Difficult Week

This week has been a very difficult and emotional week. As most of you know, I have been seeing a natural family planning doctor for about six months to help figure out why I cannot get pregnant again. Well, after many tests we found out my estrogen was high and my progesterone was low. So we fixed that with oral medication and monthly shots and low and behold, I got pregnant again! We were shocked to say the least as it happened the first month that we tried the shots along with the oral medication. I had to take a blood test to find out I was pregnant as the shots I was giving myself were HCG which would have shown a postitive pregnancy on a urine pregnancy test whether I was or wasn't pregnant. I had all the preliminary bloodwork done and everything came back great! That was good news. Then I had my first ultrasound and we got to see the tiny baby and what we thought was a beating heart but it was a little too early to tell (5weeks6days). A few days after my first ultrasound I started spotting so I called my doctor. He had me come in and do bloodwork and do another ultrasound. By the time I got to the ultrasound I was bleeding, not just spotting so I thought for sure I had miscarried. The ultrasound technician looked at me immediately and said, "there is still a heartbeat and it is good." This completely shocked me as with all the bleeding I just knew I had miscarried. I cried all the way home I was so happy! I knew this was going to work this time. The following day my doctor wanted me to have an office visit with him to go over why I am bleeding and try to fix the problem. We found out my progesterone had dropped from 48 down to 5 even with giving myself progesterone shots twice a week. Then he did an exam and began to see things that lead him to issue another order for an ultrasound. He told me he thought I might have miscarried between that day and the day before. I thought he was crazy, I just saw the heartbeat yesterday. I headed back over to the ultrasound facility and the tech didn't talk to me at all. I knew from her actions that it wasn't good. After looking at what she needed to see, she left the room and said that my doctor would be calling me on the phone in the room. At that point, I knew it was over. The phone rang and I could tell just by his voice it was bad news. He said that there was no longer a heartbeat and that I had miscarried the baby. Everything he said after that was a blurr. I can't tell you how hard it is for me to hear those words, "there is no longer a heartbeat." This is now the 3rd time I have heard those exact words and they ring in my head all the time.

To say the least, this has been a very difficult week. From the high of hearing the heartbeat of the baby you are carrying to the low of not hearing a heartbeat of the baby you are carrying is devastating.

Plagiocephaly

You are wondering what plagiocephaly means right? Plagiocephaly is the asymmetrical distortion or "flattening" of the skull. Mr. Sam was diagnosed with plagiocephaly over the past few months. It has been something that we have noticed since he was about 3 months old but thought that the right back portion of his skull would fill out once he started sitting up and not laying on his head so much. After several months of monitoring and repositioning, the doctor thought it would be best that we see a specialist to have him fitted for a DOC-band helmet. We took him to a facility to have his head scanned to find out just how much difference the right side was from the left. Most people didn't even notice the difference unless we pointed it out. We really noticed it when he was taking a bath and his hair was wet. His poor little head was completely flat! After doing the scan, they found that the difference was about 12mm, therefore, a helmet was recommended for us to see any future change. We thought long and hard whether to go through with it or not as it was considered cosmetic so insurance didn't pay for the helmet. And let me tell you, the helmet is not cheap!! After much consideration, and thinking of Sammy going bald and having to deal with a flat head, we decided to go ahead and proceed. He was fitted for the helmet and it arrived about 2 weeks later. We took baby steps introducing the helmet to him. The first day he wore it 1 hour and had it of for 1 hour. This proceeded for about 6 days until he was finally wearing it full time (23 hours/day). I think this introduction is more for the parents, Sammy didn't seem to mind it at all but it made me cry seeing him in it the first week!!! He has now been wearing it for about 3 weeks and he doesn't even notice it at all. It has grown on me as well. We doctored it up with construction stickers and painted a "under construction" sign on the back. It is super cute and he looks great in it. We had our first appointment with the orthotic specialist last week and he has already improved to a 8mm difference. They are hoping to get him down to 3-4mm difference so we are half way there! We are hoping that he won't have to wear the helmet more than 3-4 months. I am really glad we decided to go ahead with it and I know Sammy will appreciate it one day when it is cool to shave his head (or he goes bald!)

3 Years Ago Today

3 years ago today our sweet, precious baby girl was born into heaven. We miss her dearly and think about her every day. I try to picture what she would look like as a 3 year old running around the house. I can just imagine her and Sammy playing on the floor together.

