September 20, 2008 - Our wedding date. The day we became one.
September 20, 2009 - 1st Anniversary. We officially started trying to conceive our first child.
September 20, 2010 - 2nd Anniversary. Unable to conceive on our own we sought a fertility specialists and by happenstance his first available appointment was on our anniversary. We saw it as a sign and met with Dr. Dunn for the very first time on this day.
November 18, 2010 - We had our first failed IVF cycle. Cycle was cancelled because my body was not responsive to the medication.
January 19, 2011 - Another cancelled IVF cycle due to my body again not responding well to medications.
March 17, 2011 - We finally made it to an egg retrieval! We were filled with so much hope that this was it, that our baby would be conceived on this day. Turns out, Ben; a very special boy in our lives was born on this day!
March 18, 2011 - One of the saddest days of our lives. We found out we cannot have biological children.
April 12, 2011 - We began researching egg donation and soon found an egg donor that was a perfect match.
May 18, 2011 - Our egg donor went in for testing and we soon learned she has a low ovarian reserve just like I do. The chances of this happening, just like every other setback we have experienced, was very rare. Although this was devastating to me, it became the wake up call that I needed to realize that we were not meant to have a pregnancy.
June 17, 2011 - We started the adoption process and attended The Gladney Center for Adoption's orientation in Fort Worth, TX.
September 20, 2011 - 3rd Anniversary. It still gives me chills to think about this, but our Emeline was conceived on this day - our 3rd wedding anniversary.
October 1, 2011 - We were finally approved to adopt. The process was only supposed to take 2 months tops if you provided your paperwork to Gladney in the first 30 days of receiving it. We got it to them in a week and it took 4 months for our approval due to Gladney employees on summer vacation. It was very frustrating at the time, but we trusted in God's plan and knew there must have been a reason. And today, I'm holding my reason.
February 17, 2012 - We got a call from our caseworker saying we had been chosen by a birthmom and we were expecting a baby girl on March 4th!
February 25, 2012 - We left for Pittsburgh to meet our birthmom and her family.
March 8, 2012 - Our baby girl was born and we flew to Pittsburgh to bring her home.
March 9, 2012 - We met our birthmom and baby in the hospital and spent two and a half hours with 'Emeline'. And two and a half hours later, we got the most devastating news of our life to date. Our birthmom decided to parent. 'Emeline' was no longer our daughter. Her name is now Ella Jane.
March 10-17, 2012 - I don't have an exact date, but I know that around this time, our birthmom (Emeline's birthmom), found us online and sought Gladney as her agency so that she could choose us as her adoptive parents. During this time, we were grieving our loss and grieving the year anniversary of finding out we cannot have children.
April 17, 2012 - We got a call from our caseworker that we had been chosen by a birthmom due June 12th. She didn't know what she was having yet. Gladney took a month (from mid March to mid April) to reach out to us about Emeline's birthmom in order to give us time to grieve and to counsel Emeline's birthmom.
April 18, 2012 - We spoke to our birthmom and found out we were expecting a BABY GIRL! Our dream come true.
April 24, 2012 - We met our birthmom for the very first time! It was an incredible experience and we connected immediately. She's simply amazing in every single way. She looks like Kris and I and she has a similar personality to both of us. It really blows my mind to think about all the similarities we share.
May 2012 - We spent the month of May getting ready for Emeline's arrival and getting to know our birthmom even better. We had weekly phone calls, emails every other day and we traveled to visit her one last time before Emeline's arrival.
June 11, 2012 - Our birthmom started the induction process at 7am! We all thought this would be Emeline's birthday!
June 12, 2012 - Emeline Elise Simpson was born on 6.12.12! Our miracle arrived at 1:19pm after 30 hours of labor and weighed 7lbs 8oz and she was 20 7/8 inches long.
June 13, 2012 - Kris and I traveled back to Dallas. This time to meet and bring home OUR DAUGHTER.
June 14, 2012 - We met Emeline for first time and she took our breath away. We couldn't possibly love her any more. On this day, our birthmom relinquished her rights to Emeline and placed her baby in our arms. Emeline's birthmom is the strongest, most courageous woman I know. We admire her immensely and love her like family. She is family. Turns out God's plan was better than we could have ever imagined after all.
June 15-16, 2012 - Due to our birthmom being in labor for 30 hours, she developed a fever of 103. The fever was transferred to Emeline during delivery and she was kept in the hospital for 5 days. Emeline developed a mild case of sepsis and she was slightly jaundice, so she was on antibiotics for those 5 days. During that time, both Kris and I and our birthmom visited Emeline in the hospital. It broke all of our hearts to leave her there all alone, but the hospital wouldn't allow any of us to stay.
June 17, 2012 - Placement Day. The day our birthmom had to say goodbye and the day we were able to bring Emeline home. As you can imagine, it was a thrilling but emotional day. As I've said before, our birthmom is nothing short of amazing and because she was able to make us a family, she is at peace with her decision to give her baby a life she can't provide at this time. And because she is at peace, no tears were shed during placement. She wanted it to be a happy time. I'm just at a loss for words at the selflessness she has shown throughout the entire process and even in her toughest hours. We just love her so much and are so incredibly thankful for her.
Father's Day. We brought Emeline home on Father's Day. Kris' very 1st Father's Day. That in and of itself was very special. But even better that that, one year ago to the day, we began the adoption process. On June 17, 2011 we sat in Gladney's orientation, eager and ready to begin what would become the most defining year of our life.
And there you have it. We came full circle in a year. Proof that God's plan for your life is the perfect plan. Only He can provide something far greater than you ever envisioned.
I'm going to go kiss my sleeping miracle now and thank God for her.
And I leave you with something very profound (kidding). "Everything happens for a reason".
