HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA 30 July 08

KAYLA NICOLE ALESSI HAS ARRIVED! Born July 30th at 2:34 p.m. at 8 pounds and 4.1 ounces and 20 inches long with a head FULL of black thick hair. Very healthy, happy, and perfect.

Nick and I could not be happier!

Im exhausted but I have to give you all the short birth story. It was absolutely perfect. Kaitlyn did a beautiful job of bringing her into the world.

We showed up at 7:30 am at the hospital. The doctor checked her cervix and she was 3 sm then he broke her water. She was started on pitocin and dilated to a 4. Then she got the epidural. With in an hour and half Kaitlyn had dilated to 6 am and 1 hour later again she was fully ready.

Kayla Nicole came with only ONE push!!
Nick got to cut her cord, hold her first and feed her first. He is already wrapped around her little fingers!

The birth of a baby is by far the most amazing thing. Kaitlyn did such a wonderful job and we could not have asked for more. She is holding up well and is very happy about her decison.

We expect baby and birth mother to be released from the hospital on Friday!!

Then Nick, Kayla and I should be back to PA this weekend.

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts, wishes and prayers and boat loads of support you have given to Nick and I for the past too many years!

Each painful year, is now worth every single second.

29 July 08

Hey blogger family!

All is well here. Sorry its been a few days. I know you all must be on the edge of your seats! We are doing great.

Saturday night we went to Kaitlyn's house for dinner. It could not have gone better. We really get along so wonderfully and I am so thankful for that. It will be really good for Kayla when she older and understands. We were at her house for about 5 hours and it was the quickest 5 hours ever. Time just flew because we had so much fun. She gave us a gift bag of presents for the baby. Wipes, lotion, soap, picture frame and some small things. She also put 2 cards in the bag and wrote some really beautiful things in them. Those cards we will keep safe for Kayla to read when shes older. Kaitlyn's best friend Kim was there and also Carlos, the birth father was there. We all spent some good quality together playing UNO.

Sunday Nick and I went to St. Augustine. Its a real old town founded in 1565- I think. We walked around for 2 hours until we got unbearably hot. The picture above is us walking around. Its not a great picture of me- I forgot to smile because it was so hot out. lol.

Yesterday, Monday, we met Kaitlyn at her last doctor's appointment. We got to hear the magical sound of Kayla's heartbeat and Kaitlyn got her cervix checked again. Still only 2 centimeters.

So tomorrow is the big day. Wednesday morning at 6:45 we will meet Kaitlyn and Kim and follow them to the hospital. At 7:30 Kaitlyn will get her water broke and then get started on pitocin followed by her epidural. We expect to see Kayla by Wednesday evening. I cant even begin to describe how Nick and I feel at this point of the process after waiting over 5 years now. Five years of heartache and heartbreak that can now be put behind us.

This whole process is truely utterly amazing. This doesnt happen. Adoptions like this are so incredibly rare and here we are. It really is just meant to be.

26 July 08

No birth yet. Nick and I are really impatiently waiting now. We will see Kaitlyn tonight for dinner. We are going over to her house for a bit. Monday at 4 pm is her next doctor's appointment to check her cervix before she is induced bright and early at 7:30 am on Wednesday morning. At this point we are expecting that she will be induced. I hope Im wrong and she goes sooner!

I cant wait to get out of this hotel room. I will leave you with a picture for now.

24 July 2008

To the Milk Maid:
If rain brings on babies then this baby should be here!! It has been raining and storming for the past couple of days. Maybe that is what brought her onto 2 centimeteres! I sure hope your right!

Only 5 days until induction day! Wowza! Nick and I are so impatient now. We dont leave our hotel room in fear of missing a call. And its driving us totally bonkers!!

A couple weeks ago we guessed birth dates. My mother in law said July 22, I said July 24 and Nick said July 27th. Today isnt over..but my guess is that Nick is the closest.

