Our Baby Girl Is Here!

On September 17th, I went into premature labor at 26 weeks pregnant. I was airlifted to a hospital that has a NICU for preemie babies. At 6:40pm , I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Caris Noelle. She was 1 lb. 13.6 oz. and was 13 inches long. She gave a cry at birth, which was a very healthy sign. She scored 9/9 on her Apgar scores. She was breathing on her own, but was put on a respirator for 3 days. She is now off the respirator, and breathing fine. Sometimes, she forgets to take a breath, but often recovers on her own or when stimulated. She has a heart murmur, but it appears to be clearing up after medicine. Please pray for her lungs and heart. Overall, she continues to surprise us by her strength. She is our little fighter. She has a long road ahead of her, and will be in the NICU for approximately 2-3+ months. Please pray for our sweet Caris.

Weeks 22-24

Weeks:

22-24 (August 21-September 10)

 

Baby's Size:

Baby girl has grown from 8 inches long to about 8 1/2 inches from head to rump, and has gone from 1 pound to 1 1/2 pounds in weight.

 

Symptoms:

Growing belly--I received my first stranger comment about my belly during week 24!

A lot of fun kicks!
Baby was breech (head up) at my 20 week ultrasound, but I think she flipped, because I have been feeling most of her movements up high.

Some nights of insomnia.

Ease of round ligament pain--still there, but mild.

 

Cravings:

None.

 

Aversions:

Nothing new.

 

Best Moments:

Colin started seeing and feeling baby's movements during week 23!! It was so exciting for me to have Colin be able to experience baby girl's movements with me.

 

Looking Forward To:

Solidifying a name. I think we've probably got it, but we are trying to not talk about it so we don't let it slip.

Creating a nursery after we move into our first house September 21st!

 

WEEK 22:

 

 WEEK 23:

 

WEEK 24:

 

Ten Months Dreaming

 

We have been on the waitlist to adopt for 10 months last Monday!

 

Our Ethiopian girlie has been on my mind a lot recently. The unknowns and unpredictability of adoption can be daunting, but I am learning to find excitment in it.

 

How old will she be when she joins our family?

Will she have tight corkscrew curls or loose curls?

Will she be sassy? (I've heard Ethiopian kiddos have some sass!) :)

Will she enjoy Ethiopian food?

Will she be ours in 2 years or 4?

 

When we first began the paperwork chase in May of last year, we had thoughts of what the journey might look like. About 2 to 2 1/2 years of being on the waitlist. Her nursery would be our 2nd bedroom in our apartment. And surely, she would be our first child!

 

Now, just over a year later, the wait time has practically doubled. We are moving into our first house. And she has an older sister on the way!!!

 

I love to think about having two girls. Sisters. I never had a sister. I grew up a tomboy, playing with my older brother. My husband has 3 brothers. So, this sister thing? It will be new to all of us!

 

I have so much joy knowing that I AM going to be a mama of two sweet girlies!

Another Miracle

 

Back in July, Colin received a job offer with a new police department. We have been so very excited for this new transition, especially because it meant a move from our apartment to a house, and a move from 3 1/2 hours away from my family to just 45 minutes away.

 

Colin started his new job the middle of July. He loves it! But, he has been having to commute either to and from my parents' house on days he works, or to and from our current city on days he has off.

 

We have been searching so hard for a house! At one point, we even had a secondary offer on a house that we thought was 'the one'. We were told the owners were going to bump us to the primary offer, because they preferred our offer, but in the end, they gave the others' offer 72 hours to come through on financing/contingencies, and they pulled through and closed on the house.

 

We looked at more than 15 houses, but none of them felt like home. The good ones were sold before we could even schedule a showing, and the bad ones? Well, some of them were bad!

 

One of Colin's co-workers learned of our struggles finding a house, and told us he had friends that were selling their house.

 

His friends turned out to be assistant pastor and wife of the church we used to attend and planned on attending once we moved!! We do not know them personally, but this got us excited.

