A Look At 2011

It's been a very BIG year for Jacob and I! Each month has held it's own challenges, surprises, and blessings. Here's a look back at our year....

January held another failed attempt at fertility and an increase in my injectable meds. I was taking 5 shots a day!! In the end, it failed yet again!

February brought about some devastating news from our doctor. February was the month that we were basically told that IVF was not a good option for us and getting pregnant was unlikely. The doctor suggested we not try any more attempts at IUI and probably not waste the time or money on IVF either....ouch!!

In March, we took our annual Florida trip, which is always one of my highlights of the year (although this year it was overshadowed a few times!) It was beautiful, relaxing, and fun. However, in the midst of it all, I suffered a miscarriage in Florida. It was a very early miscarriage and I had barely taken a test when I started spotting. Still, it hurt....yet, I had a become pregnant! It gave me just enough hope to keep hoping!

My brother Zack, my Mom, Me, and my sister Megan

Jacob's sister Leah, sister Sarah, and Jacob

My handsome hubby and I

In April, our year really started to turn around, we found out we were expecting a new niece or nephew this year. Jacob and I were thrilled to welcome a new little one, and yet there was that aching pain in my heart, "will it ever be me???"

In May, we found out we were moving HOME!!! What an unexpected blessing that was! We had geared ourselves up for at least another year or two in Knoxville, but God had a bigger plan for our year and He knew that we would need to spend this one celebrating at home with our family! Back to Indiana!!

In June, we adjusted to life Lafayette, did some house hunting, spent lots of time with friends and family, and had an appointment to see my regular OB, deciding to hold off on a fertility doctor until we were better settled. We had decided to see a fertility specialist and meet with an adoption agency once we were settled in our new home and things had "calmed" down!

July brought about another new medicine. It was just a low-dose medicine that works very similar to Clomid. We hadn't tried Femara yet and hoped it might work a little better for me, but were really just trying to get through until we could move on to something else. In the first month, on the new medicine, I miscarried again. But maybe that was a sign that it was working? We also bought our house!!

August was a huge month for us, we moved into our new home at the beginning of the month, after Jacob put lots of work into new flooring and paint! Our second month of the new medicine failed, but I did have two good follicles, which was huge considering I had rarely gotten that even on high doses of medicine! I also decided to go back to teaching part-time.

September was my favorite month of the year....ironic since it's the month of Kinley's birthday and is usually one of my hardest months. However, on September 8th, I found out I was PREGNANT!! On the 10th, we shared that with our immediate family. Then we kept our mouths shut (mostly!) for the next couple of weeks! On Kinley's birthday, the 24th, we let the cat out of the bag and shared our big news with the rest of our family and friends!!!

October and November were filled with all things pregnancy related! I threw up throughout most of October! By the end of the month, I felt my first little baby flutters! We also got to celebrate Bristol's 1st birthday and Brenna's 5th in October!! By November, I was feeling better and feeling lots of movement! On November 28th, we heard those blessed words "It's a GIRL!!!"

If September was my favorite month, December is a close second. First, we got the "bad" news that there appeared to be some abnormalities in Emersyn's ultrasound. Then we prayed and were joined in prayer by literally thousands of people!!! WOW! Then we got the "good" news, that God had seen fit to give us a perfectly healthy and whole baby girl!!! Then to top the month off, we welcomed our first little nephew, Benjamin, on Christmas Eve. And if he isn't perfect, I don't know what is!!!!

Update on Emersyn!

I can't even begin to describe how much love we have felt over the past week. I have been shocked to tears at the amount of support that so many of you have shown us!!! I truly believe that one of the (many) reasons for this new trial in our life was to show us the overwhelming amount of support that we have from family, friends, and complete strangers!

My appointment with the specialist was Tuesday afternoon. I really expected myself to be much more nervous than I was. The teachers at school prayed with me in the morning and little Emersyn kicked throughout the prayer! I felt totally at peace in those moments. I heard from so many friends who were praying and I could definitely feel that! Of course, by the time I got to the appointment, I was nearly shaking with nerves. I felt like my insides were quaking.

The ultrasound tech was super sweet and was a complete blessing to us. She explained why we were there, what they were looking for, and everything she saw on the ultrasound. She literally started at Emmy's toes and worked all the way up to the top of her head, measuring everything and checking every organ. The further she moved up her body, the more I began to feel at peace. Many of the signs of genetic disorders that I knew they were checking just weren't there. When she got to the bowels, she just didn't see the problem that they had seen at my OB office. Although slightly "bright", she said she doubted that the bowels could even be called"echogenic". I fully believe God healed her bowels before we got there. In addition, the spot on the heart, while still there, just didn't appear to be a problem. She examined every part of her heart and it was functioning perfectly!!! From head to toes, Emmy appeared to be perfect!

