For This Child I Prayed...and HE ANSWERED!!!

After 18 months of patiently waiting and a whole lot of prayer, we are beyond thrilled to share with you that the Lord has blessed us with a child! Yes, I AM PREGNANT!!! Even as I sit here and share this news with you, I am still completely overwhelmed by the grace of God. It is still almost hard for me to believe that it finally happened. The Lord has been incredibly faithful to us throughout this trial, and we have truly experienced His mercy in our lives. We certainly are rejoicing over this miracle He has given to us!

Two weeks ago I had waited about as long as I could, and I finally took a pregnancy test. My heart was beating so fast that I left the test on the kitchen counter, turned a 3 minute timer on, and sat in the living room and waited. After what felt like an eternity, I walked back in to the kitchen and there was still 4o seconds left. I went ahead and took a glance, and already two pink lines had shown up!! It was 7:15 in the morning which is rather early in the Cole household, but I quickly ran into our bedroom and woke Kyle up! He jumped out of bed, and shouted "THANK YOU LORD!" We celebrated for a bit, and then immediately started calling our families. We left for Memphis soon after that so we could go ahead and get a blood test to confirm the pregnancy. When you are pregnant your body produces a hormone called HCG which is suppose to double every 48 to 76 hours. On Wednesday mine was 416, and by Friday it had doubled to 911. I had it tested one more time on Monday for my peace of mind, and it had jumped to 4,058. At this point we felt pretty confident that it would be a good pregnancy, but we still wanted to wait before we shared the news.

Today we went for the 6 week ultrasound, and we were able to see our little one, and watch the heartbeat. The heart was beating at 122 beats per minute. As Kyle and I watched the screen, we were both in pure awe! I think Kyle was actually about to jump out of the chair! It was an incredibly sweet moment to see this life that the Lord created, and a life that we and many others have prayed over for a really long time. We were simply beside ourselves!

As for me, I am feeling pretty good. I have experienced a few symptoms, but very minimal at this point. I know this is definitely something to be thankful for, however, I sometimes wish the morning sickness would kick in just so I would know the baby is still growing. I must confess that I still have so many fears after all we have been through, and I am really having to trust the Lord, believe in Him, and surrender these fears to Him. Please pray that I would be able to rest in the Lord, and not have any fear.

Most of all, THANK YOU!! We could not have walked down this road without you. Your encouragement, support, and love for us was a constant source of strength in this journey. We do ask that you continue to pray for us. Specifically that the Lord would sustain this child's life, and that this pregnancy would result in a healthy full-term baby. We look forward to the day you will get to meet our little one, hopefully on June 6, 2011. What a joyous day that will be!

"For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him."

1 Samuel 1:27