I know it has been a while, but I am back.....So in the last blog, I had just found out I was pregnant.
So....we went and picked the girls up from school and brought them home to deliver the big news. We sat on the couch, our little family of 4, and we told the girls. Tatum was stunned and didn't really understand and Tyler began to sob. See Tyler has always made it VERY clear that she did not ever want a little brother or a little sister. She wanted to forever be the baby - the baby of our Mitchell clan and the baby of all of the Mitchell grandchildren. Well as soon as she started crying, so did John and I.....I mean this wasn't really in our plans either. Tatum on the other hand was over the moon and couldn't wait to broadcast it to the world! Tatum was 8 and Tyler was 6 and I was pregnant!!!!
My first two pregnancies were rather routine and when little things arose, I really didn't fret too much over them. Well this time I was 35 and pregnant and while I know that 35 isn't old, it felt really old while I was pregnant. It had been 6 years since I had been pregnant and my body just wasn't the same.....I worried about every little thing I felt. At my first appointment, the nurses had a hard time finding a heartbeat. For the first time, I realized that I was okay with the thought of another baby and that I wanted nothing more than this baby. After what felt like a long time, they were able to find the heartbeat - Tindol wasn't in the "normal" position. A month later, we did the Down's Syndrome indicator test. I had done it with both Tatum and Tyler and really didn't think twice about it - this time I thought a lot about it. On the first day of school in August, I got home after church to find a message on our voicemail from our doctor. I called him and he told us that the test had come back positive for Down's. We needed to go and have an amnio done to be able to tell for certain. What a roller coaster the next week was as we waited for our appointment at UAB. I am going to pause here to tell you that the ONLY reason we had the test to begin with was so that if this sweet child did have Down's Syndrome we could prepare. We wanted to be educated and we had a 6 year old and an 8 year old that needed to be educated and prepared. We were questioned many times about what we would do with the results. This was about as insulting as the complete strangers who continued to ask me who the "baby daddy" was. We had the amnio and had to wait for a few weeks to have results. It turns out that Tindol was not Down's and that she was indeed a girl.
I must insert the story of the day we found out she was a girl. We took Tatum and Tyler with us, so the little ultrasound room was a little crowded. The girls were in awe as they looked at the screen and waited for the technician to tell us whether we had a girl or a boy. I must say that both of them wanted a boy. John had been telling them that if it was a girl he was moving out. The technician looked at us and said, "It's a girl" and both girls turned to look at John with jaws dropped. Before we left the room, they both told us that they were ok with it being a girl, but when we got to the doctor's waiting room, Tyler turned and looked at John and with the most serious face said, "Dad, you aren't really going to move out are you?" John immediately answered yes and Tyler instantly started tearing up. God love her - I began reassuring her that her daddy wasn't going anywhere.
I thought about leaving out some parts of this story for fear that someone would take them the wrong way, but let's be honest - everyone wants their child to be healthy. It was during this time that I prayed like I had never prayed before. I cried out to the Lord for this child and for us as her parents. From the moment I realized I was preganant, we have called this child the miracle child and I prayed that God would keep her safe and help us to make the right decisions concerning her and that he would prepare us for her birth. I have never been one to get on my knees to pray - it is just not something I have ever done, but during this time I got on my knees and poured my heart out to the Lord. I was still dealing with the idea of having a baby although with a growing belly that was becoming something easier to accept. God already knew the outcome of all of this, so I knew he could prepare my heart for what was about to happen in my life and to our family dyanamics.
My next blog will be more on the anticipated arrival of Baby Tindol......until then - may God bless you and keep you!
