The Rest of the Story...

If you've read my last post, you're probably thinking "But, you have FOUR kids...how?" Allow me to tell you how good God is...and to remind you to 'be careful what you wish for'. (I'm kidding, of course.)

After Mackenzie we thought we might just try again to see if we could maybe get another "miracle". I had yet another surgery for the same issues...and lo' and behold I got pregnant again! YAY!! We were so excited.

John was gone on a surgical rotation in a small town eight hours away during the entire first trimester. Lucky him. I, however, had two kids at home and was working full-time...miserably nauseated I might add. Eventually came the time to find out the sex of the baby. I myself would have been perfectly fine not knowing, but my vote was vetoed. When it came time I was nervous but really excited either way. To be gut-level honest, though, both of us wanted a boy really badly. Since we weren't supposed to have another baby after Caitlin and got Mackenzie, then weren't supposed to have another and got this baby, we concluded this was our last shot. Also, John's father passed away shortly after Mackenzie was born. He had esophageal cancer. It hit John really hard and he hoped that someday he'd have a son to pass all those "guy things" down to. I didn't understand that at the time. Nor did I realize just how much it would hurt him to hear "it's a girl!"...again.

I know it sounds very cliche, but we honestly were happy she was healthy and growing on track, and that there were no evident problems. We would be lying if we didn't admit we were kind of disappointed we weren't having a boy, though. You know, it was really easy for me because I was comforted in the fact that this is what God chose for us, and also that "mom thing"...I had her with me and could feel her moving in me; she could have had three heads and twelve fingers for all I cared. With John, it took a little more time. Then one day he said, "You know, I think maybe God just knows I don't have the time right now to raise a son. I think He knows I'm just too busy and can't devote the time that a son needs from his father." That was the moment he became more excited than ever with this new little girl on the way...daddies do love their little girls, don't they? :)

Next came the task of naming another girl!! We'd used up the ones we liked. We both wanted "traditional" names. Names like Laura, Madeline, Meaghan (which was going to be Mackenzie's name for the longest time), or something equally as old-fashioned. We decided we really liked the name "Caroline", then went through a million middle names coming up with nothing. We could not agree. I liked "Grace", John didn't. I liked "Anne", but it didn't go well with Alley. Finally John came up with Elise, because it is the middle name of his cousin's daughter Lindsay. I loved it...problem solved. Caroline Elise she would be.

One night John called me very excitedly right before Mother's Day from his apartment where he was living in Topeka, KS during his final rotation that year. (He was there for the rest of the pregnancy and met me at the hospital to have the her!) He called and asked if I wanted to know what I was getting for Mother's Day:

John: "Do you want to know what I got you for Mother's Day?"
Me: "Sure, unless you want it to be a surprise."

You don't want to know?
Only if you want to tell me.

Come on, guess.
(I probably came up with a few lame guesses.)

Why don't you and the kids come up here and I'll give it to you early.
NOW?! It's 9:30 and pouring down rain and thunderstorming! (Not to mention he was an hour and fifteen minutes drive from our house.)

Oh, just come on.
Okay, fine...let me get the kids up. (I had already put them to bed.)

I get the kids up (they were actually still awake) and put them into the car with a video and pillows and blankets and we back out of the garage. I head down the street, turn onto the main road, and it begins to hail. Great. So I turn around and drive back home to our garage. I just got this minivan I waited FOREVER for and I was NOT going to let it get hail damaged! I called John and we waited a few minutes for the hail to stop.

I finally did get to Topeka and he was SO excited. You know how you almost can't wait until your kids open their presents at the holidays, and how you're almost more excited than they are?! That was John...ready to EXPLODE with anticipation. I don't remember if he wrapped it or covered it or what, but I remember thinking "Wow, where did he get this?" And then he said, "I made that." It was a hand towel/burp cloth that said "I love Mommy" and he had it in a shadow box. The words were embroidered and cross-stitched. (See, I told you he could do anything.) He was so proud, and I loved it. He couldn't have given me a more precious gift. He told me how much he was looking forward to having her here and how much he had been thinking about her. He said he thought this one was going to be really close to his heart. (I think mainly because he felt a little guilty for the way he reacted at first.)

Caroline Elise Alley was born on May 31, 2006 at 12:51 in the afternoon. Her sisters adored her and her daddy was wrapped around those little fingers from the second he held her. Love at first sight, as with all of them. One day in the not-so-distant future, John would nickname her "Doodle Bug"...that's his name for her. She'll say to people, "My daddy calls me Doodle Bug!!" :)

Six short months later something wasn't right. My milk supply was all weird and she wasn't eating the same. She was demanding more baby food to make up for it and I thought it was another failed attempt at breastfeeding on my part (never quite worked out for me as I desperately hoped it would). I decided to check with the doctor and guess what??!! I WAS PREGNANT AGAIN! The doctor just sighed and looked at me and shook his head, with that same look he gave me when I came in the year before with Caroline. He said he'd never tell me again that I could not have more babies...and said in the future I'd have to remember that. HA HA HA!!

Okay, long story short...fast-forward to the tell-tale sonogram. I'm beside myself with anxiety, as I'm not quite sure whether my feelings are true that it is a boy this time. Either way, I knew this would definitely be the last child we were going to have. John was just sure it was another girl, so when we started the sono and the tech said "Well, what do you think?" John said to her after a big sigh, "Just tell us it's another girl." She said to him: "Well...it's not. It's a boy."

YOU COULD HAVE KNOCKED HIM OVER WITH A FEATHER.

He didn't stop smiling that day. We left and went straight to Babies'R'Us and spent almost $400.00 on something we have never bought....BLUE! :) It was so much fun. Everything I showed him he put in the basket. Anything and everything "boy" he wanted. It was a good day.

I remember everyone kept saying to us..."Oh, now that it's a boy you can stop trying, right?" I know they meant it as a joke, but I hated the underlying implication that we had only kept having more babies trying to get a son. I always wanted lots of kids -- I remember saying I wanted SIX, to be exact...no matter which sex. But, I always thought in that mix it would be nice to have at LEAST one of each sex. With John, it was important to him to have a son because of all the things dad's do with their boys. It was that simple. I hope no one would ever think we weren't happy and blessed and pleased as punch to have our girls. They are the apple of their daddy's eye, as is Jack. They are each absolutely unique and amazing in their own ways. We love and cherish them ALL.

Jack was born on our anniversary, making it an even more special day than ever before. John and I started this "family" of just the two of us and twelve years to the day later, our family was finally complete. We had our three wonderful girls and our little boy.

WE ARE SO BLESSED. Thank you, Lord!