My story will be short ..but my delivery was not ..went into labor on a friday and my son was born on Sunday .needless to say hes a only child ..giggles ..all kidding aside he was a big boy 8.11 and hes now 24 and still takes his sweet time in everything he does ,oh and he is a only child ..lol

These have been fun to read! Here's mine! Which I almost had to have a baby ALONE because of the navy!
Over the weekend I had been leaking a little, nothing major, like a discharge. On saturday I was worried about it and my husband was on duty on the ship so I called my friend who drove me to the hospital where I was turned away because they just called it "discharge." She only looked at a sample and nothing else. It didn't stop and I was worried because if it REALLY was the fluid leaking that can kill the baby. On Sunday night I told my husband not to go (he's in the navy too and his ship was due out monday-friday) I told him that I'm now 38 weeks and I KNEW I would have it that week. I was crying because I didn't want to have the baby alone (we had just changed duty stations and my family wasn't able to come.)
That morning I dropped my husband off at the ship and told him that I was going to drive to the hospital and get checked again because the "discharge" was still happening. I hugged him and I told him that I'd call the ship ASAP after I found out. It was my first time driving on the freeway and I was soooo scared. I made it to the hospital and they sat me on the bed. One lady took ANOTHER sample and went to the back while the other one decided to look anyways (something they DID NOT do on Saturday.) The nurse returned and said that it was just discharge and not ambilical fluid. Then the lady used some tool to look inside me and said, "No, look inside here, there IS pooling."
I was like, "POOLING!? What is that!? Does that mean I'm going to have the baby today!?" She said, "yup." Then she removed the tool and my water officially finished breaking all over the table. It was so gross and I was happy it didn't happen at home.
I said, "Okay, can I call my husband because he's due to go out on the ship ANY MINUTE!" You aren't allowed to use cell phones in the hospital and most of the time they don't have signals anyways. But god was definately on MY side and I was able to call John's ship before they took the phone lines down to go underway. I called him and I was so worried that he wouldn't be able to make it.
I waited in the room forever after they checked me in. I was so scared that my husband wasn't able to get permission to come. In the navy leave is a privlege and it is hard to get it last minute. I waited for hours and he finally got there. He said he had to run around the ship to get his chit signed, then he had to run to the trolley and then take the bus because I took the car, well that makes sense. Then I got mad at him because it seemed like he took forever to go home and change his clothes, next time HE is putting a change of clothes in bag for himself too.
Everything else from there is pretty standard. I asked for drugs the second things started to hurt because I'm a wuss. I had some shots and I said, "I wish I would have done drugs in high school." It was pretty crazy. I asked for the epidural before the big pain hit. I figure you take asprin if you have a headache, why not? Then when I was pushing I was so hungry. John told me that he was going to go downstairs and get me some Mcdonalds food after I had the baby. Needless to say I pushed him out in 30 minutes. Dominick Wesley was 7 lbs and 1 ounce and my life has been changed forever!

I became a mom via adoption, and even though I didn't go thru labor, we definately had the rollercoaster of emotions. As you can see we have a lovely daughter... we chose to adopt for medical issues, and when we signed up with our adoption agency the emotions went crazy. In July of 2002, we began our paperchase to get everything we needed to put together our Dossier. We completed our dossier & turned it in to our adoption agency on Jan 10, 2003, and it was logged into China on Jan 28, 2003. Our agency told us the referral time was running 14 months. You want to talk about a long pregnancy, I went just about nuts waiting to see my daughter. To our good fortune we recieved "the call" that referrals had just arrived on Oct 1, 2003, our daughter was beautiful, but our paperwork will be in translation & we cannot give you any further info until it's translated, translation took 10 days!It is really hard when the adoption agency it 10 minutes away, they have your daughters referral & pictures and wont let you see them. Anyway, Oct 10 we finally have our paperwork in hand & she was more beautiful than we could have imagined, all I wanted to do was hold her. She was thousands of miles away and we had to wait 6 more weeks until we got on that plane to get her. That 6 weeks was the hardest of all, we were starting to bond with that picture, we sent her a care package, finished some more paperwork, and Thanksgiving day 2003 we were on the plane for the trip of a lifetime. Before we got her we did some sightseeing in Beijing for 3 days, then off to Nanchang, China to the Lakeview Hotel, we arrived at 3:00pm on Dec 2, 2003 & they told us to be on 4th floor at 4:00pm & our babies would be there. Our group got together on the 4th floor, we could hardly wait, then the nanny's started coming in with our babies, each family was called by their babies Chinese name, and one by one we recieved our precious baby girls. Mandi was just 10 1/2 months old when she was placed in my arms, all of 15lbs, and just beautiful. She bonded very quickly to me, not so much to my husband. When I think of that afternoon at the Lakeview, a little over 2 years ago, I still get misty... our lives changes so much for the better that day. And I know in my heart that God had chosen her to be our daughter. Like I always say, "I could not have had a better baby than her!"

