Our miracle...

I have been waiting for this day for so long, and I am very happy to announce the birth of our daughter, Katherine Jane Burch (Katie), born Feb. 16 at 12:22 pm, 7 lbs 1 oz., 21" long.  We brought her home yesterday on Feb. 18 through the miracle of adoption!  It has been an emotional week, and we are thrilled to have her home now.  I know everyone wants to hear the whole story, so here it is... (settle in, it's going to be long).  But first, here's a picture to get you through.  I know.  She's beautiful!!

Waiting

As most of you know, we were approved for adoption through LDS Family Services last February.  The exact day was February 12.  I told Jacob I felt like it would be about a year until we were placed with a baby.  I also felt strongly that it would be a girl.  Fast forward to the fall... We hadn't heard much about birth parents interested in placing with us, except once in July there was a birth mom considering us, which didn't work out.  I was still ok with waiting a little bit longer and stayed busy teaching piano lessons and working with the young women at church.  I talked with everyone I could about adoption and our hope to adopt to try to spread the word. 

Chosen

On November 4, I was driving home from teaching piano lessons and saw that I had a voice mail from our caseworker, Julie, just saying she wanted to check in on us and see how we were doing.  I called her back and we chatted for a bit and finally she said that she had just met with a birth mother that week who wanted to place with us!!  I was shocked and speechless at first, and then I had a million questions.  Julie told me some details as I sat there with my heart pounding.  The birth mom had looked at profiles online at itsaboutlove.org, but hadn't found anyone she liked.  Our caseworker gave her several profiles to look at, including ours.  That's how she found us.  She liked that Jacob would be a good provider and that I will be a stay at home mom.  We had things in common with her as well, such as being musical.  I couldn't wait to get home to tell Jacob the news.

I hurried inside the house and found him sitting on the couch.  When I told him, he was surprised and happy, and we hugged and cried.  Julie had told me that the birth mom was due Feb. 11 with a boy and he would be born here in our city.  We immediately called our families to tell them we'd been chosen.  They were all soo excited!  My parents were thrilled because this would be their first grandchild.  We also found out our first niece was born that day to Jacob's brother and his wife.  This was also the day Jacob's mom called me to ask if she could come for Thanksgiving as a surprise for him.  What an overwhelming but happy day!!

The Birth Mother

The next several days I walked around in a daze.  It was hard for me to contain the news from everyone.  We did eventually tell our close friends within a few weeks.  We wanted to keep it fairly quiet just in case things didn't work out, although our caseworker assured us that the birth mom was 100% set on adoption.  We were so nervous the day we met her, but our meeting went well and we loved her immediately.  She is amazing!!  She's very young and sweet and so beautiful!  It was wonderful to have these last 3 1/2 months to get to know her.  I was honored to have the opportunity to take her to several of her doctor appointments which were weekly right at the end.  It was hard not to cry when I first heard the baby's heartbeat.  After the appointments we would go eat lunch, usually pizza, which is what she was craving.  We mostly talked about books, movies, and music, and also a lot about our families.  We didn't really talk about the baby because she didn't know the gender and wanted a closed adoption after the birth.  Occasionally, she'd ask me a question about our preparations for the baby.  I was the one to see her the most, but Jacob and I both took her out to eat one night shortly before Christmas so that he could see her again. 

I am grateful for the time I spent with her and for the things I was able to learn about her.  Since she wants a closed adoption now, I wanted to learn as much about her as I could for our child.  Telling her goodbye was very hard for me.  I love her so much and will always be grateful for her decision.  Her sacrifice has made us a family.  Her heartbreak has been our greatest happiness.  Ok, I'm crying just writing this.  I don't know when I'll be able to think about her without crying.  She is our angel!

The Birth

About the first part of February we became more and more excited, because the baby could come any day now!  I stopped teaching piano at the end of January.  It was fun to tell my students and finally have some good news to share with everyone.  The doctor scheduled our birth mother's induction for Feb. 17 if she hadn't gone into labor by then.  Her due date came and went and we were sitting on pins and needles every day.  The host mom that our birth mother was living with here was going to notify us when she started labor and keep us updated on her progress.  (I just want to say we are also so grateful to her host family for their generosity and support they've given her.  They are wonderful!)  I checked my phone every morning when I woke up to see if there were any texts or missed calls from the host mom.  This went on for several days. 