COME ON OUT KAYLA! We're all impatiently waiting to love on you!!


Additionally, for some sad news of loss of 6 lives this morning from our home, Guam.

Copy and paste the link below and please send prayers for these hero's families.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=63512&archive=true

22 July 2008

We went to the doctor's apointment with Kaitlyn today. Everything went fantastic. Better than I imagined! The doctor said Kaitlyn has taken real good care of herself and the baby. Everyone is healthy. The doctor got the heartbeat machine out and had me put it on Kaitlyn's belly!! So me and Romeo, Kaitlyn's 3 year old little boy held the machine while we all listened to Kayla's heartbeart. It was magical. It was like I was dreaming. I didnt even feel like I was there. Nick and I just looked at each other in shock, in amazement. Completely stunned.

Then he checked Kaitlyn's cervix and (drum roll please...) she is dialated TWO centimeters!!!!!

Ahhhh! This really means anyday now! Nick and I are now staying put in our hotel room next to the phone!

Can you believe it? I cant. Wow. Im just still so stunned.

21 July 08

I havent been blogging as much lately. Not a whole lot going on but at this point no blog news means good news.

We are doing fantastic here in FL. We are actually quite bored. We stay in our hotel room most of the day so we dont spend money. We been renting movies from those RedBox things for $1 per night, and just relaxing on our last vacation as a family of 2. We have gone to the zoo once and walked the beach once. We plan on going to the Busch Brewery this week sometime, probably Wednesday.

Tomorrow is Kaitlyn's prenatal appointment that we will join her on. Cant wait. And only 8 days until she is induced! I cant believe how its all come together. I only hope it continues to run so smooth. We are all ready now. Birth Father has signed over his rights, her hospital bag is packed, her take home outfit is picked out, today we bought diapers and wipes, her car seat is all ready...we are now just waiting on her!

I owe you lots of pictures but the slideshows arent working with me. Grrrr. And Im getting frustrated, so maybe next time. Actually, I will just leave you with a few pictures for now.

Here we are right after Nick got to PA.


Here he is with the lip out, meaning he is about to cry!


And here he is with a onesie that says "Daddy says Im beautiful"



More next time!

21 July 2008

Stay tuned. Slideshow coming soon full of all kinds of pictures from Daddy's baby shower to our trip to the zoo a few days ago!

19 July 2008

I just wanted to clear up that statement at the end of my last post where I said I NEED a shower....I got a few comments back sayin that I did need a shower. I meant I needed a shower. Like soap and water in the bathroom shower...not baby shower.
LOL!!!!

Nick and I are doing fantastic. Getting really anxious for the 'call' to take Kaitlyn to the hospital. We cant wait. Its actually quite boring here. We spend most of our time in the hotel so we dont spend money. Except today we went to the zo and last night we went out for drinks and dinner. But tis the last vacation as TWO!

:0)

Kaitlyn has a prenatal appointment on Tuesday and she has invited us to go with her. We will get to hear the baby's heartbeat and hope for an ultrasound and hope even more that we find out she has dialated. We can hope!!
I will update again after her appointment!

17 July 2008

Hi all. Wanted to give you an update. I know you been hanging on the edge of your seat. Thanks for all the wonderful comments and support. We wouldnt be where we are without so many of you.

Nick and I are in Florida! Kaitlyn's induction date is July 30th but we all think she will have her sooner since her first baby was a week early. We met with the attorney, Kaitlyn and the birth father, Carlos yesterday. And he signed the papers!!!! Carlos signed away his rights as her father!! This baby is ours now! We really are having a baby. It really is our turn now. It is the stangest but best feeling ever. Our 5 years of heartache has come to an end and in less than 2 weeks Kayla Nicole will be born! I cant hardly believe it. This whole time when I thought God was ignoring us, he wasnt. He had this special plan for us. He knew that Nick and I are strong enough to love a baby that needs us, as our own. He knew she needed us and we needed her. HE heard us.