Tonight we took Sammy out to the cemetary to have our "angelversary" visit with Annabelle. We took a red flower and put it in the vase by her name plate. Sammy put his little hand on the name plate and patted it like he was saying "it's okay." Her space was already decorated with trinkets that other family members had placed. It makes me feel so good to know that others (my mom espeicially) visit on a regular basis. I don't want Annabelle to ever be forgotten.

I have had a lot of people ask me if it is easier this year now that we have Sammy in our family. The answer is no, and it will never get easier, it just gets different. We met a lady through church who lost a child to still birth 50 years ago and when she heard our story she cried remembering the loss of her child. I know I will be the same way 50 years from now.

Today, we celebrate the 8 months that we did have with Annabelle and know that she is in good hands with the Lord. We will one day meet again and hold each other tightly. We love you baby girl!

September 23, 2011

September 23rd will be a day we celebrate every year in the Stach household. September 23rd is the day that we became a "Forever Family" or also considered Adoption Day! Our adoption of Sammy was finalized on Friday, September 23rd. Glen and I had been waiting for this day to arrive and we finally received the email on September 16th that we would be finalizing with the judge and attorney over the phone.

We went to Glen's work in the morning as we were having one of his secretaries be our notary on the conference call. I was a bit nervous with lots of anxiety as usual! There was no need for me to be anxious, I just over think everything. We had a list of questions the attorney gave us to be prepared to answer. When the phone rang, my palms were sweaty and my voice was shaky! The judge introduced himself and the attorney (which we know very well), had the notary swear us in and then went down the questions, one by one. They were all yes or no answers. It took about 5 minutes and it was over. The judge congratulated us on our adoption and that was it. I was so nervous for nothing! Glen's secretary congratulated us and we took a family picture. We spent the rest of day hanging out together and celebrated being officially official.



We will receive Sammy's revised (new) birth certificate in the mail within 6 weeks. That is another moment I am excited for - the birth certificate. I never thought how exciting these things would be!

As for contact with the BM, we will send pictures/updates 2 times per year for the next 2 years. I am in the process of making a book for her right now on snapfish. It is super cute and I hope that she is at a place in her life she is able to enjoy seeing what Sammy is doing these days.

Bennett Springs

September 11th of this year was the 6th anniversary of my Dad passing away. So we packed up the car, picked up Nana Nancy and headed to Bennett Springs to spend the weekend remembering my Dad, Cooper the dog and spend time at their favorite spot in the world, Bennett Springs! We met Aunt Ann & Uncle Gary at Sand Springs resort on Saturday afternoon and spent the day walking around the State park where my Dad and Cooper would always come to fish. They absolutely loved spending time together in Bennett Springs. It was such a beautiful weekend. Sammy was so good the entire trip and even got to swing in a big boy swing for the very first time!



While we were there, we spread some of my Dad's and Cooper's ashes along the bank so they could always remain a part of their favorite spot together. Here is a picture of the area where we laid the ashes. Isn't it so beautiful and peaceful?



Nancy wrote a neat poem to go along:

A Man......and a Dog
There was a man....and a dog,
Who had a special bond.
They could be seen together most days,
By a river or a pond.

The dog...he was a hunter,
But he didn't seem to care
If he hunted for birds or fish,
He hunted everywhere.

You could see the man... and the dog,
Riding around town in a van,
Being together was what was important.
It was part of the plan.

So it seems only right,
That we should bring
The man... and the dog to Bennett Spring.

At a place they both loved to be
Together - a man...and a dog...finally free.

The weekend was one of the best weekends we have had in along time just sitting around reminising about days past. We will definitely make Bennett Springs a family trip to take for years to come.

Labor Day Weekend

Grandma Shirley came to visit for Labor Day weekend. She arrived Friday afternoon so we grilled out for dinner at the house. Sammy and I were both under the weather due to allergies/colds so we did a lot of hanging out at the house the entire weekend. Sammy loved taking naps on his Grandma; she is great at getting him soothed! Sammy & Glen watched the first Nebraska Huskers game of the year. Glen commentated the entire game to Sammy and I am just sure he knew what he was talking about!!!!

