jocelynt
My name is Jocelyn. I'm 27 years old and live in Tennessee. My dh, Glen, and I have been married since December of 1994. We started TTC very soon after that, without success. After a year of TTC, we went on fertility drugs, and became pregnant 3 months later. After a very difficult pregnancy including 2 months of bedrest, HELLP Syndrome, and an emergency C-section, our son Drew was born. He is now 3 1/2 years old.
When Drew was a toddler, we decided that he needed to become a big brother. We went back on the fertility drugs, but after 6 months we'd had no success and the doctors were suggesting that we pursue more invasive tests and options. We refused. Around the same time, we began to discover that adoption of a newborn was a realistic option for us. We had always planned to adopt at some point, but since we wanted Drew to be the oldest, and since we had many misconceptions about newborn adoption, we believed it wasn't an option. We thought that adopting a newborn would cost tens of thousands of dollars and take years- it doesn't have to be like that. We knew from the beginning that race wouldn't be an issue for us. It turns out that there is a desparate need for adoptive families for healthy black and biracial newborns. We turned in our application to Bethany Christian Services in July of 1999, and our son Jonathan came home in October of that year. He was born 9 months exactly from the time we had started on the fertility drugs! Jonathan will be 2 this September, and is biracial (black/white.)
We knew that we wanted Jonathan and his next sibling to be close in age. Since we'd had such a hard experience with pregnancy and such a *wonderful* adoption experience, we decided that was the obvious way to go. We started the adoption process right around Jonathan's first birthday. This time it took a little longer. In October of 2000 we were matched with a birthmother who was due any time. A week later, we got a call that the baby boy had been born but had died shortly after birth. This was a very hard time for us- we asked to go on hold until after Christmas.
On the last day of February, 2001 we got THE call. We had been chosen as parents for a beautiful baby girl. Our Daughter Mia was born on Feb 8, 2001. When we got the original call, we were told that we would be able to pick her up the next week. Then, everything that could go wrong DID go wrong! Every step of the legal process was complicated. In the meantime, Mia caught RSV and was hospitalized. After 8 days in ICU (7 days on a vent), Mia was released back into interim care. After a long MONTH of waiting, she was finally legally free for adoption. Mia came home when she was 7 weeks old. She is Hispanic and African American.
When Mia arrived, I found that I was more tired than usual after the middle of the night feedings. I could hardly function during the day! I kept joking with dh that I must be getting old! Then, one afternoon, we were on te way back from Mia's 2 month well baby exam when I started feeling very sick. Dh joked, "Hey, maybe you're pregnant!" and we both had a good laugh. When I still felt sick the next day, though, I decided that maybe it would be a good idea for me to take a test, just for peace of mind. We bought a test that evening, and I took it at about 11:30 that night. It immediately showed up a very dark line! It was positive! Dh and I sat on our bed, staring at each other in amazement. Then we burst out laughing! We found out we were pregnant 2 weeks exactly from the day Mia came home.
I scheduled an ob appointment and was given a due date of December 1. I was already 7 weeks along before I found out I was pregnant! We recently found out that this baby is a BOY. His name will be David (after my brother), and we are still deciding on a middle name. We're considering Isaac, because both dh and I literally DID laugh when we found out we were pregnant! So far, this has been an easy and uncomplicated pregnancy. We're crossing our fingers that we don't have the same complications we did before!
The family picture was taken on Easter of 2001. From left to right we have Drew, Jocelyn holding Mia, and Glen holding Jonathan.
