Adoption Finalization

After three follow-up home studies, 7 months, and a junk load of money, we were able to officially finalize Brooke and Millie's adoption.

I splurged and bought the girls some new cute outfits (which I literally almost never do. Our poor children will always be in used clothing, ha).  This was a special day, indeed!

Everyone at the court houses, including our judge and attorney, were incredibly kind and happy about the whole experience.  Apparently in court, the cases are typically difficult, so when a happy adoption one came along, they were all too willing to be excited for us.

Our judge (I wish I had caught his name, darn it!) simply asked if we still wanted to adopt the girls (Duh!), offered to Lydia and Hyrum to make an amendment in the adoption decree that we would be legally bound to offer cookies and milk every Wednesday, and then signed the final adoption decree.  And we were done.  The entire case took about five minutes.

Our attorney, Doug Bailey, was fantastic.

Our good friends the Hignights also joined us as child holders and pictures takers :)

As a follow up, just two days ago (four months after finalization) we finally received the girls' birth certificates and can apply for social security cards.  If you ever want to get me off on a rant about government bureaucracy, ask me about that process.

Ruth Anna's Birth Story

There's so much I want to write about and remember, so I will start with the most recent.  

We welcomed our precious baby Ruth Anna Neary on July 1st at 8:14AM weighing in at 7lb 5.6oz at 37 weeks.

At 35 weeks I got a massive headache and was seeing spots; symptoms that, unfortunately, I was far too familiar with.  After a blood pressure check I was admitted to the hospital for pre-eclampsia.  Medicine and steroid shots were started right away as we waited for lab results to come back.

My 24 hour urine content was off the charts!  The most the hospital had ever seen, in fact. (9.2g if anyone was wondering)  But my liver and kidneys were still holding up strong, and my blood pressure was able to be stabilized.  I was sent home a few days later (at 36 weeks) on strict bed rest with daily check ups and a c-section scheduled at 37 weeks if I should make it that far.  

 One last baby bump pic the night before c-section

We arrived bright and early Friday morning, checking in with a blood pressure of 190/100 (yay!), so they got to delivery pretty quickly.  I'll be truthful and say I totally hate c-sections, especially c-sections with gross medicines, vomiting, and dumb reactions to narcotics.  The only thing getting me through was that beautiful baby at the end.

And boy was she worth it!

(This is Joseph's absolute favorite picture, haha)

Having five children has definitely been an adjustment, especially now that it's almost a month later and all the family is gone and Joseph's paternity leave used up.  Some days I'll feel like a supermom, and a lot others we just barely survive through the day.  In my defense, I felt this way with all my children, even when we only had one, and we always figure it out.  The first two months are always the hardest :)

I wouldn't change how it worked out for anything, though.  All five of our babies are miracles in one way or another, and I thank God every day that I get the privilege to be their mother!