Week with the cousins

Shelley, Morgan & McKenna came into town last week. We had a great time hanging out with them for a full week. Shelley meet Sammy in April but this was the first time Morgan & McKenna had met him. Sammy got to stay home from daycare one day while they watched him. He had a great time getting to know his cousins. Here is a picture of Sammy with his cousins: Morgan, McKenna, Reagan & Rylee.

Infertility Sucks

Yep, I said it.....infertility sucks! After battling infertility since the loss of Annabelle almost 3 years ago, Glen and I both have struggled with the question, "why us?" Well, we now know that answer. As much as infertility sucks it has also been the greatest blessing of our life. Without infertility, we would have never had Sam come into our life. Sam is the greatest gift God could have ever given us and I would go through all the months of negative pregnancy tests, failed/cancelled IUI's, surgeries, blood draws and days of crying all over again. I always wondered when we would realize "why us" and every time I look at Sam I know. I pray that all my friends going through infertility will soon know their answer to "why us?"

I have had several people ask me if I will continue going to my infertility support group now that we have Sam. The answer is "yes." As I am still infertile and we want to continue to grow our family. We are currently seeing a Natural Family Planning doctor that is trying to help me get pregnant naturally. We know that it can happen. I have been pregnant 2 times now without any assistance; 1 stillbirth at 35 weeks and 1 miscarriage at 10 weeks. Maintaining the pregnancy is an obvious factor at this point. My doctor will test my Estradiol levels through ovulation this next month. Glen & I also had genetics testing done recently. We had genetics testing done on Annabelle but never did it on ourselves. They both came back normal which was a great relief.

Sammy's Baptism

What a wonderful day it was......Sammy's baptism. We had all of our family in town for the big event. Glen's family came in from South Dakota and Texas and made a whole weekend trip out of the visit.

Mom and I had shopped all around to find just the perfect outfit for Sammy to wear. Here he is in his white tux!



Glen's sister and brother-in-law are Sammy's Godparents.



We had Deacon Rich baptise Sammy as we have known him since I started going to RCIA classes at the church before we were married. He has been with us through all that we have gone through over the past many years and he has a special place in our hearts.



After the baptism, everyone came over for dinner at our house. It was great celebrating such a special moment in Sammy's life with all of our family.

Mother's Day

Mother's day was such a bitter sweet day this year. I was so happy to finally have Sammy home with us and celebrate being his mommy. On the other hand, I also will never forget Annabelle on this day. We took Sammy out to the cemetary and "introduced" him to Annabelle on Mother's Day. We plan to let Sam know about his sister when he is old enough to understand.

Here is a picture of my mom, Sammy and I on Mother's Day.

Post Placement Meetings

We had to have 3 post-placement meetings with the social worker from our adoption agency. Two were in our home and one was over the phone. They all went really well and we really enjoyed working with our social worker from Adoption & Beyond. We now have them all finished and we are hoping to be able to finalize the adoption within the next month. This is such an exciting time as we will finally be able to celebrate Adoption Day and officially be official. Sammy will not only celebrate his birthday every year, but we will also celebrate adoption day every year. Glen & I feel that the celebration is such an important part of the process for Sammy. We have been forever changed with the adoption of our sweet son! I have seen a clear picture of the face of Christ every day since Sam was placed in my arms.

The Flight Home

We were so excited to finally be going home. We had an evening flight so we were able to spend one last nice day in Florida. Heading to the airport was very emotional as it was a closing to this chapter of our adoption. Over the past few days I had really started missing the birthparents as strange as that may seem. We just felt so connected to them over the 2 days we spent with them and now we will not have any more contact. It is almost like a break-up or something.

Anxiety was also coming over me for the flight home. Taking a newborn on a plane just scared me. We were still "new" at everything so I wasn't sure how Sammy would do on the flight.

As we were checking in we gave the attendant our confirmation and said that we had a "lap baby" with us. The attendant asked how old the baby was and we told him "11 days." Then he asked us if we had our doctors "permission slip" for Sammy because every child under 14 days old must have a doctor 'ok' it to fly. Panic came over me as I knew we didn't have anything except our adoption paperwork. I frantically sifted through our paperwork to see what we could give the guy. I mentioned that we had just adopted and he said "oh, I adopted my son when he was 6 days old, you are ok to go." I again, started to tear up and thanked the guy for letting us go. That was the last thing that I wanted to stop us from getting home!

