Thursday, November 12, 2015

Never Say Never

Last week I posted this picture on Instagram and based on the comments I realized that lots of y'all might not know the story surrounding it.  So today, I'm going to share about how/when we found out that our Griffin Henry was actually Griffin Joy.


In July of 2012 Dave and I bought a minivan.  It was in that moment that we pretty much jinxed ourselves :) hahaha

We had settled on having the two boys and then discussing the possibility of adding a sister to our family through adoption once both the boys were in school.  We were comfortable with that idea and so when I took a pregnancy test that fateful August morning we were shocked.  Shocked.


After recovering from the initial surprise we had so much fun telling everyone our news :)


From the very beginning I felt AWFUL.  I was sick all the time.  The middle school teachers share a bathroom with the elementary school classrooms that are on our end of the deck and I have kids in my classes now who remember being in the 4th and 5th grade and having me scar them for life with how violently ill I was in their bathroom all the time. hahahaha  I kept a little bag in there with mouthwash (I couldn't use a toothbrush because it would make me gag and get sick again) and my first three periods of the day knew that when I left quickly in the middle of a lecture that they needed to just hang out quietly for a few minutes until I got back.  It was rough.  I REALLY felt like the baby was a girl though since I was NEVER sick with either of the boys.  Throw on top of all of that Luke was in his first year of PreK (which was not as easy as we had anticipated) and Mason was 18 months old.  Fun times :)


Early in November (I was around 15.5 weeks), we all headed to a private ultrasound company in Frisco.  My OB wouldn't do an anatomy ultrasound before 20 weeks and although I considered faking some ailment to try to sneak in an extra ultrasound I decided to keep it above board and head to the private company :)

The first time we went they told us they were "almost positive" the baby was a boy... but that I could come back the following week to confirm.  The second go around they confirmed what the ultrasound tech had said and we announced that we were having a third baby boy!  We put these pictures on our Christmas cards, told all of my family who was in town for my brother's wedding and I started to wrap my brain around living in a house full of BOYS!


At 21 weeks we went in for the anatomy ultrasound at my OB's office and told the tech we already knew the gender.  We casually chatted as she began her measurements, starting at the head and working her way down.  We talked about that sweet little profile, the cheeks, etc. and when she got "down there" she asked us again where we had had our earlier ultrasound and confirmed with us that the other tech had said boy.  I thought she was just being talkative and when she goes, "well... they were wrong.  She's DEFINITELY a girl", I lost it.  Lost.  It. 

We spend the next 5 minutes double, triple and quadruple checking.  She called in the doctor who confirmed and we pulled out our ultrasound pictures from the previous month.  Apparently, at 16.5 weeks, there can be a lot of hormonal surges, and the previous tech mistook swelling for boy parts (to her credit... the ultrasound really did look like a boy. hahahaha).

We walked out of the ultrasound room and were ushered to the waiting area (I had a check-up we were waiting for) and we both kind of sat there in stunned silence.  When we had come into the office, we had told all the staff that we were having a boy (after three pregnancies I felt like I saw some of them more than several members of our own family) and so as we sat there and nurses started to hear about our surprising news they would come by to see the pictures and I would burst into tears over and over again.  When we got back into the exam room, Dave and I took this picture :)



Besides the staff at our OB's office, the first person to know that Griffin Henry was actually Griffin Joy was Kelly our photographer.  When we had taken our family pictures we didn't know the gender yet, and so we took pictures with a "brother" chalkboard and then I erased it, wrote "sister" and we took more pictures.  

I remember texting Kelly telling her that we were going to need the sister pics as we would be posting a retraction of our Christmas card :)

  



 That night we tried to think of how we could get my parents to come down to our house and so I decided it would be a good idea to call them in a panic saying that we had a huge water leak in our bathroom.  They came BARRELING down the street and into our bathroom where this was waiting for them :)





 I managed to keep it a secret from my girlfriends that night and when I was at Shay's Recipe Exchange the next evening I somehow held it in until we were all sitting around eating and someone goes, "oh, Andrea! How was your check-up yesterday?" and I answered with, "Great!  Everything is perfect and we've changed the name to Griffin Joy since the baby is actually a girl".  

Cue the screaming.  And crying.  Again. ;)

I didn't really think twice about whether or not Griffin was really a girl (like, whether the second ultrasound was wrong and she was actually a boy) until we were on our way to the hospital.  I went into labor on Mason's second birthday and delayed going to the hospital as long as possible and when we were on our way it all of a sudden hit me.  What if the second ultrasound had been wrong?!?!  What if she was actually a he?!?!?  Why didn't I ask for another ultrasound after the anatomy one?!?!?!


A few hours later we were holding our sweet, beautiful daughter and were laughing about how God's plan for our family was soooooooooo completely different than ours, but soooooooo much better :)


I like to be the boss.  I like to make lists and plans and I like to know what's coming next. 
Having the experience that we did with Griffin taught me lots about letting go of my plans expectations and enjoying the experiences that come my way.  Sometimes the best experiences are the unplanned ones :)

Happy Thursday, Friends!!!