She left the room to get the doctor. When Dr. Sumners went over the ultrasound, he had the same opinion as the ultrasound tech. He said the bowels were "perfectly normal baby bowels"! And he watched her heart for a long time and said that he just couldn't call it a deformity or a problem. To him, it just looked like the muscle in her heart was echoing back a little. He said she had a structurally normal brain and that there would probably come a day when we would doubt that! :) They were also both very excited to get a really good shot of Emersyn's hand all spread open. The doctor explained that many times, babies who are born with birth defects can't open their hand fully. This was just God's extra little sign for us that she was perfect and whole!! Before leaving, he said there was no need to see a genetic counselor or to come back for a follow-up! Our prayers could not possibly have been answered any more fully!!!

I'm not sure why things happened like they did or why we had the scare with little Emmy, but I know that I already see ways that God has worked through it.

1 - They checked every inch of our little miracle's body and couldn't find any reason for concern. That sure eases a Momma's mind and makes it easier to enjoy the remainder of the pregnancy. Anyone who has had a pregnancy after loss understands how sweet that peace of mind can be. Even when I catch myself starting to worry a little, I stop myself and think "What can you possibly worry about? She's perfectly healthy and God is watching out for her!"

2 - We were shown a tremendous amount of love and support from hundreds of people. The total number of read from my last blog post was close to 2,000. That's just amazing! We were given a glimpse of just how blessed we are and how loved our little Emmy is already!!!

3 - Many more people read Kinley's story because of Emmy. So many people found my blog through other friends and then went back to read the rest of our journey and I can't help but think that part of this trial was for others to see how faithful God is by using Kinley's story once again!

4 - We faced another trial and our faith still stood firm. Each time that Satan tries to throw something in our path to trip us up, he fails! God has another victory!!

5 - I was told by people that had never really fasted and prayed for something before that they would be fasting with us. What an amazing way to lead people to the miracle worker!!!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, comments, and messages!!!! We are abundantly blessed!!!!!!

Her sweet little open hand!

Little foot!

Emersyn Kate!

Prayers for Emmy

Emersyn's testimony began so very long ago. She's a rainbow baby, our sign of God's promise to us after the storm. She's a miracle from the very beginning. There's no good medical reason why I suddenly got pregnant on a low-dose medicine when so many other treatments had failed. We knew right away that God had big plans for our little lady. We never dreamed that we would endure another trial before we get to hold her in our arms...

On Thursday, we had our "big" ultrasound. I'd been having ultrasounds regularly, but they were done by my doctor to quickly check her progress. This ultrasound was done by the ultrasound technician and was much more in-depth. Initially, everything looked good. Because of my previous experience with ultrasound, I hold my breath until I see that little beating heart. Emmy's was beating away. She was moving around, had the hiccups, and measured right on track.

However, after the ultrasound, my doctor explained that they had found a spot on Emersyn's heart. It's called an echogenic cardiac focus. He explained that although they would normally wait 4 weeks and then re-ultrasound, I was a different case. I've been treated as a high risk patient anyway, and with my history, they wanted to refer me on to the specialist right away. In addition, they also noticed that Emersyn had echogenic bowels. Basically, her bowels show up more white than they should. The doctor explained that these two things could mean any number of things and could be a number of complications. They suggested that I see the high-risk specialist as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, I'll see Dr. Sumners in Indianapolis for a closer look at Emmy's heart and bowels. We'll also be meeting with a genetic counselor to discuss the findings and the possible causes of the abnormalities. After some research on the internet, I'm aware that both echogenic bowels and an echogenic cardiac focus are soft markers for Down Syndrome and other genetic disorders. In addition, there is still the possibility of a hole in the her heart or another cardiac issue.

Jacob and I are asking that you'll join us in praying for a COMPLETE healing for Emersyn's body. We're praying and believing that by the time we arrive at our ultrasound both issues will be completely resolved. We know that Emersyn is a miracle and that God has big plans for her and we believe that this is just another page in our testimony and hers.

I'm asking that everyone please join me in prayer for our baby girl. In addition, if you're able, please join me in fasting on Tuesday and praying for a good report from the doctor. We know that so many have already been lifting us up on a regular basis and are so thankful for all of your prayers and support!!!