Our flight was packed because it was Spring Break and everyone was coming home from Disneyworld. Mom was not able to get on our flight so it was just me, Glen and Sammy. Mom said she could see the anxiety I had getting on the flight!!

We took our seats and I got a bottle ready for Sammy to drink on the take off. I thought that might help with the air build up in his hears. We feed him on the take off, he stayed awake for about and hour and then slept the rest of the flight! He was a perfect little angel the entire flight. I was a nervous wreck the entire time. I kept making sure he was breathing every 10 minutes or so. I am sure the people seated next to us thought I was crazy!

We finally landed in KC and we couldn't have been happier! We headed to get our luggage; which we had a ton of. Glen flagged down a Thrifty bus to take us to our car and we were on our way. Sammy was crying the entire time we waited for the bus because it was feeding time again. It was a little nerve wrecking getting him feed in the car and put in his car seat in our car for the first time. I was one of the crazy mom's that sat in the back seat with him on the way home. I felt like he was in shock because of the temperature difference. We left Florida with 88 degree weather and landed in KC with 33 degree weather. That would put anyone into shock right?!

Glen had to shovel snow off of our car and we headed home. Finally! Walking through our garage door into the house for the first time with Sammy felt like a hundred pounds had been lifted off of our shoulders! Sammy really seemed to like his house and bed because he fell asleep shortly after we got home.

Here is a picture of us the day we left Florida.

11 days in Florida

We left the hospital on Thursday afternoon and headed to our home away from home. The first night with Sammy at home went pretty smooth. Glen and I were still really nervous as is all new parents but we were so thankful to have my mom there for assistance. I didn't sleep a wink that night as I was starring at Sammy all night to make sure he was breathing! That lasted about 2 nights and then I realized I had to get some sleep!

Friday morning we got up bright and early to go to Sammy's first pediatrician appointment. We had contacted our insurance to refer us to a doctor that was covered under our policy. When we pulled up to the doctors office we were a little hesitant to go in as it didn't look like the nicest place. But, we were taught never to judge a book by its cover right?! So we went in and the place was as dirty on the inside as it was on the outside! We were called back to the room for Sammy's check-up. Mom sat in the waiting room. As mentioned before, we weren't able to get a circumcision for Sammy in the hospital so we were hoping that this pediatrician could perform the procedure for us. After seeing the facility we decided we would skip that part and look around for another doctor. Mom didn't know that we had decided this so she was in the waiting room a nervous wreck thinking that little Sammy was having this procedure done in the dirty office! When we came out and told her he just had his check-up we could see a sigh of relief on her face! The office was so small that mom and I headed to the car while Glen checked out because there was no room for all of us in the waiting room along with all the other patients. After the appointment we headed out to get some breakfast and got about 2 blocks away when mom noticed she had forgotten her purse in the waiting room. With the traffic jam packed at the intersection we were at there was no way we could turn around fast enough so Glen told mom and I to jump out of the car. We did and we started sprinting back to the doctors office. Mom was panicking knowing that most likely her purse was gone by now. She had all her check books and credit cards in it because she didn't know how much money we might need with everything going on. I hadn't ran that fast since high school track! I got to the office, opened the door and there sat her purse. Safe and sound and not touch! We were so thankful.

The next couple of days we searched for a pediatrician and did a "drive by" before we decided on one to do the circumcision. We were running out of days as they prefer it to be done within the first 10 days after birth if possible. We finally found a clean office that we felt comfortable with and made our appointment. The procedure wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Sammy did fine and didn't have any majors problems with it.

Most of our days in Florida were spent hanging out at the condo, going to the pool and shopping. It seemed like we were at Target, Babies R Us or the grocery store every day! Sammy was a good traveler and shopper.