35 comments :

  1. So sweet!!!! Thanks for sharing!!! Those girls are some kinda fun for a mommy!!!

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  2. That is one of my favorite stories ever!!! I remember you SUPER nonchalantly mentioning you changed the name to Griffing Joy!

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  3. Love this post! I remember where you were sitting, I remember where I was sitting, I remember everything about your OOPS, IT'S A GIRL announcement!!!!!!!! So fun!

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  4. Oh, precious Griffin!! One of my favorite stories!! So sweet!!

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  5. One of the most shocking moments EVER was you announcing your boy was a girl. I mean...we were floored! I know you love your boys more than anything...but I'm so glad you have your GG too!

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  6. I love, love hearing this story!!! This was one of my "fears" when I was pregnant & just one reason why we didn't find out our kids' genders beforehand. I normally don't like surprises, but figured there are very FEW surprises in life anymore & it was worth it!!! :) You have 3 beautiful children & I LOVE reading your blog everyday!!!!

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  7. Such a sweet and funny story! It still blows my mind that out of all the names in the world, we chose the exact same one for a boy. I'm glad the world has a Griffin Henry AND a Griffin Joy : )

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  8. You just about gave me heart attack this morning! For a second I thought you were announcing another baby :) I should go finish my coffee now :)

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  9. I was just SURE the end of this post was going to be a pregnancy announcement! haha! such a fun story though. ;)

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  10. I love this story every. single. time. God's ways are sooo much better than anything we can imagine. Thanks for sharing again! :)

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  11. Such a sweet story! It will be so neat to tell this to Griffin when she is older;) We had three boys and when I was pregnant with our fourth child, I was positive it was another boy. God, in His grace and mercy:), blessed us with a daughter. Now, 10 years later He also blessed us with twin sons, but that's another story:) Happy Thursday, Andrea!

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  12. I love this story! And it's truly crazy how that made that mistake!!!!! Griffin is such a perfect little addition to your family!!! Sweet sweet girl

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  13. This is a fabulous story! I have just recently found and fallen in love with your blog and all you write and I can only strive to be as productive as you! :-) All your kids are the cutest ever, and I wish many blessings to you all this holiday season!

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  14. I have my anatomy scan in 2 weeks and I have thought about y'all's story a bunch! Haha what a great surprise ending!

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  15. SO, SO crazy! I've heard of ultrasound techs being wrong and saying girl but it's actually a boy but never the other way around. What a crazy, fun story to tell Griffin one day and so exciting you got your girl!

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  16. How cute is Lukes little blazer? And his POSE! That's such a rockstar model pose. What a great story; I'm sure it's better now that actually at the time! ;)

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  17. What a great story! After having three boys and a surprise 4th on the way...I thought for sure it would be another boy. We had the gender sealed in an envelope. It sat on the fireplace mantle for three months. I wanted a girl so badly!! But I knew the "odds" said another boy. Charlotte Anna came that fall, and it has truly been a blessing. She completed our family. She's 4 now and ALL GIRL! 💗

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  18. I love this post! What a fun and joyful surprise - Griffin is just the cutest!

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  19. Just couldn't be any more precious. ♥

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  20. Awesome, awesome, AWESOME story! Yay for Griffin Joy!!

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  21. This is such a cute story!! The same thing happened to my aunt in the early 90s!! Except they never found out it was a boy until the day my cousin was born! Since I was born 6 months later my mom got all the pink stuff my aunt had bought.. Which I understand to be a TON!!! Lol!!

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  22. Such a fun story. I bet Griffin will love hearing it when she's older!

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  23. Oh my GOODNESS!! I'm such a planner by nature that I would have freaked out if that happened to me! It crossed my mind about a thousand times when I was pregnant with both of my babies, but fortunately the ultrasound tech was right both times. :o)

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  24. I got tears in my eyes as I imagine the shock and screaming telling your girlfriends!! Griffin Joy is a beauty - and obviously a well loved little GIRL!!

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  25. What a wonderful and fun reminder that God has some amazing plans for us! All we have to do is let go and give it all to Him-much easier said than done sometimes! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  26. Yay, I've been looking forward to hearing this story! God's plan always turns out to be better than anything we can plan for ourselves, I was supposed to be Nathan Martin according to my parents and out popped Lindsay Grace ha!
    Linds @ Not A Mom

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  27. What a fun story! Miss GG adds a lot of spunky for sure! God knew she would!

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  28. What a great story!!! You were smart to take pictures of both scenarios :)

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  29. How precious!! I totally agree...HIS plan is always better than ours! We went through years & years of fertility treatments, failed IVF...fast forward to now...just WOW...I get to be a SAHM to a beautiful, healthy and vibrant little girl!! HIS dreams for us or more than we can ever dream or comprehend!! God is so good!!!! Bless you and your sweet family!!!

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  30. Maybe it's bc I'm pregnant but this made me cry!!! Love your story!! We are not finding out the gender :)

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  31. This is the second time reading this story and I still love it!

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  32. What a crazy story!! But so glad your little Griffin is a princess x

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  33. Love this story and the pictures you got as a keepsake ❤️

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