She is HERE!!!

Introducing 

Beatrice Cathlene Arvin

Born October 30th 9:33 am

7.3 lbs. 

PERFECT!!!!

I am sitting here now while she sleeps, Sean is trying to get paper work done so that we may be all able to go back to China together (instead of Caed staying with me and Sean making two trips).  

{finishing this post a few hours later, Sean is back with me and B is fast asleep. He got the paper work in PTL!!!}

Here are some pictures and details. 

Gramma was there for everything!

With Dr. S right after she was born

dark hair!

Meeting GeGe. Sweetest thing Caed said (which I think is on video) was while looking at her sleeping he asked me,"Is she real or a in color statue?" Caed also said, "Hey mommy - she has hair like you!"

Getting swaddled

Meeting GP

no time wasted in taking a passport picture :)

we are in love

amazing.

My heart is full of praise. I can't even begin to explain how I feel and how overwhelming this all is. I don't think it has even hit me yet! Look what the Lord has done! I think back to a year ago this time and he has truly brought beauty from ashes, and songs of joy from tears of sorrow. 

Regarding her name:

Beatrice means "bringer of happiness/joy" and also "she who blesses". And words cant begin to describe how much she already has been that for our family and how that is our wish for her in the future. Cathlene is because we wanted to honor our favorite women Catherine and Allene (our moms) and it means 'pure". Her nickname (well surely one of many to come, as we are huge nn people :) and what we will call her most of the time is Beia (Bay-uh. like princess Leia with a B). Bei (bay) will most likely be her Chinese nickname, though it doesn't really have a meaning (maybe BaoBei - baby?). We haven't picked a Chinese name for her yet. 

So there you have it - baby Beia.

And before my brain gets all cloudy with sleepless nights:

Last night I saw doctor, I was 6 days overdue. She stripped my membranes for the second time (she had the week before as well) but said cervix was okay but not great. We talked about how long she would let me go and decided that if she didn't come naturally we would need to induce on the 4th. I sent a few emails/messages out there asking people to pray she would come soon, as there are lots of details to settle with passport, visa, parents leaving, Sean having to go back and teach etc. 

Went to bed with nothing strange. Caed came in at 4:45 to ask for a drink. I got up and got him one then back to bed. At 5:00 am I felt first contraction. It was super painful right off the bat, like no way I could have talked through it. But there was time in between so since I couldn't sleep I wrote emails etc. I waited until it was light out at about 6:45 to wake up Sean and we went for a quick 10 min walk, but contractions were close together and around a minute. So we went back home, Sean showered and packed up. Caed woke up and I told him I was having contractions. He said the cutest prayer over my belly (though the end of the prayer ended up being all about weapons and how he had no weapons?!). When we told C we were leaving he got all sad and said he wanted to come help me 'pop Beia out' and that he could hold my hand. Good thing GP brought out a whole new bag of prizes and he was fine when we left.

 In the car ride contractions were close and hard. Got out of car with mom, they wheeled me up and they were very close. We got in the room at about 8:35. She checked me and I was at 9 cm.  Sean had to park and then run up 12 flights of stairs {the elevator at this hospital deserves a post of its own}. He got up around 8:50. Sean was amazing, a perfect coach and helper encouraging the whole way. My mom was amazing too. Helping out with everything even though the nurses spoke very little English. I felt I needed to push and doctor wasn't there, but nurse said I was 10 and to o ahead. Doc got there at 9:13 and Beatrice was born at 9:33 am. 

Everything was perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Thank you all for your prayers over this baby and her birth. God has blessed us richly, beyond what we could have imagined. 

We are in the 'rivers of joy' right now and soaking it all up!

Thailand

We were in Thailand again for a conference and had lots of fun...

 catching fish

playing badminton

seeing old friends

hula hooping

and Caed's all time favorite, catching geckos. 

Every night he caught one and then let it go, this one was named Tailton

I love C's hair right now. I wonder how long we can grow it out. He told me while there,

 "I never ever want to get my hair cut again"

We found out we are having a girl! See her growing in this pic :)

danced and played in the pouring rain

picked flowers

 (had to include this pic because it is the 4th summer that Caed has worn these shorts. My friend Gloria got them at Lucky when he was one!!!)

swam!!!!

and speaking of shorts the swimsuit he is wearing is 6-12 months Old Navy, a bit tight but his 3T one won't stay up :)

And every day during at dinner and lunch played outside with friends. He had a blast at childcare (his "school"). He already misses all his friends so much. They did a performance at the end of the week and it was super cute! Glad that when we go back to Thailand in Sept (Caed and I will have to leave 5 weeks before baby is due) he will have friends in Thailand to play with!

 I see a lot of lizard catching in my future...

Back in Thailand Again

So we are back in a very warm happy place once again, oh Thailand how e love you! This is my first post from the iPad (yeah for not having to use a VPN here!!!) but I can't seem to figure out how to write under each picture, I'll work on it though.

Mostly just want to let you all know that while we are here we will be transferring the last two embryos we have (that is if they make it through thawing and are growing). I have lots of emotions right now, overwhelming confusing emotions. In all honesty I am not hopeful. I feel like I just need to get this done so we can move on with our lives without this huge weight weighing me down. I wish I had hope, but medically speaking it doesn't look good. Thought I know that God is the creator of life, and don't doubt he could make these babies grow, I unfortunately feel {and here I get real honest} that he doesn't want to bless us in this way. I am also doing counseling while we are here, can you tell I am in desperate need of some help?! They will unfreeze the embryos tomorrow and let us know if they're growing, then the transfer will be Saturday, Friday evening 5:00pm for all you in CA.

In the mean time Sean is in meetings and Caed is in heaven since there are 7 other little boys staying here. We all do school in the mornings, see below pics I brought a little book I made for C with us - more on that later. And there is hose fun, feeding birds, eating Thai food and all of that. I think he is most enjoying getting to wear 'short sleeve pants' as he called his shorts the first time he put them on!