More updates soon! I NEED a shower!

13 July 2008- Stroller choice!

A lot of you ( my bestest family by choice! ) asked me what stroller/ car seat combo we went with. My in laws and I went to the baby dept store in Burlington and my father in law tested all the display models. I needed something lightweight since most times I will be out alone with the baby, espically when Nick is deployed. ( He is due to deploy again in April ) I wanted to be able to open it and close it with 1 hand and I wanted something with a lot of storage. We needed something safe. Something that holds the car seat really securly so that it doesnt tip or isnt easily taken out if someone decides that our baby is the most beautiful baby they ever seen and wanted to take her. And I liked the colors.

He already knew he liked this one because that is what they chose for my sister in law. But he tested them all out anyways and I took pictures. I cant post the pictures because when my sister was here she accidently took my USB cord, so now I have to wait for Nick to bring our other one. I will post them once we get to FL.

Anyways, the link below is the actual model we got, but in different colors- brown and green. I wanted neutral colors for any possile future adopted children. :o) Yes, I am willing to go through this emotional roller coaster again, call me crazy. I dont care. But thats a whole other post.

Again, sorry I cant post pictures of it. I dont have my USB. But the stroller and car seat are waiting impatiently down stairs and they are filled with lots of baby gifts for Nick to open when he gets here ( in 2 more days! )
And on Wed morning we are taking it to FL and again it will have to wait impatiently-just like we are.

Here is the link:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3156651

Once we get to FL I will share pictures of it with you and also the pictures of Nick being showered with gifts!! Anyone had a baby shower for Daddy to be before?! I cant wait!

wordle

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Click the picture to enlarge. I made an adoption wordle.

12 July 2008

Things are much better now. Birth Father has made contact with both Nick and I. He says this is the best thing for Kayla, for Kaitlyn and himself and also for us. And he said what Nick has been waiting for him to say. That we dont have to worry about him changing his mind. So Kayla WILL BE ours!

My MIL and I went out last night and bought her car seat and stroller. That was fun. I have to admit, and Im shopped out. Can you believe we actually walked through the baby department and didnt look at anything else or even buy anything else besides the stroller combo? Amazing. Yeah...Im shopped out. Thanks Mom and Dad! :0) The downstairs is lookin like Santa Claus stopped by 5 months early. Nick is going to love it.

* In 3 days Nick will be here.
* In 3 days we find out Kaitlyn's induction date.
* In 4 days Nick and I are headed to FL to wait the arrival of Kayla.
* In 4 days we meet Kayla's birth father at the attorney's office.
* In 4 days we get to spend more time with Kaitlyn.

10 July 2008- 2nd post

2nd post for the day. I thought this would be neat. Dont mind the 'zazzle' across the pics. I stole the proofs from their website. lol.

What a difference 14 years makes.

Summer 1994 ages 1 and 10.



Summer 2008 ages 15 and 24.




I miss my sister already. Before I saw her last week, it had been 3 years since I saw her or even talked to her. Because of our 'mother' being the way she was, we couldnt talk to each other. But since she has moved in with our dad a year ago we have gotten in touch. We spent a whole week together and it was as if we had never been apart. She is still the same as she was 8 years ago...just taller. Where did the short little girl go that I helped with homework? That I made dinner for? That I bathed? That I got from the bus stop? That I got annoyed with for always being in MY room? The little girl with pony tails and baby teeth that I took care of because 'mom' was too busy being depressed? Wow does time fly.

I cant wait to see her again!

10 July 2008

Things are much better now. Kaitlyn ( Birth mother ) has contaced birth father. And birth father has contaced us!

He has said he will consider the adoption as long as he gets a written agreement like the birth mother that says he will recieve pictures and updates and that Kayla will know about him. He also wants to meet us, so we are headed to FL MUCH sooner than we thought.

Nick will be here Tuesday and we ( birth mother, birth father and us ) have an appointment at the attorney's office on Wed. Which means as soon as Nick gets here to PA we will be off to FL late that night or early the next morning.

