August's Story

We are feeling so blessed to have this baby boy join our family.

Here's the whole story of how August came to be our son...

About seven months ago, Aaron and I decided that we wanted to adopt again. (Remember why?)

We started the paperwork process, and on October 15, after five months of home study renewal visits, police checks, applications, profile-making, and fingerprinting, we were officially on the waiting list!

Aaron and I had decided (during those five months) that it would probably be best for our family to adopt a biracial or African-American child. We had talked to some people and read some things that made us think that it would be good for Israel to have another African-American sibling. So in our minds, that was our plan. That's what we thought would be best for us. (God's plan is often different than ours, we are finding...)

On December 12, we got an email from our adoption specialist. She said that there was a birth mother who would be looking at profiles that afternoon. She gave us all of the information about her and asked if we would like our profile to be one of the ones shown to her. When we saw that she was Caucasian, we talked for a little while, but concluded that we would just stick with our "plan" of waiting for an African-American or biracial child. I replied to the email that afternoon and said that we probably wouldn't have our profile shown this time.

The next evening, we were celebrating Christmas with our little family of five.

We knew (or thought at that time) we would be travelling to Indiana over the holidays, so we decided to celebrate with just our kids a little early.

It was a fun night, and we had just put the two boys to bed. We were letting Ivy stay up late with us to watch a Christmas movie and sleep in the living room by the Christmas tree. I was just dishing up some ice cream for Aaron, Ivy, and myself when my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize.

I answered and heard the voice of our adoption specialist. "Jill? I'm so sorry to call you so late like this...but I need to tell you something." My heart immediately began racing. Of course it was going to have something to do with a baby. (By the way, this is like one of my favorite parts of adoption. It is just so exciting getting these calls!!!)

She went on..."So remember my email yesterday?" Of course I did. "Well...I didn't get your reply. I mean...I didn't get your reply until after we had shown the profiles to the birth mom. And I'm really not exactly sure why...but I threw your profile in the mix even though  I hadn't heard back from you....and...well...she picked you guys."

I probably said something like..."Uh...what?" And then I mouthed to Aaron, "She accidentally showed her our profile...and she picked us!!!"

Our adoption specialist went on, "So I needed to tell you that, just in case it would change you guys' mind about this baby."

Um...YES, it would change our mind! It is one thing to just have the possibility of being one of twelve or thirteen different profiles shown to a particular birth mom. It is another thing for a birth mom to read a book that describes our family in much detail and then choose us to be the ones to be her baby's parents!

She went on to tell me some of the specifics, which included the birth mom's due date (in FOUR DAYS), the situation with the birth father, and some other things. She also apologized for "messing up" and "accidentally" showing our profile.

At this point, I kind of laughed and said, "Seriously, you shouldn't apologize. Um...this has actually happened to us before." I went on to tell her the story about how we got chosen to adopt Ivy. It was an almost exactly parallel situation...the birth parents "accidentally" saw our profile and chose us.

I told her I would call her back, and I hung up and just stared at Aaron. His first words to me? "I knew this was going to happen. Don't ask me how. I just knew it. This exact scenario."

Long story short, Aaron and I talked for about an hour (I only freaked out a tiny bit...and that was only because the due date was in just four days...), and came to the very unanimous decision that God's hand was just all over this. I mean, come on! These "accidental" happenings are no accidents. It's so awesome to see that God does whatever He wants...despite what we try to do because we think it is best.

Also, right at this time, Aaron was preparing a sermon that he was going to be preaching at church a few nights later. The verse that he was preaching on (and therefore studying like crazy right at this time) was Proverbs 3:5: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." It was no accident or coincidence that this was the verse that we were both consumed with at this time. In our "own understanding" (which we were leaning on), we thought we knew the right "type" of child for our family. But God was just calling us to trust Him. He knows what's good for us much more than we do.

So we trusted, and we called our adoption specialist back later that night. "We definitely want this baby!" we said.

During this entire couple of hours, Ivy (remember, she was staying up late with us that night?) just sat and listened to us with a little smile on her face. We explained to her what this meant--that there was baby inside a lady's tummy, and the baby was going to come out very soon, and this baby would be her new brother or sister! She kept weighing the pros and cons of having a sister or a brother. "Well...we only have one daughter right now. But if it's a girl, then we would have two daughters. But...if it was a boy, then I could have three brothers!!" She was so cute.

