The Rest of the Story

So... here's the deal...In 2001 Liza and I found out she has a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. This meant we would probably have some trouble having kids. That was fine. We weren't married yet but were glad we were able to go into it with eyes wide open. We also knew that we wanted to adopt. So, we knew it would all work out somehow. We would be parents regardless.

Fast forward a bit... we'd been trying or not NOT trying for about four years. Things weren't working out, much like we expected. So, we went to see a fertility specialist and to try IUI to see if that would work. This procedure and everything it takes to get ready for it can be pretty costly, especially if your insurance doesn't cover it (and ours didn't, which isn't necessarily unusual). And... long story short... it didn't work out.

That was in March. We took April off to re-coop and then took May off because I was so super busy getting ready for camp and Liza was trying to wrap school up. Then we started trying to decide what to do next.

Liza really wanted to try IUI again. She desperately wanted to be a biological mother. I wanted to go ahead with adoption. The biological part wasn't that important to me and I couldn't see spending that amount of money again with no guarantee (not to mention that we didn't have that money to spend; we had already exhausted all of our financial resources). So, we were at a bit of an impasse... However, I eventually relented, and we planned to call Liza's fertility doctor and move forward trying that route again. But, we held off for a little bit because I still had a bit of traveling to get done with a three week stretch where I was going to be in South Africa and then Liza would join me to go to Daytona Beach and then San Francisco.

While in San Fran, Liza was really, really sick, just nauseus, like, all the time. So, we knew something wasn't right. However, whenever Liza call's her doctor with these type of issues, one of the first questions they always ask is, "have you taken a pregnancy test?" So, she has to take one, and it's always negative, and she get's really upset. But we knew before we called that she needed to take one. She usually keeps one or two generic brand ones on hand. So, the day after we got back from San Fran, before she drove to Jackson to pick up our dog, she took one.

Now, we have to pause here to explain to those of you who don't know about pregnancy tests how they work (this isn't true for all of them, but is for the one's we used). When you take one, there are two little circles. The one to the right has a vertical line in it if you used the test correctly. The one to the left will then either have a horizontal negative symbol. if you're not pregnant, or a positive symbol if you are.

So, we’re used to seeing a vertical line on the right and a horizontal line on the left.

We wanted to see a vertical line on the right and a “cross” on the left.

Instead, we saw a vertical line on the right and another vertical line on the left.

Well, actually I hadn't seen it yet. I was at work. But Liza called me on her way to Jackson on the verge of freaking out. She explained it to me, and I tried to calm her down and just told her that she should take another one since the one she had taken had obviously messed up. I was thinking that somehow that left circle got turned around so that it was still a negative symbol, but turned on its side.

However, that night we were talking on the phone, and I went to the trash and fished the test out. When I looked at it I saw a very faint horizontal line in that left circle. That meant a positive symbol, which meant we were pregnant. So, I was kinda freakin'. Totally.

Well, the next day Liza drove back, but decided to go on to our house. She called and asked if I would pick up a pregnancy test on the way home. So, I did. And I bought name brand. And I bought two different kinds. One that used the symbols as I've explained and another that was digital and would just say "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant."

I came home and sat them on the coffee table, and Liza and I just sat around talking for awhile. She had just gotten out of the shower. So, she decided to take one of the tests while she dried her hair. We decided on the digital one, and she went off to the back. While she was back there I just kept praying, "Abba, please, please, please, by your grace and power, in the name of Jesus, please make her be pregnant.”  I heard her flush the toilet and then heard her start drying her hair.  Then I heard her turn the hair dryer off, and I listened but didn't hear anything else.  Then she walked around the corner, white as a ghost, and looking on the verge of tears, which wasn't unusual following a negative pregnancy test.  But then she showed it to me, and I saw it clear as day: “Pregnant.”

I started yelling, "I KNEW IT!"  Liza's knees buckled and she just collapsed in front of me and started crying. We hugged and cried and screamed and everything.  I grabbed my video camera and started filming her and then got my other camera and started taking tons of pictures like the one above.  I also made her take another pregnancy test just to be sure.

The next day Liza called her doctor but he couldn't see us until today.  So, there's been a week of waiting and wondering and trying not to spill the beans to anyone until we knew a bit more.  And now we do.

Baby Kinsley is somewhere around nine weeks along and is due on February 25th.  He or she is about the size of a grape and has little arm buds and eyelids and a tiny little heart that is beating like crazy.

We've been ridiculous already.  We went and bought some books (What to Expect When You're Expecting and The Expectant Father).  We've spent time going and looking at all kinds of baby stuff.  I've even made a three-page-long list of names I like for a boy or a girl.  Liza went through the list with me and narrowed it down a lot.  So, we'll see how that goes.

The best thing is that the only one here who deserves any credit for what's happened is God.  He truly made this happen, and I can't praise him enough for it.

A funny thing that's happened is how humbling this has been.  Here's why: throughout this journey for us there have been a lot of people trying to encourage us by telling us about Hannah, the mother of Samuel, from the Bible and So-and-So.  Who's So-and-So?  So-and-So is someone who was having trouble getting pregnant but finally did once they tried fertility and it didn't work or started adoption or finally quit worrying about it or...  You get the idea.  This, while nice, was also a bit frustrating for us because there's no guarantee that that does happen or that it would happen for us.  It obviously wasn't.

Well, guess what?  Now we're So-and-So.  Who would've thought?

And now you're caught up.  We're glad to have you along with us.

Thanks.