mommy

1 year down! Update on our boys

November 13, 2017November 13, 2017by Sheridan Johnson2 Comments

Image Credit: here

On October 31st we celebrated having our foster sons for 1 year! I remember the day CPS dropped the three brothers off at our house on Halloween (with no costumes might I add), they promised us that “trial is in one week and once their rights are terminated you should have the boys adopted in 6 months, if not sooner”. I laugh at this so hard because I felt like they gave us so much false hope about making them officially ours so fast! God definitely had other plans, and learning how to be patient was definitely one of them.

A little back story is that the termination of their biological parents happened back in May of this year. Technically the parents legally have no rights as of right now (meaning that they are no longer allowed to see the boys), but they are allowed to appeal the termination two times (which could take up to 6 months for each appeal) and that is where we are at right now. Both of the parents decided to appeal, so we are waiting for the 180 days to pass to see what this new Judge filed. If this Judge agrees with the termination, then I believe we have to wait another 60-90 days to see if they are going to appeal again before the adoption process can get started.

During these past 6 months the oldest brother of them all (age 8) was having a REALLY hard time accepting the fact that he would no longer see his biological parents, and he couldn’t seem to move forward with the hope of a future with someone else. He started acting out (so much so that CPS and us tried every alternative/intervention for him to help him cope with his feelings) and that his behavior and outbursts eventually led to him being separated from his siblings (ages 6 and 3 who are still in our house) and placed with his old foster parents in Houston. Safety is the number one goal in this house, and if we were having a hard time keeping the other kids safe from him, then CPS agreed it is best to place him elsewhere. I won’t go into great detail because for one he is still in foster care, and two, that is definitely his story to tell one day.

A little update on him: He seems to be doing SO much better with them (he is 10 years younger than the oldest child in his foster home) and loves being the baby of the family. We still do monthly visits in person and weekly contacts by phone, but for now, this definitely seems to be the best scenario for us and our family. I think that he just needed space from all of us to realize that he can get through this time in his life, and I know he is in intensive counseling in Houston to help him cope as well.

As for our 6 and 3 year old, we still have every intention of adopting them both, when the appeals process is complete and they finally are up for adoption. Our 6 year old REALLY wants to be a Johnson, so we definitely hope to make that wish come true one day!

For our 1 yr anniversary we took all the kids trick or treating, and they LOVED it this year, and got to celebrate 1 year being with us, with a few special treats that night!

We hope in the next few months to have all 3 of our current foster children adopted, but only God knows the future of the Johnsons! ♥♥

I will leave you with a few (blurred pictures) of our handsome little boys!

monthly update, pregnancy

The Result- 28 weeks

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017by Sheridan Johnson6 Comments

result

Image credit: Here

So today was the day, that we would find out what is actually going on with baby boy/girl!

I turned 28 weeks yesterday, and I am so glad that my appointment was set up as soon as possible, so that we wouldn’t have to wait around too long for the results.

So my mom, my best friend Adriane, and my baby girl Brielle came to the maternal fetal specialist appointment with me today (Dr. Haeri). It was so nice and comforting for them to come along and show their support since Shane had to stay home with our 6 yr old son since he was still in school.

It started out of course with the nurse measuring your weight, asking if you have had any complications/discomforts and then the sonographer was sent in to look at the baby.

She was amazing, to say the least, and talked over each and every thing she was measuring. She was so descriptive with the brain, the heart, the kidneys, the abdomen, and the upper and lower extremities. She also said that the baby was being “stubborn” once again, but she did get some great views of the face and the nasal bone. She also showed us some pictures in 4D which was amazing! Our little munchkin is SO cute!

After she measured everything, the Dr. came in to discuss the results/findings of all the measurements. He basically told us that given that I have had a previous baby with Trisomy, the statistics show that our likelihood of having a baby with Down Syndrome goes to 1 in 10 chances.

He then went on to tell me that everything in the baby looks perfect. From the brain, to the heart, the kidneys, and all the other major organs. He stated that the baby does seem to have a “flat nose” which is very likely in African-American children, and that he does not see one concern with the baby. He said your baby looks “perfect” and that he would say that there is a “0 percent chance” that he/she has Down’s Syndrome.

He then went on to blow up a glove balloon and the made the MOST creative happy face with it, and his bedside manner was BEYOND amazing! I would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone seeking a specialist in the Austin/surrounding areas. It was definitely worth the 1 hr 45 mins it took to get there!

I know God has his hand in every aspect of this journey, and that it is His precious child that is growing inside of me and that we are going to the do the best we can to cherish, love, and nurture every minute we get to spend with him/her!

We are measuring a week ahead, so it looks like the countdown is on! 11 more weeks and we should be able to meet baby Johnson!