Desiree :)

cheryl000 I am so happy for you that your hubby got to be ther for your baby! My hubby is military also and he is in Iraq right now and he was not here for our last one! Jace Owen Born Jan. 20th! That is why i am glad for you b/c I would not want anyone to go through what I went through even though this one was the lest complicated of them all! It still really sucked that he wasn't there! He has leave on the 12th of Feb to finally see our son! Anyway that is great for ya! Ttyl!

Paula

What an awesome decision! She is adorable by the way! If only there were more people like you in the world. We would all be better off. I was adopted myself, my biological mother was 16 when she was pregnant with me. I am so glad that she decided to give me up, because I have a wonderful family! And I hope someday that I can adopt a child of my own! That is my dream! Thank you for what you have done! You have given her a chance at a wonderful life! God bless you and your family! :D :D

Thanks for reading my post Paula. I had REALLY thought I was going to have that baby alone. I felt bad because I made John feel guilty for telling him not to leave when he had to.
I am sorry that your husband wasn't there for the baby. I am glad he gets to meet him so soon though! That is definately something to look foward to! My sister's husband is coming back from Iraq next week also for his son's bday.
I saw you're from Ft Campbell. My husband was raised in Princeton, KY which isn't far from there. Hope you guys like being stationed there. I really like your son's name btw.
take care,
cher

What a heart warming story. You are so blessed! She is just beautiful. I have always thought of adoption of this nature in the furture. I am so glad it all worked out for you. I know those few day of waiting must have seemed like forever!

My brother adopted a baby girl in June of 2002. Mia. But it was a rough and rocky adoption. It was an open adoption and the mother pretty much got to choose who her baby went to. She was 16, pregnant, already had a year old son, and had been living in a group home. They met of her through the church. By the time they met her she was aready 8 months and things just moved very quickly from there. My brother and his wife pretty much took this girl and her son into their hearts. Every thing was going just fine. She gave birth, my brother and his wife where right there by her side, they were there every step of the way. They brought Mia home and kept in touch with the birth mother. A week later they got the call,,,,,, she had changed her mind and wanted the baby back. So they came and took her. The birth mother had her over night and after having the both children, she came to realize she really could not do it. It must have been the hardest thing she had to do. Giving her baby up not once but twice. Now the problem,,,,,, it was an open adoption. So when she decided she couldn't do it DCS came and took the baby. And since my brother and his wife were not on their list, they would not give the baby back to my them. It didn't matter what the mother did or said. It was a matter of the courts. It took a month of the birth mother trying to get the baby back so she can then give the baby to my brother. So this young girl had to go through even more heartbreak. It all got worked out and my brother has had Mia ever since then. They still keep intouch with the birth mother. They send her pictures and my brother still sends her little boy gifts for his birthday and holidays. It took some time but 2 days after Mia's 1st b-day the adoption was official.

That was so beautiful. I will message you for more info! I am glad that you all have eachother. My friend is Korean and her parents adopted her when she was 5, she's 24 now. It is sad though because she now has a daughter and she doesn't have any baby pictures of herself to compare them. They look so much alike but it has to be sad to have your past be such a mystery and not have 1 single baby picture. I was wondering if you changed her name and what her chinese name is? She is absolutely beautiful. Do you think you're going to adopt any more children?