We had been keeping in contact with the attorney's office to see how the paperwork was coming along. They were waiting for the hospital to release the medical records which would then go to ICPC in Florida, then Missouri and back to Florida. Well, the hospital was taking their sweet time in releasing the files so Glen and I decided to head up to the hospital to see if we could speed up the process. Bad idea! Being the adoptive parents, at this point, we still really do not have any legal rights to get any medical information. We didn't want any info, we just wanted them to release the info to the attorney/ICPC as soon as possible. The hospital didn't understand that! I winded up breaking down in the hospital medical records room! They just couldn't understand why they needed to put a rush on this. I started crying, telling them we were running out of money and just wanted to take our baby home. As nice as Florida was, it was costing us several hundred dollars a day staying there plus we wanted to get Sammy to his home. So after my breakdown, I think they knew how important it was to get this paperwork going. This was a Weds. and the paperwork still had to be FedEx'd to ICPC in Florida and then to Missouri all before Friday at noon when the offices closed. If this didn't happen we would be in Florida at least until Monday or Tuesday of the following week. Somehow, by the grace of God, we got a call on Friday morning that ICPC had approved us to go home! Our flights were already booked for that Saturday so we were set! Glen went out and bought a bottle of champagne for us to pop open and celebrate us going home with Sammy!!!

Leaving the hospital

It was finally time for Sammy to be discharged from the hospital! The pediatrician came in, checked him out and we were good to go. It was so exciting and nerve wrecking putting him into the car seat for the first time. We left the hospital and headed to the condo. We weren't sure how much longer we would be in Florida so we rented a condo instead of staying in a hotel the entire time.

"Signing" Day

We arrived at the hospital with lunch for BM & BF around noon. We sat in the waiting room until they were all finished with their legal consents and working with the lawyer. Then we see BM, BF, lawyer & social worker come out of the elevator. It was like a sigh of relief as they were all dressed up and had smiles on their faces. The lawyer came over to us and said "Congratulations!" We hugged BM & BF and told them how grateful we were to them. I could tell they were emotional but knew this was the right thing for everyone. They went outside to share some time alone and we went upstairs to see Sammy. On the way up the lawyer said, "he is all yours! Everything has been signed properly and you are now parents!" At that moment we all just lost it and started crying. It was very emotional hearing those words and knowing this journey is starting a new chapter. We went to the nursery and we were let in with no problems this time! We fed Sam and then met up again with the BM. She was very emotional this time and just wanted to make sure we keep in touch because our children are biological siblings and might need each other one day. We told her we definitely want to keep in touch. They honestly feel like family to us and I would love more than anything to have them in our lives in someway. BM got packed up and then left the hospital. It was very emotional seeing her go as it might be the last time we actually see her. We plan to keep in touch through letters and pictures but not actual visits. I have never felt so close to someone in such a short period of time. I truly will miss her and BF.

Sammy had one more night in the hospital so we spent the day in the nursery hanging out in our "closet" that they gave us. It was the circumcision room that was really a closet. It was quite amusing! We had such a great time spending the day with Sam. Mom & Glen finally got to feed him too! It was great having the nurses in the same area as we got to ask them lots of questions. I freaked out when Sam got the hiccups only to find out that they are normal, along with sneezing all the time!

Sam was not able to be circumcised in the hospital as Medicaid does not pay for it. So we had to find a doctor that accepted our insurance that would have time in the next few days to do the procedure. Our attorney found us a few pediatricians so we called and set up an appointment for the following day.

March 15, 2011

We got back to the nursery in time for Sam's next feeding. We were told to knock on the door and the nurses would let me in. I knocked on the door and the nurse on duty asked who I was. I told her and she said, "something happened last night, have you spoken to the BM yet?" My heart immediately dropped and I began to panic. Those words are not something that you say to a mother who has already lost a child. The thoughts racing through our minds were that something happened to Sam or that the BM had changed her mind. The nurse then said the hospital messed up and they shouldn't have issued me a band to have access into the nursery, even though the BM had wanted me to have it. They said that it could pressure the BM to place the baby for adoption and that it was not allowed in their hospital. Then the nurse cut the band off of me and said that the only way we could see Sam was if he was in the room with the BM. We left the nursery and I was in tears. How could this happen? How can our baby be in the nursery with no parent to care for him? He needed us.

We called our social worker and told her and she was aware of the situation and was trying to resolve it if possible. In the meantime, we had brought BM breakfast so we went to her room to see her. She had just woken up and was told in the middle of the night of what had happened. She was terribly upset that we weren't allowed to see him so she kindly had Sam brought into her room for us to care for him there. I was completely amazed at her generousity as she didn't have to do that and I can't imagine how hard that had to be for her to be with him in the room all day.

