Transitions

There seem to be a few very "dramatic" transitions within the first few years of a child's life. Yesterday we experienced one of those very important transitions!!! Anabelle took her first nap and had her first night's sleep in her big girl bed. Although there is a lot left to do to her new bedroom, we want her to start getting used to a big girl bed so we can start on the new baby's nursery.

Well, Anabelle didn't do so well during her first nap. Although she never tried to get out of her bed, her normal 2 - 3 hr nap was only 20 minutes. Last night, she feel asleep quickly and did pretty well! She whined out a lot and I would go and put her back into a "normal sleeping position" and cover her up. But, within minutes she would either be horizontal on the bed or would be sleeping right up against the bed rails. I'm sure after a few more nights in her big girl bed, she will be doing great! I'm absolutely exhausted from checking the video monitor every 30 minutes and going back to her room to move her back onto her pillow. I think every one of her transitions has been much harder on me than on her! First it was the bottle at 12 months, then the paci at 27 months, and now a big girl bed at 31 months. Where has my baby gone???? It brings tears to my eyes to think of all the things that made her seem like a baby, are all gone. The excitement of watching her grow and watching that adorable and funny little personality bloom as she gets older has made it so much easier to handle! She talks like she is a teenager sometimes, and she keeps us in stitches. My little baby is growing up, but I have a feeling that the fun with her has just begun!!!!!

First Blog Entry

Well, with some hesitation, but definitely lots of excitement, I have jumped on the blogging band wagon! As this is our first post, let me get everyone up to speed! Adam, Anabelle and I are so excited about sharing our surrogacy journey, family excitement, (with lots of drama), leukemia updates, and most importantly, things we are learning from Jesus through it all! Our life has been so blessed, and we want to share in the excitement with our friends and family! So, with that..."here's to the adventure"!!!!!

To start I want to share that I was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in November of 2004. I started a new medication called Gleevec, which I was on for just over 4 yrs, and it did WONDERFULLY for me. It put me into almost 100% remission, however, I still have .2% leukemia detectable in my body. Now, I am on a newer medication called Tasigna, which seems to have less noticeable side effects, (other than giving me pimples - which I haven't had to deal with in years - YUCK)!!! Through this diagnosis, Adam and I have learned many things and our relationship with the Lord has certainly deepened! It has been a roller coaster ride, and we have clung tightly to our Lord and Savior through it all, and have witnessed so many miraculous blessings on the way!

As most of you know, children are such miracles and blessings in their own right. Our first, Anabelle, was certainly a little miracle! Due to my leukemia medication being a "Class D" drug and possibly being harmful to a developing fetus, we had decided that it was best for me to not try to get pregnant. My sweet sister-in-law, Jeanie, offered to be our Gestational Surrogate, and carry our child for us. What a blessing!!!!! We went through the entire "invitro-fertilization" process where my eggs were stimulated, and taken to be fertilized with my husband's sperm, basically in a petri dish. They were only able to get 6 eggs from me, (most women at age of 27 get about 15 - 20 eggs). The doctors gave us little hope that any would fertilize. Well, all 6 did! The best two embryos were implanted into my sister-in-law, and the other 4 were frozen. They gave us a very low likely hood that this would take, and result in a pregnancy, but we had the Lord on our side, and were praying only for His will throughout the entire thing! One of the little embryos stuck, and Anabelle was born in July of '06!!!! And, she is such a little joy!!!! (Not to mention a handful)!!!!

Now, for the next miracle. We met our friend, Amy, back in the beginning of 2007. Amy has 4 children of her own, and lives very close to us. She had done one surrogacy at that point and the baby had been born a week after Anabelle. I instantly hit it off with Amy, and we fell in love with her family, as well! Amy had another surrogate child in July 2008. At this point, we were ready to move forward and use our remaining frozen embryos, and have Amy be our surrogate. We knew that the chances of a frozen embryo resulting in a pregnancy was slim, and we were informed that we only had 2 really healthy ones, as the other two did not look that great. Well, we thawed the best two, and they did not make the thaw. However, the remaining two were thawed, and after the thaw, their quality actually improved! (Now, you can't tell me the Lord didn't have His hand on this situation the entire time)!!!! Still, not the highest expectations that these last two would result in a pregnancy. We had prayed for the Lord's will, and knew that if it didn't result in a pregnancy, it was not His will. We had placed the entire thing in His hands, as had Amy. Well.....our 2nd miracle baby is on its way and due August 4th!!!!! We will find out the gender on March 5th! So, definitely be on the lookout for an update!!!!!

I ask you all to be praying for our precious friend, Amy, and the baby she is carrying for us. She is such an angel, and has been such a blessing! I cannot begin to imagine the number of lives she touches on a daily basis! She truly is an angel!

Love,
Stacie