut and I got to watch my daughter come into the world at 8:02 am. 

Another side note: I handled the epidural. I. Did. NOT. handle the catheter. At all. The nurse told me to go lay down and then had Crockett go get me food. I was teetering a bit. Apparently I was a scary shade of ghost. I had a banana and some milk and rested until it was push time where I resumed my position. :) Thankfully, birth mom was able to rest at this point too when the epidural kicked in. BTW, anyone looking for a dula? Don't call me.

Here's our princess!

Ok, this picture may seem creepy with all the pixelation, but she just has pixlexia, guys! J/k. (Wreck-it Ralph reference) I don't have birth mom's permission to post this so I'm just going to show you this sweet, sweet moment without revealing her. This picture will be in Andi's room as soon as I can get some prints. I love that this is an open adoption and I'm blessed to know and love this woman.

Dad's first time to hold Andi. He is totally in love. <3 p="">

                                                                                                               

  As soon as Andi was born consent papers were sent to birth dad and birth mom signed her papers in the hospital the morning after. (Also, at the time of signing her consent she also signed the papers giving Crockett and me legal temporary custody which were immediately taken across the street to the court house and signed by a judge.) Birth mom was recovering in a room across the hall from us. The hospital gave us our own room to stay in with Andi as long as she was there. (Total of 2.5 days)

A couple hours after signing her papers she came to our room and told us that birth dad had texted her and said he wasn't sure he wanted to do an adoption anymore. We thought she was joking. 

She wasn't. 

Immediately we called him and put him on speaker with birth mom, Crockett, and myself in the room. I did most of the talking and just asked him what was going on and tried to understand. He said he would think about it and let us know what he decided. 

Crockett and I spent that day in prayer pleading with Jesus for this little girl who we were already so in love with. There were many tears. But I have to say, within hours Crockett and I both felt a very real sense of peace. We had to take the pictures we had posted on Facebook down because birth dad had said the reason he was changing his mind was because he saw a picture of Andi. That day I had people ALL DAY texting and messaging me comfort and prayer. It was truly one of those moments you can look back on and say, "Jesus showed up big." We hadn't told anyone what had happened and people were telling me that God had laid my family on their hearts and they had just felt a sense to pray for us. People I haven't talked to in YEARS. It was a mind blowing day. Within a couple hours of talking to birth dad on the phone Crockett and I were still processing and my friend texted me, "This may seem odd, but Jesus just told me tell you that it's going to be ok." 

I lost it. Tears everywhere. 

My soul was so cared for by my brothers and sisters in Christ and most importantly by the God of the universe who sees me and my situation and loves me and cares for me and intervenes for me.

We spent the next 3 and a half weeks uncertain of how this would play out, but certain that God is sovereign and through it all he would be glorified. We had a court date set for Dec. 19 to finalize the adoption pending birth dad's consent papers. That day came and went and there were still no papers. He wasn't returning my calls and he told birth mom via text he had no intentions of signing and asked her to come back to Kansas and get Andi and bring her to him in Michigan (he doesn't have transportation himself.)

Because we had legal temporary custody it was actually going to be a little difficult for birth dad to actually come and take Andi. He would have had to come to KS, hire a KS lawyer, and take us to court. We weren't counting on that happening, however, what we were afraid of was him just not signing the papers and making us wait. That would have required us to pay additional fees to both our lawyer and the courts to present our case to a judge and try to get birth dad's parental rights taken away by the judge. There are 5 different qualifications in Kansas for a father's rights to be removed and we had 4 going for us. So eventually it became a matter of time and money to get the adoption finalized, not a question of if. But in the mean time we were advised not to leave the state. It wasn't a court order, but a reccomendation by our lawyer.

Don't tell him, but I wasn't about to miss Andi's first Christmas with our families. :) 

We drove 13.5 hours and stayed for 11 days in Texas.

While we were there we got a call from our lawyer... HE HAD RECEIVED BIRTH DAD'S CONSENT!!! We were going to court to finalize the adoption! :D

God is so good.

We got back to Kansas yesterday and we had our day in court this morning. 

In the words of Jesus, "It is finished."

So now it's time to play some catch up with all the pictures you missed between then and now.

Going Home!

4 days old and headed to her 1st Dr.'s apt.

 

First Bath

 

Love this face!!

 

                                        

Daddy put the play mat together and as soon as he was done she was asleep.

 

At the Dr. in her cloth diaper.

View we have on our "nanny cam" in her room.

 

 

We loaded up the truck bed and our little family of 6 snuck to Texas.

We had to stop every 3-4 hours to eat.

Meeting my grandmother.

Letting cousin Brody feed her. :)

 

my mini-me, Brooke, and me feeding our babies

all my Memaw's great grands together!

napping with Papaw

Our first Christmas together.

 Presley's turn to hold the baby.

Christmas outfit

Meeting cousin, Bryce, who is 4 months older.

 

All but 1 of her great grand parents.

Me & my daughter on adoption day!!   

Not thrilled about being back in Kansas in this freezing cold.

I give all praise and glory to God for answering my prayers and providing for all my needs all my days. This child is his and I'm honored to be given the responsibility of raising her into a ferocious woman of God.

We're Getting A Baby!!!

WE'RE ADOPTING THAT LITTLE BEAN!!

Baby Thompson is due November 19, 2014 

& this ultrasound was taken at 9 weeks.

Currently baby is 12 weeks if my calculations are correct. :)

So here's our amazing story of how this little miracle came to us.