Sam was brought to the room and we fed him, held him and changed his diapers there for several hours. We then left the hospital fairly early that evening to have dinner and finally go to sleep. We had been up around 48 hours at this point with one hour of sleep.

On our way to dinner, the attorney called to see how things were going. She was thrilled about things but still said there is no garantees. She told us that she would be arriving early in the morning at the hospital to do the psychological evaluation on BM and have another attorney present for BM. She said that she would keep us updated by text and to not arrive to the hospital until after noon that next morning. We headed back to our hotel and slept like babies!

The Call

We got the call that BM was going into the early stages of labor on Monday, March 14th around 10:15am. Luckily Glen and I had packed our bags and placed them in the car the night before in hopes that the call might come! We left work and headed to the airport. We had already booked our flights for the following week so we hoped there was room on the next flight out that we could switch ours to. Once we arrived at the airport check-in we were told there were no flights available for the rest of the day. Of course, this was spring break week and everyone was going to Florida! We were devastated but put our names on the next flights stand-by list in hopes that there might just be two empty seats. We went through security, checked-in again and there was one seat that had opened up. Yippee, at least one of us might make it to see our son being born. My mom had arrived at the airport shortly after us and had called the airline earlier and had gotten a seat on that same flight. We had 2 seats now, so mom was going to give her seat to me so Glen & I could both go on the same flight. We went up to the check-in area once more to get the seats switched from her to me. The desk clerk said there was no more seats available so mom would have to fly out the next morning. After a few minutes of typing in his computer as they do, he said, "well, it is your lucky day - another seat has just come available." Mom and I immediately began to cry and the clerk probably thought we were nuts! We were all 3 on the next flight out and hopefully going to make it in time for the birth!!!! The flight which is about 2 hours 45 minutes seemed to take forever but we finally arrived in Florida around 5:30pm. Well, since we had flown stand-by our bags were on another flight that wasn't to arrive until 6:10pm. We decided to get our rental car and wait for the bags. The flight our bags were on was delayed about 20 minutes so we didn't wind up getting our bags until 6:30pm. We had just received a text from the social worker that the BM water had broke and she was getting the epidural. Still waiting for our bags, I am thinking.....we are going to miss it. Finally, our bags arrived except for my moms. They were on a completely different flight and wouldn't arrive until later that night. We worked it out with the airport that they would deliver moms bags to the hotel we were to stay at. Off to the hospital we went! We were greeted at the hospital by the social worker and her daughter. They had spent a good part of the day with BM & BF as they got checked into the hospital. We were taken to BM's room and had all kinds of emotions as we didn't know what to expect at this point. We were delighted to see BM & BF in the room doing fine. We had a great time catching up with them and talking about all the preparations we have made for Samuel's room since our last meeting. Around 10:00pm the nurse checked BM and she had only dialated to 2 so it was still going to be awhile. We left the room while BM & BF went to sleep. Glen, Mom & I would spent the next several hours in the hospital waiting room. Boy did we have an interesting experience! We saw many interesting "cases" of pregnant women/girls pass by as the night went on. The most interesting was a lady that was brought in on a stretcher by the EMT's. I guess she had waited too long and couldn't drive herself. I heard the EMT's say she had a ton of kids already at home. As she was wheeled through into the Labor & Delivery rooms we heard her scream like I have never heard before! She was too late to have an epidural, ouch!! They put her in her room, we heard screaming at the top of her lungs for about 10 minutes and then we heard a baby cry. She delivered a large child and we were glad it was over as was everyone else on that side of the hospital!

Around 2:00am BF came and got Glen and I as BM had progressed to a 10. We thought it was time but soon found we would wait another 2 hours before the arrival of Sam. We sat in the room with BM & BF those 2 hours and had more conversations about life, cars, favorite drinks, jobs, etc. It was a great time to really get to know them a little bit better. I am so thankful for those few hours. The nurse came in to check BM once again and had her do one push. One push was enough so they called for the doctor to come quick! Samuel was coming whether the doctor was there or not! Finally the doctor arrived, got everything set up and BM pushed 2 more times and out came Sam! He was huge! 8 lbs. 11 oz. and crying like he should have. It was such an overwhelming experience to be in the room and we are so grateful to the birthparents for allowing us the opportunity. It was time to cut the umbilical cord and earlier the BF had asked Glen if he would do it. So, Glen cut the umbilical cord as every other father has the opporutunity to do. They then had BM hold baby for a few minutes and then he was passed to us to hold. It was the most amazing moment of our lives. We were finally holding our child that we have waited so long for. He was absolutely perfect. The nurses then took him to clean him up, weigh and measure him. We were so thrilled! And BM made labor look so easy! She didn't even break a sweat and her make-up was all still in place.