And we will stay put in FL until the baby is born and we can bring her home!
Tuesday we will find out birth mother's induction date!

So, all is still coming together and I pray this little girl is still ours. We already love her so much!

Kaitlyn is sure the birth father will go through with adoption, espically after he meets us on Wed.

Thank you everyone for the kind thoughts and prayers. I know Im slacking on emailing everyone that has emailed me, but my mind is just so frazzled with all that is going on. But each and every concern and comment means so much to me. I will update as soon as I know anything else!

July 9 2008

I have cramps from hell. I slept terrible last night and we wont know anything more until Friday- hopefully. The attorney says there is nothing else he can do. Only thing that can be done is tie down the bio father and rape him if we have to. Friday birth mother is going to birth father's house to hopefully do just that to get a freakin stupid signature from a man who really doesnt want this baby. He just wants to be spiteful and make birth mother's life a living hell. As a last resort we are offering him money we dont have only after he signs over rights. He doesnt even know this baby is a girl and has no idea when she is due. He has not given her one red cent to support her....and we could lose this baby because he has done 2 of the 3 steps to protect his rights? The rights he really doesnt even want?

Im gonna to puke. If Nick was here, we could puke together.

July 8th 2008

We are going through a major bump in the adoption road right now, and we really need all the thoughts and prayers you can spare. Please. I dont want to post details but I shall have you know that the birth mother is totally on our side wanting this little girl to be in our arms. The bump lies with the birth father. We are working on him though and hope that this little girl goes to the home arms of whom the big man upstairs wants her to be.

Nick and I will be together in just 7 days and we will find out the induction date that same day.

Send us prayers.

4 July 2008

Happy 4th of July friends!


Most of you dont know our future daughter's name. I have been trying to keep it a surprise until she's born...and well...Im having a hard time keeping to only the people that know. Espically since her room has come so far.


(Check out the picture of her room and you will know why)

So anyways...Her name is...

KAYLA NICOLE ALESSI

2 July 2008

Sorry girls.Im a bad blogger lately. I been so busy with my sister here, I dont have much time to blog anymore. The time has been going by so fast and everything is going fantastic. It took her a good 2 days to really open up to me, but now its sorta like old times. We lay in bed at night and just talk about all the fun times. It really is great and its amazing how much she remembers considering she was so young. She hasnt forgotten me like I feared she did. Not at all.

Above is a picture of us. We went to the Picture People a couple days ago and got some shots taken. The pictures turned out great but I couldnt afford to buy them all. I only could manage to buy 3 sheets, 3 different poses. But I did go online and snatch all of the poses from them...even though they have words across the pictures so you dont steal them..lol.



In the baby dept. news...Nick has started the baby's nursery. Its not finished yet, but he has sent me pictures. The picture above is the changing area. He put up a Winnie the Pooh boarder and painted the bottom half of the walls PINK. Can you tell he is sooooo proud to have a baby girl?! The other half of the room I cant share with you because her name is on the wall in real big pink letters. And Im trying not to announce her name until she is born.

Now the REAL BIG NEWS in the baby dept.....Kaitlyn, our birth mom goes to her doc on July 15th and on that day we will find what day she will be getting INDUCED! Can you belive it!? On the 15th we will find out what day our daughter will be here! We arent sure why she is getting induced. The baby is healthy and Kaitlyn is healthy so we think the doctor is just doing it for his convience and maybe a little bit for us. But ya know what? We are ok with that!! We will have her much sooner than we expected! And Kaityln just cant wait to not be pregnant anymore....poor girl.

Nick and I are just so freakin excited! We still have so much to do but we are so ready. Nick should be leaving Guam on July 10th and hopefully be here a few days after that. So hopefully by the 15th he will be here in PA so we can find out together what day our baby will be here.

Here's to hoping time flies!!! And then slows down once she is born.