Ready for Parenthood

This morning I was reading an entry in my journal from November 2016. This time last year, we had no idea why we weren’t able to get pregnant. We had seen a fertility doctor and they said that it was too soon for us to start worrying. I wrote in my journal, “Heavenly Father must have a plan for us, even if that includes adoption rather than pregnancy. We will have a family.” Fast forward one year, it is everything we want to adopt a baby into our lives.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of our family lately. When will someone contact us about a child & who will that person be? How many “potential” situations will we have before it’s the real thing? I’m excited, I’m nervous, and I’m every feeling in between. Making the decision to adopt is almost like saying, I’m ready to be a parent. For anyone who currently is a parent, you probably know that’s a bold statement. But one thing I want to remember about this stage before parenthood is that I’ve always known that Jk will be a great dad.
Every baby, toddler, and preteen loves my husband. Heck, all of our adult friends love him. On every occasion that I’ve seen my husband interact with children, my heart is near implosion from cuteness. He just has this really great way of connecting with kids and being a leader. I am a nanny for two of the sweetest boys and the first time they met Jk, you could tell he was their new best friend. Randomly, the younger little boy will tell me, “I know who your husband is, Ariel. It’s Jk.” It makes me so happy. I can’t wait for the day when Jk is a father and makes our little one feel like the coolest person alive.

Jk and I are so grateful for all of the support we’ve received from friends and family to help us in the journey to become parents. Even though our timeline for adoption depends on finding a birth family, it is a matter of when and not if it happens. Just like I knew one year ago, I know today that Heavenly Father has a plan for our family!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expecting to Be Expecting

Image
I’ve written and re-written this post so many times, I’m out of clever comparisons and easy ways to explain what we’re going through. So I’ll just say it. In December 2015, Jk and I stopped taking birth control. After a year of expecting to be expecting, we’re not even close. We’ve confided in very few friends and family members up to this point, but lately I’ve realized that something therapeutic happens inside when you let a secret out. While sitting in church on Sunday, I had a revelation. It should have occurred to me sooner but I definitely wasn’t ready for it. This is the thought I had… Make this process of starting a family as fun as possible! It won’t be the way I had previously imagined. Taking a pregnancy test, surprising Jk, finding out the gender, having a baby. But when have we ever been traditional? For this reason, I’ve decided to share our journey openly and honestly. It will be hard—it already has been—but I want to document it all. Doctors’ appointm...
Read more

Feeling Awkward About Infertility

Image
Recently I was asked the question, "How can infertility feel embarrassing?" Surprisingly, I didn’t know how to answer; I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was just a few months ago that I was keeping such a significant part of my life secret. Like many couples suffering with infertility, I thought that my husband and I would keep it to ourselves until we had “success” with pregnancy. But now, after being so open about our infertility journey, I'm thinking more about that question. How can infertility feel embarrassing, awkward, or totally taboo? Here’s what I came up with. One: This doesn’t feel like my story.   I remember the first conversation Jk and I ever had about children. It was summer, bright and hot outside; we sat on the street underneath a shady tree while we sipped slurpees. We were dating and I was hungry to know every detail about his beautiful soul. We curiously asked each other questions for hours, back and forth. Hesitant and wide-eyed, Jk asked me ...
Read more

The One with the Fertility Doctor

Image
We made the decision to see a fertility doctor when we had been unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant for 10 months. From research, I knew that one year indicated an official “problem,” but it was my opinion that 300+ days of worry was long enough. Good friends of ours had gone to a reproductive center nearby and had good things to say about their experience . We wouldn’t be able to see their same doctor, but we were grateful to be pointed in the right direction for a clinic. To say that I was nervous on the day of our appointment is an understatement. I was restless, shaky, and unable to focus at work. My main concern with seeing a doctor was the same concern I had with telling friends and family : I wanted to be taken seriously. My fear was that we would meet with a wise old man who would take one look at my babyface and decide I wasn’t ready to reproduce. Ultimately, my overwhelming desire for answers outweighed my anxiety. On a Tuesday in October, I took a long lunch break a...
Read more