We left the room as BM & BF were obviously tired and needed their rest. We followed Sam as he was wheeled into the nursery for the night. The BM had given me a wrist band so that I could go in and feed him as needed. I was lucky to get to be the first one to feed him around 6:00am. Boy was that a nerve wrecking experience. I was in the nursery as mom and Glen watched through the windows. They could tell I had no clue what to do! The nurses in the nursery that night were wonderful and helped me along with every step of the process. Once Sam was full he was swaddled up and went to sleep. We left to go check in to the hotel and get cleaned up. At this point, we had been up over 24 hours with no sleep.

We checked into the hotel, rested for about an hour, showered and went back to the nursery to feed Sam again.

Sam has arrived!!!

Samuel Thomas Stach was born on March 15th, 2011 at 4:04am. He weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and is 20" long. He is healthy and very happy! We were released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon and are staying in Florida for another week until all paper work has been signed by the states of Florida and Missouri. We can't wait to bring him home and introduce him to all of our friends & family! He is such a peaceful baby and is sleeping and eating well so far. He had his first doctors appointment yesterday and he has already gained an oz. I hope to post the full update of his birth story in the days to come.

Big Boy

We spoke with BM on our conference call on Monday. It was great to hear her voice and catch up since we hadn't spoken in a few months. She is doing well and ready for labor. She went to Disneyland for her grandmother's birthday this past weekend. She said she was hoping all the walking would have put her into labor but I guess that didn't work! She asked how things are going here and if we have the nursery ready. We had shown her pictures of the nursery as we had it before with Annabelle and then we just recently sent her pictures of the new baby boy nursery we have made it into. She was happy to hear that it was all ready for him.

We received some exciting news from this weeks doctor appointment! Baby boy is estimated to be weighing approximately 7 lbs. 11 oz. at this point. We were glad to hear he was at a healthy weight and doing good. His heart rate is currently 140 bpm. BM was hoping to be induced this coming week but the doctor told her he wouldn't induce until March 25th at the earliest. The doctor did say she was dilated to 2cm and could go into labor at anytime.

We continue to pray for the arrival of baby boy and that he is healthy. We also pray for BM that she has a safe delivery and follows through with her plans of placement.

These past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions and we are so happy to finally see an end in sight! We are just waiting for that phone call for now. Bags are packed and ready to go.

Busy couple of weeks for BM

I don't have much new info right now but I thought I would share a few things. BM had a dentist appointment last week as she had been having a toothache. Come to find out she had an abscessed tooth (no fun!) so she went in this week and had to have a root canal to take care of it. It needed to be handled ASAP because if left untreated could have lead to an infection that could have spread to the baby. We just received confirmation that the root canal went fine and everyone is doing good! Wednesday was her regular check-up with the doctor. Everything is still on track for the week of the 14th. On Monday, we have a conference call with BM just to say hi and see how she is doing. We haven't spoken to her since January so it will be nice to catch up on how she is doing. Then Monday after the call she will have another follow up dentist appointment. Monday afternoon she has a scheduled ultrasound to see how baby is doing. Hopefully this might tell us a little bit better when we might expect a call or if they might induce her. That would be the perfect scenario but we all know this is not a perfect world :-) We would love to know when to be there so we could be in the delivery room with her. We've had many prayers answered so far so I am still hoping for that perfect scenario!

Waiting Patiently

The countdown is on! We have about 4 weeks or less before baby boy Stach is due to arrive. These last few weeks are going to make me an even more patient person than I have become in the last several years!

I have packed, re-packed and packed the baby bag again and again! I want to make sure I have all the cutest outfits to bring baby home in. Glen thinks I am crazy (and I probably am!) but I just want to make sure I have everything needed for our 1-2 week trip to Florida. I am worried how we are going to lug all this stuff with us on the plane! Carseat, baby suitcase, our suitcases and a diaper bag will definitely be a handful. Coming home will be even more interesting with a baby in the mix of it. But we are so excited and just can't wait until we get the call.

