Come along with me on memory lane, will you? I'm feeling extremely nostalgic tonight. In just a few short minutes, it will be my sweet little girls' 1st birthday. I can't believe how quickly this first year has gone. I remember the time leading up to their birth so well.
On the day of their birth, I was home and Glen came home from work around noon. We knew our birth mother had an appointment around 1:30 p.m. to get an ultrasound. Her doctors had been monitoring the babies' growth and heart rates closely. We knew there was a chance she would have a C-section on the 1st so we waited by the phone. The hours passed and we didn't hear anything. I remember Glen asking me if I wanted to go for a walk, and there was no way I wanted to leave the house! Finally, around 5:30 or so I called our adoption agency to see if they had an update for us. Around, 6:00 we received a phone call back from the pregnancy counselor that the girls had been born at 3:33 and 3:34 p.m. via an emergency C-section. Baby A's (who we later named Nora) heart rate had dropped. Everyone was okay after the birth. It was decided at that time that we would wait to go to the hospital until the next afternoon because our birth mother was pretty out of it from the surgery. We were later able to talk to the birth mom's mother and get some more information about our little girls.
We will both never, ever forget getting to meet our daughters for the first time. It was such a beautiful moment in our lives. We still feel so blessed that we were able to be a part of their time in the hospital. We were able to feed them, change their diapers and see their first bath. That time was such a gift from our birth mother that she wanted to include us in those moments. She certainly didn't have to but she did. That speaks volumes of our mutual trust and respect for each other in a relationship whose foundation came from God.
I've put together a collection of photos from each month of the girls' life. I LOVE looking back at these and seeing their growth and development. It's amazing how alike yet how different they are. Nora and Lily definitely have distinct personalities, and it's been a true joy to be their parents. We love our little girls so much!
We're just about ready for their birthday party in the afternoon. I'll try to put together some images to share sometime next week.
You made me cry, Jill! We had the same "wait and see" situations with our twin girls. Baby B was determined to be growth-restricted, and we were on watch a few days when suddenly, the perinatologist decided we had to deliver. The babies turned out to be fine, but he said he preferred to deliver 2 healthy babies a bit early than let them get into distress. Memory lane indeed. Congrats on your family's first year together!!
ReplyDeleteTracey :)
Happy Birthday beautiful little girls!! And congrats to you Mom for making it through the first year...with TWO! I loved reading your story about meeting them. It brought some tears to my eyes, too. :)
ReplyDeleteThey are so sweet! You are such a blessed family. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful story, Jill. And your little girls are adorable! Happy first birthday to Nora and Lily.
ReplyDeleteThis is Dee's sister Darla (from The Scrappy Gourmet). Jill, I love hearing of other adoption stories. We also used the same adoption agency here in IA and have a great open adoption with our daughter's birthfamily. I hope we get the chance to meet someday soon (since I think we live pretty close to each other). Enjoy your first birthday party with the girls. Happy Birthday to them!
ReplyDeleteDarla
OmGosh Jill, the babies are getting bigger and bigger and cuter and cuter. It was so fun to see all the cute outfit changes! I bet they are a ton of fun!
ReplyDeleteSo precious! I love the progression photos.
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