Thank you to ALL the prayers, thoughts, and sweet messages that you all sent us. God heard them and answered them!♥♥

I will most definitely leave you with some super cute pictures!

monthly update, parenting, pregnancy

Halloween Scare- 27 weeks

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017by Sheridan Johnson1 Comment

faith over fear.jpg

Image Credit: Justbethlawrence

So, many of you know my past history with my precious angel babies, and know that it is just amazing that God would bless us with our rainbow baby, and that we could not be more excited.

Well, since my 20 week anatomy scan, the sonographer that measures all aspects of the babies body, couldn’t find a nasal bone for my baby. They thought at first “it was a bad angle” and told me “come back in 4 weeks and we will look then”. I didn’t think anything of it, because they didn’t seem that concerned at the time.

Fast forward to my 24 ultrasound/appointment and a different sonographer stated that she couldn’t see the nasal bone either, and measured everything else again on the baby (the heart, brain, kidneys, etc) to make sure there were no other abnormalities with the baby. It all came back good, so yet again they sent me home and stated the baby was just being “stubborn” and wouldn’t let them get a good look. (The baby was using my placenta as a pillow at the time, and they couldn’t get him/her to turn over so they could get a better shot of his/her face, so that’s why they were saying how “stubborn” he/she was being).

So my doctor wanted me to come back in 3 weeks instead of 4 this time, just in case, so I scheduled my last appointment on Halloween.

Well, it didn’t go as planned, because I figured this time for SURE we would see a nasal bone and the baby would cooperate. Well, long story short… the baby gave the sonographer about 20 seconds of a good angle and covered his/her face the rest of the time, so the sonographer only got a couple of good shots and determined that indeed, there was still no nasal bone. The good news though is that the baby weighs 2 lb 9 oz. and had a heart rate of 154.

Basically, a major concern with this is that not having a nasal bone is a soft marker for down’s syndrome (along with other indicators throughout the body such as a hole in the heart, or small gestational size, etc.) but there were no other signs with our baby. The doctor wanted me to rule all possibilities out of it being a genetic factor and suggested that I do a genetic screening and then go see a maternal fetal specialist to make sure that it is not them making a mistake, or just not seeing it.

I called my doctor’s office yesterday and they stated that everything came back normal on the blood tests and that there are no genetic abnormalities in the results, but they still want me to see the specialist in Austin to make sure everything is ok.

This baby could just have a flatter nose than most, but we are hoping and praying that tomorrow everything will be determined and we can finish off these last 12 weeks of the pregnancy great.

Thank you to everyone for your continuous love and support♥♥ God is definitely providing us so much peace with this pregnancy, that we have never had before.

I will leave you with some pictures from our last ultrasound =)

Have any of you ever experienced this?? If so, would love to hear from you!💓

Adoption, Family, foster

20 weeks and counting!!

September 18, 2017September 18, 2017by Sheridan Johnson7 Comments

halfway

Photo credit: nerdfitness.com

So this past week (Last Thursday 9/14/17) I had my 20 week appointment for the baby! It was a great one because we got to do the full anatomy scan, and I LOVE spending time seeing our precious miracle moving ALL around inside of me!

This time it started with the ultrasound (which we normally do this after I have given them my current weight and a urine sample) so it was a nice surprise to start with seeing the baby first!

This appointment the sonographer measures EVERYTHING about the baby thoroughly (especially given our past) and lets us know if anything appears abnormal (in which the doctor would have to run further tests to determine any abnormalities), and everything she measured and looked at turned out great! Shane got to attend this appointment with me and every time she said “that looks good” after measuring something, Shane gave a sigh of relief and had a smile on his face.

This baby is already 14 oz. and apparently has long legs and arms (just like Brielle did when she was in utero) and is looking great (and very healthy).

She did ask us to turn and look the other way when she had to measure the lower extremities, or at any point when she baby was rolling around and turning over, that it may expose the gender to us on the sonogram (we are still going to wait until we deliver to find out the gender–and yes, we already have names picked out for both genders).

After checking out the baby from the top, they then did this new (at least to me) procedure where they measure your cervix from a wand that they insert inside of you, to make sure that you are not showing early signs of labor, and they also check to see where your placenta is located to see the likelihood of your having a c-section vs. having a vaginal birth. It was amazing to see! (Oh and everything panned out well for me, they said it is a definitely a go to try to have another vaginal birth)! 🙂

I then talked to my doctor about a few concerns, and he was proud of my vitals, and wanted to see me back in 4 weeks.

I also made an appointment to register at the hospital that I will be delivering at after my next appointment as well, which will definitely makes things real!

We know January will be here before we know it, and we will meet our newest addition to the Johnson family before we know it! But for now, we will enjoy the rest of the pregnancy spending time with our 5 precious kiddos who make our life whole!

I will definitely leave you with some pictures of the precious baby, and will keep all of you great followers up to date with how things are going! ♥

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