We took her with us (about 10:00 pm) up to Nathan and Rachel's apartment to tell them the news. They were very excited and encouraging! :)

The next day we told our family and friends, and we started to get a nursery ready for the baby. We found this cute little crib and some other furniture in storage here at the MTC.

The kids hung out with me in the new baby's room all day...jumping in the bed,

playing with the baby toys,

and constantly saying, "Baby's room! Baby's room!" (Well, that's what the boys said...Ivy said longer sentences than that about the baby.) ;)

The baby's due date came and went. We prepared more and more for the baby: packing bags for the hospital, cleaning out closets, cabinets, and drawers (pretty sure that's called "nesting"), lining up people to watch our kids for when the call came that the birth mom was in labor. We also just spent tons of time as a family, enjoying the holiday season with just the five of us in our cozy apartment here in Missouri.

Christmas came and went. I kept my phone by me 24/7 and had the ring set on high. We didn't want to miss the call!

Finally on Thursday, December 26, nine days past the due date, our adoption specialist texted me and told me that Angel, the birth mom, was having some contractions and would go to the hospital in a few hours to see if she was really in labor. Then she called me a few hours later and said that yes indeed, Angel was in labor and checked in to the hospital!

We spent the afternoon getting things packed, cleaning up our house, and talking to David and Emily--our AMAZING neighbors who had agreed (actually, volunteered eagerly!!) to watch our kids.

We fed our kids supper and told them the news (in their terms..."You guys, guess what?? God decided that he wants our new baby to come out of Angel's tummy now! So Papa and Mama need to go to the hospital to pick up the baby!").

We kissed and hugged our kids goodbye, took one last picture as a family of five,

and then left them in the capable hands of David and Emily (and Calvin!). 

As Aaron and I were making the drive to Kansas City, we received updates about Angel. She was 4 cm. dilated, then 5 cm. Things were going well.

We checked into a hotel room for the night, because by 8:00 pm, she was still at 6 cm., so we probably wouldn't be going to the hospital that night. 

The last update we got before we fell asleep was close to midnight...she was at 9 cm.

Somehow, we slept great! That was by the grace of God, because we really needed to get a good night's sleep! We woke up to a call in the morning from our adoption specialist. 

She told us the news--Angel had had a baby BOY at 4:24 am. He and Angel were both doing well. However, Angel had to have a c-section after three hours of pushing (poor girl :/), so she would be sleeping and resting most of the day on Friday. We were to just "stand by" until she was ready for us to come to the hospital to meet her and the baby.

At the hotel that morning, we decided on August's name for sure. We had had the name August picked out for quite awhile, but we were having a hard time coming up with a middle name that would honor his birth mom. We finally gave up on coming up with "forms" of "Angel" and decided instead to use the letters from her name to create his middle name. We both loved Lane when I thought of it!

We hung out at the hotel until about noon, when our adoption specialist called us and said that Angel was ready for us to come to the hospital. We ate a quick lunch,

and arrived at the really nice and really HUGE hospital.

Even though this is our third adoption, it is still a tad nerve-racking meeting the birth mom. There are just so many emotions tied up in the meeting. So we were a little nervous...but we really didn't need to be!

We met Angel and her mom and grandma. They were all so sweet and kind. Angel didn't seem nervous to meet us at all. She asked us questions, told us about herself, and told us how the delivery had gone. We all got to meet August at the same time (she had fallen asleep from exhaustion right after her c-section and hadn't seen him yet), and we also got to ask her what she thought about the name August Lane. She immediately loved it, which made us so happy. She said that August was perfect because her birthday is in August (so cool!) and she really liked the fact that the middle name Lane used letters from her name. 

We gave her a little gift and hung out with her for about an hour. It was a really, really good meeting.

After that, Angel wanted August to go with us. So we took him with us to another hospital room that they had ready for us. 

And for the rest of the afternoon and evening, Aaron and I just held August and stared at him. 

It was so surreal. All of a sudden, we had FOUR KIDS?? Crazy.

