Dates that need to be remembered.

We prayed the entire year of 2016.  Nothing happened, which made me believe something else was wrong, but we didn't find anything in any of the tests that were ran.  Just a year of waiting, praying, and learning more about myself and God.  The song that is going through my head as I type this,  He's in the Waiting. Oh how I cried the first time I heard this song.

Over the last few months, our lives have changed so much.  We found out on Valentine's Day that we are going to have a baby.  This came as a huge shocked to us and made us very excited all at the same time.  We were able to get in to the dr. the very next day.  We saw a small dot on the ultrasound, and hormone levels were great.  We told a few close friends our exciting news and kept it a secret from our families until we knew for sure that this was going to work.  Having a miscarriage history can and will take the fun out what is suppose to be a very exciting time.  We waited anxiously for our next appointment two weeks later.  Again, we saw another little (but bigger bean) growing right before our eyes.  Crying while looking at the screen and hearing the heart beat was all I could do.  I couldn't believe it was really going to happen this time.

 Our next appointment was scheduled for March 3rd, and we had planned a trip to Tupelo for the 10th visit family.  We decided that if everything looked well; we would tell our parents while we were home.  It just so happened that Andrew's dad was in town.  We told our families and watched them cry with tears of joy as we were finally going to have a child of our own.  They all began to pray with us that this baby would make.  Our appointment to check for Down's Syndrome went well.  Everything was going great.  After this we decided, it was safe for us to make it Facebook official. 

We have had plenty of time planning on how we wanted to announce to the world that we were now pregnant.  We had this planned with Anna, since we found out during football season.  We decided to honor Anna and keep this plan with this baby, after all the baby will be born right in the middle of football season. 

Unique was just around the corner, and I love this conference.  Two years ago, Andrew's interview, was my first Unique.  During this conference, I was about to miscarry our third baby, Anna.  One of the speakers prayed over ladies who were/are struggling with miscarriage, child loss, and infertility. Last year's (2016), another speaker prayed a similar prayer. At the end of this conference, confetti was launched to end the conference to celebrate a great conference.  During both of these conferences, I cried for what I have lost and if I would ever be able to have a biological child of my own and wondering how long our infertility journey would last.  Unique 2017 was very different.  I was pregnant and over the first trimester.  Something I have never experienced.  I cried during the whole first session as I remember that God cares for me and loves me and this child I'm carrying.   The whole year of waiting was/is worth it.  It gave me a chance to grow and learn my new surroundings.  This God showing me that He wants so much more and knows way more than I do about my future.

Our next appointment was coming up, and it was getting close to being able to find out the gender of Baby G.  Due to insurance issues with my previous dr., we changed drs.  I was very nervous because I didn't know if they were going to let us know with it being our first visit with them.  While in the ultrasound room, the tech was super nice and asked us if we wanted to know the gender.  Of course, we said yes.  I would not be able to make it to delivery with not knowing (I like to plan what I can).  She also asked if we had done the anatomy scan to check all of the baby's organs.  She gets started, and I can't hold back the tears.  My sweet baby had grown and has a strong beautiful heartbeat.  She tells us to close our eyes to go over the gender.  I promise I did not look but knew in my heart that this was a boy.  We wanted to plan a big party but due to timing, we weren't able to.  We went with something simple and special just the two of us and our closest friends, Scotty and Lindsey.  This appointment fell on a very important day for Andrew and I.  The date is May 19th.  May 19th eleven years ago, I graduated high school, and Andrew proposed on this day.  On May 19th, 2014, we found out we were going to miscarry our first baby.  It needed to be a day of happiness again, and it was because we were able to find out the gender of our fourth baby.

I didn't want to do something traditional, or something that has done over and over again.  I was talking with my boss/friend about it.  She mentioned that since Andrew's a lighting guy, why not do something with the church's lighting.  So we went with it.  I love how this turned out.  This is the full video that our friend, Lindsey, took on her cell phone. 

If you notice at the beginning, I mention Unique confetti.  Being pregnant this time has now come full circle.  God is all over this pregnancy and will see me to the end.  This is why Unique is so special to me.  It reminds me when  I least expect it, that God is always working on a plan to make things better for me and even when I feel like He's not there.  This is a sweet baby boy, who is loved by so many, in Tupelo, Hernando, Mobile, and around the world.  His name is Andrew James, in which, we will call him AJ.  He's named after Andrew and Andrew's grandfather, who passed away the summer before we got married.  He's been named for over 5 years, but we have been waiting on his arrival.

AJ is due to make his arrival, October 17th, which is his Aunt LuLu's birthday.  She's beyond excited to have a birthday buddy.  He is due the day after my birthday, and I've always said that I would love to be a mom before my 30th birthday.  I have a feeling he's going to come before my birthday, but God does have a sense of humor.