as far as my story,,,, I have 3 monsters. My first one,,,,, I went into labor around 10 Sat. night and had her Suday night at 7:10. After 21 hours out came Des, 8.6lbs 19" long. A short little chunkie thing. I was a rough birth! Lost A LOT of blood and she came out not breathing due to meconium in her lungs. I didn't even get to hold her. They took her away without me even getting a good look at her. After a few hours of working on her they said she was going to be just fine but the needed to keep an close eye on her. They brought her to me at 2 am. It was the first time I held her in my arms. I got to keep her there with me for only a very short time. They had to take her back to make sure everything was ok. At 7 am they brought her to me and said she was perfect and that she was there to stay with me for the rest of my stay. Now recovering for that natural birth was tough. I was so out of it. I had a very hard time. I was so light headed, everytime I went to stad up, down I went. They kept me there 5 days. And even then I was still out of it!

When I got pregnant with my son, I was very scared to say the least, At the end of my 8th month the doctor said that this one was going to be a big one! They let me reach my due date and they took him out by c-sec. 9lbs 22" long. Big boy! That scared me even more! But boy let me tell you, becides the bad gas I had floating around my tummy, I felt just fine. I was in the hospital 3 days, came home rested for a few hours and got up and went to the market for a few things. I was sore but no where near the way I was with natural birth.

With my last, I had a tough pregnancy. Premature labor 3 times, low fluid, and she just didn't want to turn. I was able to reach 37 weeks and they just couldn't let me go any more. Another c-sec. 5.4lbs and 17" She was a tiny little thing. And this one was even easier then the first c. Also a 3 day stay, but was so ready to go home the next day! She was tiny but healthy! Not at all what I was used to being that my other 2 were so big.

I have 3, all boys..
When Garrett was born I was a nervous wreck. I had 3 miscarriages before I had him and they told me I would never be able to have kids. I wanted one so bad so I decided to try again. I carried him to 7 months and then the trouble started. He wanted out bad. I kept going into labor and they put me on this stuff that made me shake all the time. It was terrible. When I hit 36 weeks they told me that I could get out of the bed and start doing things again. Said he would be ok if he came then. This was at 2 in the afternoon. I rode home from the dr and got to my grandmothers house who had had surgery that day and sat down to talk to her and my water broke. I went to the hospital and was in labor for 12 hours. I pushed and pushed but nothing. Then Garretts heart stopped. They rushed me to the OR and he was out in no time. They said the cord was around his neck and everytime I would push the cord would pull him back up. He weighed 6 pounds and 8 ounces. He was born with a club foot (which is fine now cuz he had surgery on it) He just turned 9 on Nov. 5th.

The second preg. was a piece of cake. I never got sick or anything. I had to keep going in for ultrasounds because of the probs I had with Garrett. They told me everytime I would go that it was a girl. I was so excited. I was going to have a boy and a girl. My husband and I were in the process of buying a new home so we were staying at my parents house when I went into labor. I had just went to bed when my water broke. Still the pains werent bad. I got to the hospital and didnt have time to get the epidural. I pushed like about 4 or 5 times. My parents were in there with me. My dad was holding one of my legs and when the baby was born he started laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he said..."Thats not a girl" ..lol..( guess I needed to talk about that and remember things like that about my dad) So needless to say I had another boy. Caleb was born on Jan 14 th. and he just turned 8.

After I had my first 2 boys my husband decided he didnt want to be a dad and left so I was a single mom for awhile. Then I met the love of my life. We started dating. (my oldest boys were still small. I think Caleb was only 14 months) I got preg really fast and I was on the pill...lol..Guess he was meant to be and I am so glad. I should have known he was gonna be trouble from the get go..lol..I was in labor for 29 hours with him. 29 LONG hours. The dr was in the next room helping someone else when Christopher decided to come. I told my husband that he was coming and he looked and there was his head. My husband delivered him. It was awesome. My mom was running out to the nurses station screaming "the baby is here" and of course my dad was helping Mitch with the baby. Christopher was born on Sept. 7th and he just turned 5.

We did give Mandi her "american" name, her chinese name was Feng(for the city that her orphanage is located), Ruo Peng (means "like friend", pronounced, "row pong") which is now her middle name, her official american name is Amanda Ruo Peng Gravatt. The youngest pictures of her we have are when she was 6 months old and we have just 3 of them, they were our referral pictures. And Yes, I would LOVE to adopt a few more, we just don't have the money right now to do it.
Desiree