We plan to let everyone know when we are on our way to Florida. Once the baby is born, we hope to be able to have him with us when it is time to leave the hospital. We ask for your prayers for the birthmother. We pray that she is at peace with her decision and that baby boy arrives healthy.

Trip to Florida

We had been looking forward to our trip to Florida for several months now and it was finally upon us! We spent the night at our friends house who lives by the airport just in case the roads got bad. We sure didn't want to miss our flight for this trip! We left for the airport about 2 hours before the flight was scheduled to leave. As we were driving to the airport, we received a call from the attorney in Florida saying that our BM's 1 year-old baby was sick all night and they were at the emergency room. Then she asked if we still wanted to come. I immediately got that sick feeling in my stomach! I told her we would still be there. We thought worst case scenario, we could at least meet her the next morning if we weren't able to do dinner that night. We just said we would call them when we arrived to FL and see what the update was at that time. Our flight left only 20 minutes behind schedule - we were finally going to meet the BM! About 30 minutes into our flight all the passengers on the plane began to smell smoke. It began to worry us all as you can imagine. Within 2 minutes the pilot was on the intercom letting us know that we would be heading back to Kansas City to see what the problem was, but to remain calm! Remain calm - are you kidding me?! For the 30 minutes it took us to return back to KCI the entire plane was silent (except for the ladies behind us that were saying that if it was their time to go, they were okay with it!!) We landed safely and as we pulled up to the terminal there were tons of firemen, policemen and ambulance waiting for our arrival. That was a little concerning but we got off the plane safely. Come to find out, the fan that circulates the air in the cockpit had malfunctioned which caused the smoke smell. Southwest did an excellent job of getting us on a new plane and we were on our way to Florida within an hour of being returned. Our nerves were shot by this time. We called the social worker to see how the BM and her daughter were doing. Everything seemed to be going fine so we planned to have the scheduled dinner just an hour later than expected.

We arrived to the restaurant a few minutes late expecting everyone to be waiting on us. We walked in and the social worker immediately recognized us and welcomed us with a big hug. The BM & BF were running a little behind and were not there yet. As they walked through the door you could tell we were all quite nervous. The social worker introduced us all and we sat down for our dinner. As odd as it may sound, the entire night felt so natural. We absolutely loved the BM & BF and their daughter. Conversation was very good, they asked us lots of questions as did we. They both had a great sense of humor and were very laid back. Dinner winded up being 2 1/2 hours long as we were caught up in conversation the entire time. I don't think I even ate my food! We shared pictures with them of our family & friends and let them know about our day-to-day lives. It was surprising to find out how much they already knew about us just from reading our profile book. They even remembered Ramsey's name! As we left dinner that night, we took pictures together. The BM mentioned to us that if we are able to make it in time, she would like for us to be in the delivery room with her. We were so excited about this possibility! Getting to sleep that night was actually pretty easy as we were worn out from the days events.

On Wednesday we met the social worker and the BM at the 4D sonogram facility. It was a very exciting moment when we learned the baby was a BOY!!! Seeing the pictures of him, his face, hands, feet and his heart beating was just amazing. We couldn't believe how clear the pictures were of how he looks. The lady doing the sonogram mentioned that it looked like he has lots of hair. The BM agreed because she has had a lot of heartburn with this pregnancy!!

After the sonogram was over, we headed to lunch. The lunch conversation was just as good as the night before. Everything just felt so natural. The BM had lots more questions for us that we were happy to answer. Getting to know the BM & BF was such a wonderful experience. We will now have the opportunity one day in the future to let our little boy know more about his birthparents. The entire trip couldn't have gone any better (except for getting there!). We were so grateful to the birthparents for their time and allowing us to get to know them.

It was time to say our goodbye's and head back home. The BM thought that we would be seeing her before March 14th as she thinks the baby will come much sooner. So, we headed back to the airport with our sonogram pictures in hand. Luckily our flight home went much smoother than the flight going there.

It was a world wind of 2 days. It was such an emotional experience it is going to take us a while to calm down from the trip. In the meantime, I plan to start buying some baby boy clothes and such! Only 8 weeks or less until baby boy arrives!!