On April 14 Crockett left Michigan for an 8 week training school in California and I headed for Texas to spend time with family while he was gone. Shortly after I arrived I got a text from a sweet Michigan friend telling me she was pregnant and thinking about adoption. She said if she and the father did decide on that route she wanted to choose Crockett and I as the parents. She has known us our entire time in Michigan and has listened to our story and been there along part of our journey to become parents. She knew we were pursuing adoption and waiting to get to our next unit to start the process over. I began praying that God would calm my heart and not allow me to get my hopes up. I prayed that the baby would grow healthy and that I would be a voice of encouragement to our friend no matter what decision she made.

At the end of April we found out we were going to be stationed in Kansas next. We immediately found a home and I began researching adoption agencies and fertility specialists in the area. Based on our previous research we knew adoption wouldn't be cheap. We had pretty much decided on starting an online giving fund for friends and family to donate to our adoption and then taking out a loan to cover the difference. The agency we were talking to requires that the adoptive parents have the full adoption amount in cash to begin the process. We were looking at taking out about $30,000 in private loans and waiting up to 2 years for placement.

Then, on May 10 I woke up to a beautiful text message. Our friend and the baby's father had gone to an appointment for the baby the previous day. The message read, "We've definitely decided to give the baby up for adoption to you and Crockett!" I can't tell you how ecstatic I felt!! I called Crockett and he was so thrilled. We told his family first at lunch and then my family later that day. Everyone was so excited! The next day we announced it on facebook and the outpouring of love I've received has been so humbling and just overwhelming. 

So many friends and family have walked with us along this journey these past 2 and a half years. So many shoulders have let me cry when month after month we weren't pregnant. Dear friends who've listened to my rants and raves when I was frustrated over failed treatments and painful procedures. It's like we all just got this amazing news together!

So right now birth mom is keeping me updated with appointments and how she's doing. We aren't going through an agency since we know her which will save us tens of thousands of dollars. Crockett & I will pay for a lawyer to handle all the legal aspects of this adoption and we will head to Michigan when it's go time and then take our new bundle back to Kansas just in time for Thanksgiving! 

Can I just tell you how much I admire birth mom? I loved her before this because she is a sweet and precious friend who I really enjoyed hanging out with and getting to know over the years. She was one of the constants from day 1 for us and it was always fun when she was around. But this whole thing has brought me to a whole new level of love and appreciation and respect for her. She knows that right now is not the right time for her to be a mother and that she couldn't give this baby everything she would want to. She knows that Crockett and I have prayed for a child and that we are so ready for this. She is the bravest and most selfless person I know. I can't even imagine a more selfless thing to do. She is a hero. She is my personal hero. I never thought the fate of motherhood for me would be in the hands of another woman and yet, here she is... making me a mother. I will never be able to thank her properly. And I will always hold her in my heart.

Up next is planning the gender reveal party! Birth mom will find out the gender in 5-6 weeks and we'll get her on the phone to tell the people that need to know to prepare the big surprise. Crockett & and I plan to find out at the party at the same time all our friends and family do!! I CANNOT WAIT TO KNOW!! (We may or may not already have both boy & girl names ready to go. Shocker, I know.) After that my seester is planning a baby shower for late summer. Then school and work will start in the fall and we'll have just a few months to get ready for baby! 

I just can't even believe that after all this time I'm finally about to hit "publish" on the blog that announces WE ARE GOING TO BE PARENTS!

O Baby...

If there is one thing that I know for sure it's that nothing is for sure. So much changes so fast. One month we are walking down one path and just a few weeks later everything is different. It's hard to keep everything straight sometimes and it's even harder to explain to others what's going on with us little ole Thompsons.

We got some news last month that confirmed some things we were already beginning to feel and fear. We found out that we are not able to have children naturally. We aren't disclosing at this time all the medical reasons behind the diagnosis, but we will be seeing a specialist in the future to discuss what medical procedures we could do to possibly conceive a baby. Right now with the knowledge we have based on years of research we are more than likely up against 2 options: IUI and IVF. (click the links to learn more if you so wish.) Both options are incredibly costly and based on our personal beliefs about when life begins we will not be doing IVF no matter the availability. That leaves just the IUI. (Unless the doctor we see has some other options we haven't heard about yet.) We haven't decided when we are going to begin seeing a specialist as sometimes these things aren't covered by insurance and the closest one to us is 3 hours away. With the amount of times we would need to go into the doctor's office a week while being treated we just aren't sure it's a possibility right now.

So now what?

We have decided here's what's next:
In 6-9 months we are moving out of Michigan. We don't know where. So when we get wherever we're going we are going to choose an adoption agency and pursue domestic infant adoption. This means we will go on a list and hopefully be chosen by a pregnant woman to became parents when she gives birth (USA only). This is incredibly costly so before we can begin we have to do some fundraising and saving. (average costs are $30,000- $45,000)

Also, we are praying about what to do in regards to pursuing getting pregnant. I feel very strongly that God is calling us to adopt and let go of becoming pregnant for now. I know God has the power to create life in me regardless of a diagnosis that says it won't happen. I trust that if and when he wants that for us he'll make it happen. I'm truly not upset by that. I just want to be a mother, however he'd have that happen. So we might start seeing a specialist when we move just to hear what options are available to us, but also we may just pursue adoption whole-heartedly and not look back. We'll see.

There is a lot going on in both of our hearts as we process this news and other unrelated issues going on. It's been a difficult last month and a half. Please pray for us, friends, that we would walk in peace as we continually surrender our desires before the feet of Jesus. 

Thanks for keeping up with us and most of all praying for us. We appreciate it so!