Hi everyone, new to this board but def. not new to SK (can ya tell by my post count i'm slightly addicted? LOL) Anyway i am co-host of born in dec 04 board, and been around sk since it started.

to make our ridiculously long story somewhat short, we had almost 3 yrs of infertility before we got pregnant with DD#1 Mairi. We had begun the adoption process a few months before getting pregnant with her (at that point we were going to do foster to adopt) Put it on hold when we got pregnant.

After I had Mairi (really during the end of my pregnancy) I developed a rare condition called peripartum cardiomyopathy and went into heart failure, got a huge blood clot, fun times.

Recovered fully from that, was told no more bio children, so once again started the adoption process (again going for the foster to adopt or adopting a freed older child in foster care) and got pregnant again! oops! didn't think i was fertile after years of infertility, heh.

Then this past January, our 2nd dd Catriana was stillborn @ 41 weeks. (she was 12lbs, 8oz and 25 inches, and I birthed her vaginally, I just have to brag about that, hehehe)

Anyway, so suffice to say, while i have wonderful pregnancies and LOVE being pregnant, the outcomes have just been sucky, with me almost dying, then catti dying, i think i could not (at least anytime soon) go through a pregnancy worrying about my heart and my health, and now adding into that worrying about the baby dying (though we know the cause of catti's death, and it was preventable and doctor error, so it is highly unlikely i'd have another stillbirth)

sooooooo that brings us to now, where after waiting for 9m and planning for a baby all last year, our hearts and arms are so empty and aching for a baby. we decided to switch to domestic infant adoption, and have begun that and are in the middle of our homestudy process-we are going with Bethany Christian Services, open to any race/gender (though DD#1 keeps praying for a baby brother, so I have a feeling...) and we have interview 2 and 3 this coming Saturday, the process is really flying!!!

We are so excited, and it's a weird mix of grief and sadness over Catti and missing her, but such excitement and joy to move into adoption and a new baby. Our theme for our adoption is Redeeming 2007, just believing and hoping we'll have a baby in our arms before 2007 is over. I also plan to relactate and breastfeed, as I bf'd my dd#1 for almost 2 years and pumped for almost 3 months after Catti was stillborn.

So, looking forward to meeting you all and discussing my favorite topic as of late-adoption!

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Hi Jen and
Your dd is beautiful! Is that mud?! I love it!
I'm so sorry about your Catti. I can't imagine your pain. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

I read your post in my post about BFing. I would love any info you have. I am about to make my first phone calls on the issue. I found a local lactation consultant that I am going to call then I'll call my regular GP.

I look forward to getting to know you!
~Laura

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Laura
DW Carolyn
& IVF Miracle Caleb Atticus

:Welcome Jen,
So glad to see you found us over here.

I am sorry to hear about your little Catti, I can not even begin to imagine the loss. I have been following your story for sometime on your blog so I have kind of gotten to see how your family is healing and continuing to honor Catti.

Hope to see you around a lot more!!!

Kristine

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Welcome Jen

I am so sorry to hear about your precious Catti. I can't even imagine.

I'm glad you are here and hope things go well with your adoption process.

Keep us updated!

Cathy

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TTC since October 2002
Married April 27, 2002

Failed IUI #6 5/13/07 CLOMID 150 MG
Failed IUI#5 4/12/07 CLOMID 150MG
Failed IUI #4 Feb 2007 CLOMID 100 MG
3/22/05 MC at 6 weeks
IUI #3 Feb 19th 2005
Failed IUI #2 Jan 18th 2005
Failed IUI #1 October 2004

Meet Alexander Kenneth..brought to us on 5/18/07, Born 4/6/07

Jen!

I'm glad you're here. We're a small board but we have very caring people here.

Thanks for sharing your story. You sure have been through it, haven't you. I'm so sorry.

My name is Marian and DH and I were TTC#1 for 14 years. I almost died from placental accreta after giving birth to my DD, Avery, at 34 weeks. We did TTC#2 anyway with five more IVF transfers, but to no avail. We're in our state's fost/adopt program. I just returned a sweet baby girl to family this week. We have a nine-month-old fosterDD, Lilly, that we are hoping it may become possible to keep. Now my DD wants a boy baby!

Hope your adoption journey goes quickly and smoothly. Hopefully you'll keep us updated so we can support you through the process.


~m

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Hi there! Your family has had quite a few years.

I look forward to hearing your adoption journey!

Mairi is adorable, looks like you held an extreme finger painting contest!

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Me (34)/DH (32)
TTC #1 since Dec 2004 with MF
2 failed IUIs/1 failed IVF
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- IVF #2 Oct 08
- Domestic Infant Adoption Dec 2008

We walk by faith, not by sight. --2 Corinthians 5:7

Thanks for the welcome and kinds words everyone.

Laura, it's actually paint she mixed all her colors and then decided her body was a way cooler canvas then boring old construction paper

And I'll start another thread with my bf'ing info

Kristine, do you read my LJ blog or my adoption blog? I'm always amused when people read my blogs b/c I think I'm pretty boring, HA!

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Yeah, I'm a dork...I love reading blogs. I like short stories I'm not much into reading novels so blogs usually work pretty well for me.

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