 

We got their number and found out that their house was not yet on the market, but was going to be. It was perfectly in our price range, and had the features we were needing and had hoped for. So, we scheduled a time to tour the house the day it hit the market, last Tuesday. We knew that we had to move quickly, because of how fast the nice homes were moving.

 

That afternoon, our realtor opened the door to their house. We both knew. We felt a connection. A sense of home.

 

There is something special about knowing who the people are living in the house. I don't mean knowing them personally, but I mean knowing they share your faith. Knowing there are little ones running around the house, being brought up to love Jesus and love people.

 

We put an offer in that day. We found out the next day that our offer was accepted!

 

We are so very happy. So very thankful. So very excited to move in. And so very thrilled to be able to start on our baby girl's nursery!!

 

The closing date is September 27th. So, we will have plenty of time to pack and get everything set up. A little bit more commuting for Colin, and a little bit more boredom for me (being all alone is getting tough). But, the tough is going to be so worth it!

 

We have felt entirely blessed this year.

 

Friends, when you feel worn, when you feel the stress of unanswered prayers, hold on to Jesus. Run to Him. He has better plans for you than you are planning for yourself. He loves you and will give you the best! Take joy in the wait. Rest in Him.



Weeks 18-21

 

Weeks:

18-21 (July 24-August 20)

 

Baby's Size:

Baby girl has grown from 5 1/2 inches long to 7 inches, head to rump. Baby has gone from about 5 oz to 11 oz in weight.

 

Symptoms:

A growing belly! And round ligament pain.

 

Cravings:

None.

 

Aversions:

Nothing new.

 

Best Moments:

Having our 20 week ultrasound and finding that baby is healthy and baby is a girl!!

Seeing our baby girl's beautiful face on our ultrasound.

Reaching 20 weeks...I am over halfway through pregnancy already.

Feeling baby girl kicking away! When I turned 19 weeks, I started feeling her move daily.

 

Looking Forward To:

Solidifying a name! It is going to be a secret until baby girl is born. :)

Colin feeling the baby's movements!

 

WEEK 18:

WEEK 19:

WEEK 20:

WEEK 21:

 

 

Baby Mumford Is A....

 

 

It's a GIRL!!!

 

Colin and I are so excited to share that our baby is a little girl!

 

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday at our new hospital in Eau Claire. I loved our ultrasound tech. She was very informative and reassuring about the health of our little precious one. She went over every inch of our baby for the anatomy scan and found everything with baby and me to be perfectly healthy.

 

She found the gender pretty quickly. Momma's intuition was right! Colin and both of our families almost unanimously "knew" that it was a boy, but I stuck with my instinct. Somehow, knowing the gender makes my pregnancy much more real.

 

We are SO in love!

Is Baby Mumford a Boy or a Girl??

 

 

 

I don't know! But I WILL!!!

 

I have my 20 week ultrasound tomorrow afternoon. I am so giddily excited. I am praying our baby shows us if he or she is a gentleman or a lady.

 

Please pray that our baby is healthy--they will also be doing an anatomy scan tomorrow, I believe. I have worries, especially going through 6+ years of infertility, but I am trying really hard to trust God.

 

So, do you think that baby Mumford is a boy or a girl??? Vote NOW!

 



Nine Months Dreaming

 

We have been on the waitlist to adopt for 9 months yesterday!

 

9 months...this mama should be ready to pop!

 

A question Colin and I often get asked is, "What if you got THE call today?!?"

 

1) That wouldn't be able to happen, because of our pregnancy.

 

2) Aside from our pregnancy, that would be very, very, very unlikely to happen because of our limited parameters. And the long list of families above us (somewhere between 100 and 120 or so).

 

3) If it DID happen, we would be ecstatic!

 

Waiting for 9 months-the length of a pregnancy-feels like a good amount of time to become prepared for an adoption. Our hearts are feeling prepared. Our brains are soaking up as much information as they can. Our arms are surely prepared to hug and to hold.

 

But, this mama and daddy are going to have several more years to prepare for our little Ethiopian love. I know that God wants it this way! He knows exactly how much longer we will be waiting.

 

And, we are thrilled that our little love will have an older brother or sister to play with!