Did You Plan That?

Did you plan that? This has been asked of us a million times since we announced we are pregnant. Everyone already knew we were adopting again. People are sort of stunned and this has been the most frequent question asked. I was pleasantly surprised that nobody asked if we were going to continue with our adoption. Most people understand that once in process it is the same as being pregnant. You dream of the child that is going to come into your life. You plan for them the same as you do a pregnancy. You love that child that you haven't even met. So, in answer to the question....Yes, I guess we did plan it. Let me start 11 years ago when Tuba was a baby. Hubby and I were both in college and struggling to get finished and make ends meet. We waited to add to our family until we were both close to being done. When we decided to start trying for a second child we were surprised to find that it wasn't happening so quickly. We tried for a year with no luck and then sought help. I had a fallopian tube removed as it was full of scar tissue from a ruptured appendix when I was 7. The Dr. was amazed I ever conceived Tuba with such a mess inside. He's our miracle! After that surgery we tried for a bit longer and then sought help with a fertility clinic at the local university. After all the testing it was determined that I had low levels of Progesterone. I started taking a supplement of Progesterone and got pregnant after about 5 months. We were elated! During this 2 year process we had looked into domestic adoption options and had just received an application for a program through our church when I found out I was pregnant. When Mr. P was about 18 mos. we decided to try again for a pregnancy. I started taking my progesterone (which I should add that I always felt very good taking it. I could tell my body had been low and that something was off with my hormones. It make me feel normal). I got pregant in June 05 and once again we were thankful to God and so joyful. We were devasted when at 9 weeks I miscarried while on vacation. It was very hard to lose a baby. I went back on the progesterone after a couple of months and continued to try for another pregnancy. In Nov. of 05 while I was at my sewing group I looked at pictures of my friend's sister and neice's new kids who were being adopted from Ethiopia. I had a break down and cried hysterically. I bawled my head off and I didn't even know why? I went home from sewing that day and talked to my hubby about it. He told me he had gone to AAI's website earlier in the week (we had heard about AAI through our friend). The next morning as we drove to church we both bawled our head off talking about adoption. We knew God was speaking to us. We made the decision that morning to adopt. When we arrived at church I'm sure the parish thought, "Wow, what's wrong with them?". We were all puffy eyed. After church we went over to our friend's home so hubby could see the photos too. Of course he bawled when he saw the kids too. The next morning we called AAI and asked for an application. 7 months later we were blessed to receive a referral for our sweet Baby Guy. He joined our family in Aug. of 06. Once we brought him home we knew we wanted to adopt again and applied after he was home for 6 months. We chose Ethiopia again and applied to adopt a baby girl. Throughout Baby Guy's adoption and this second one we didn't use birth control except for a few months before I travelled to Addis and a few months last summer while I tried to regulate my hormones and clear up my bad skin. I tried the pill for my skin but could only take it for a couple months because it made me so sick (and nutty...just ask my hubby and kids). I stopped taking it and talked with my Dr. about going back to the Progesterone instead. I started the Progesterone again and...well...got pregnant right away. We were very excited. God has blessed us with two babies this year. Our first seven years of parenthood we had just one child and now soon we will have 5 (3 of which will be added in the span of 2.5 years)! If we could have seen this back when we were so sad and trying so hard to have a second child I'm sure we would have been so surprised. We feel so blessed by God. Truly everything is in His plan on His timetable. So, I guess this is the REALLY long answer to that question but the short answer is yes we planned it because we weren't preventing it but it doesn't mean we weren't surprised by it.