Finally, on Wednesday, Feb. 16, when I got up that morning and checked my phone there was a text from her that she'd sent at about 3:00 am.  It said that our birth mom was in labor and at the hospital.  We were kept updated throughout her labor.  We called our families to let them know the baby was on his way.  (Yes, we still thought it was a boy at this point.)   Jacob had to work a half day Wed. and Thurs., but I was home.  I was so anxious and excited the whole time just waiting to hear the word that he was born.  Around 10:30 our birth mom was fully dilated and ready to push soon.  At about 12:15 the doctor was coming in to deliver the baby.  I was anxious for the next several minutes as I waited for the news that he was here.  The next text took me by surprise.  It said,

"Um I think it's a girl."

All I could think was,  "What??!!!"  A GIRL??!!

We texted back and forth trying to clear up this most important matter, and finally she said,

100% Girl

Um, can we say speechless?!  I just started laughing because I was so shocked.  I called Jacob at work and he was happy to hear the baby was born, but surprised that it was a girl.  He left the office to come home so we could get ready to go to the hospital.  We called our families and told them the good news and they all laughed at the surprise while congratulating us. 

Meeting Katie

Our caseworker called and let us know when to meet her at the hospital.  We drove over a few hours later and went up to the nursery.  They took us into a feeding room and brought the baby in.  The nurse handed her to me first.  I could hardly believe that this was our baby girl.  She was beautiful!  It felt so good to finally hold her and know that she was mine.  After signing our paperwork with Julie, she left and let us be alone with our new baby.  We stayed for about three hours holding her and taking lots of pictures.  It was hard to leave her, but we were both famished and exhausted from the emotions of the day. 

Thursday I went back to the hospital by myself in the morning since Jacob had to work a half day.  It was wonderful to hold Katie again and I stayed for about two hours.  After going home to eat lunch, Jacob and I both went back that afternoon to see her again.  We wanted to see her as much as possible.  That night I slept from about 10:30 pm until 4:00 am when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  I was anxious and excited about the baby, worried about our birth mother, and hoped everything would work out that day to be able to bring Katie home.  How ironic that I couldn't sleep through the night on my last night to have an uninterrupted sleep!

Bringing Katie Home 

The day finally came when we were going to bring our baby home!  I knew our family and friends were praying for us, which helped me feel so much better.  We prayed the whole day for our birth mom that she would have the strength to go through with her decision to place with us.  We arrived at the hospital and went straight to the nursery to see Katie again.  We were going to wait there until Julie came from meeting with our birth mother to have her sign relinquishment paperwork (has to be 48 hours after birth).  We held and fed Katie and changed her into an outfit we had brought.  I was nervous waiting for Julie, but I kept telling myself to have faith that everything would work out all right. 

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Julie walked through the door with a big smile on her face.  She said everything went really well with the birth mom.  I was so relieved to hear that!  The nurse came in to discharge the baby to us and went over some basic baby care instructions.  Jacob went to get the car and then we walked down to meet him.  We put Katie in the carseat, Julie congratulated us, and off we went.  It was surreal to drive home with a baby!  (And I got to wear my skinny jeans home from the hospital.  Adoption has its perks.)  :) 

We are so happy to have her home though.  We love her so much already.  We just keep looking at each other in amazement that we are finally parents.  We've waited a long time for this day.  It is wonderful!    We love Katie and are excited to be her parents.  And it's all due to a sweet birth mom that will always have a special place in our hearts.  We love you, M!!

Here are some pictures from the first few days of Katie's life.  Enjoy! 

First family pictures with Katie

Daddy's first time feeding her

I can't stop staring!

Home from the hospital

Daddy loves his little girl

So cute!  Look at her long piano playing fingers. :)

Thank you to all our family and friends for your love, prayers, and support!  We've definitely felt it these last few months.  We know there is power in fasting and prayer.  We also know that miracles still happen and our little girl is proof of that.

 

We love you all!