He was pretty sleepy, but he also opened his bright blue eyes a few times. We were in love. :)

Aaron left that evening to go home to our other three kids. It was just me and August after that for a couple days. :) 

Just like most newborns, he woke up a LOT during the night and slept a LOT during the day. :)

By Saturday, I was missing my other three kiddos pretty much, but I was also loving my time with just me and August--such a great opportunity to bond with him!

Saturday afternoon he suddenly started breathing really fast, and the pediatrician was concerned. They monitored him for a little while in the NICU and concluded that his breathing was only getting faster and faster. So on Saturday night they gave him an IV and put him on oxygen. I felt so sorry for my little guy :( (And I had some major deja vu from when Israel was a newborn!).

He wasn't any better by Sunday, so he stayed in the NICU. I spent the morning sitting by his side, and at one point, his birth mom came in to see him. I sat and talked to her for a couple hours...it was so good to connect with her more. We talked about everything...her life, the pregnancy, the adoption, God...it was wonderful. I'm so excited that I will be able to tell August many of the things we talked about that day.

Around lunchtime, Aaron arrived at the hospital with our other three kids! I have never been SO HAPPY to see them. By that time, it had been three days since I saw them last...that's much longer than I have ever been away from them before! We went out to lunch together, and then we told them it was time to meet their new little brother. Ivy was so excited. Israel wasn't excited at first...every time we asked him, "Israel, are you excited to see August?" he would yell, "No! Mama!" (I have to say, I was flattered that he missed me so much!) Abel didn't really have an opinion either way. :)

They could only look at August through the NICU window, because kids aren't allowed in there. They were fascinated. And Israel quickly changed his mind about wanting to meet him. "Baby! August! Baby! Brother!" he kept saying. Ivy was concerned that he was only wearing a diaper. "Where did his clothes go??" she asked.

When it was time for them to leave, Israel started reaching toward the window, saying, "Nooo! Baby!!" It was so so sweet. 

Aaron and the kids left in the afternoon, and I spent the afternoon and evening sitting with August in the NICU. I left his side about midnight to go to my room and sleep, but right when I got to my room, my phone rang. It was the nurse in the NICU, and she had just talked to the doctor. He thought that August was doing well enough to leave the NICU and spend the night in my room with me! I was very excited. 

We had a great night...August slept well and his breathing remained normal. I was so thankful.

The next morning, the doctor came in to examine August again, and he said that he would probably be able to go home that evening. That was the BEST news. I was so eager to get home to my other kiddos (and Aaron) and it would work out perfectly, since Aaron was making the 2 1/2 hour trip that day anyway to go to court to get custody of August. Since we only have one vehicle, he would have had to make a fourth trip (in five days) to pick me up the next day if the doctor would have said we couldn't leave until the next morning. So needless to say, we were glad that August would be discharged that evening.

Aaron arrived about 1:00, and I took August to the nursery at the hospital for them to "babysit" for him while we went to court. We drove downtown Kansas City (got lost for a few minutes) and found the courthouse. This hearing was much more "official" and sort of intimidating than our other two adoptions. (Each state does adoption differently.) We got asked many questions and the lawyers sort of "grilled" us about a few things. It was kind of nerve-racking! But after about two hours there, we left with custody papers!! August was ours. :) (Almost officially...we will still have one more court hearing in six months for the finalization of the adoption.)

 We spent a couple more hours at the hospital, waiting for the nurses to get our discharge papers finished, and then we packed August up and headed home around 8:00 pm. 

We arrived home at 10:30 to an INCREDIBLY clean house, three sleeping kids, a homemade sign on our door,

balloons in the kitchen,

and a homemade banner above August's crib. (David and Emily=rockstar babysitters.)

I woke Ivy up and got her out of bed, because I was SO excited to see her and have her see August. She got to hold him for a few minutes, and then she went back to bed. :)

And now we're home...with our four kids. The adjustment is going well. I can already tell (I think) that it is going to be an easier transition than it was from two to three kids. (That was the hardest one for us by far!!)

We are praising God that He would see fit for us to be August's parents (along with our other three precious kiddos.) He is so good!!! 

Thanks so much for sharing in our third adoption journey with us!