Hello Friends and Family

Hello Family and Friends,

We decided to make our first attempt at a blog here, to help share with everyone what's happening with our amazing child, Caroline Mary (and us, her parents) at each step of this journey. We apologize in advance that this may not be technologically savvy, but we hope to use it to share the specifics. Thanks for being a part of her life - even in the smallest way.

For us, the journey started back on September 22, 2018, when Jessica first knew that Caroline was with us. Secrets like that were meant to be shared, so later that day when we were at the Ohio State football game, Jessica told Tom that our new child was already attending their first Buckeye game. Tom was understandably excited, with a few fist pumps, and couldn't wait to get to know this new life that was already part of our family.


Being our fourth child, we thought we knew how this all worked. However, at the first appointment with Jessica's OB and the ultrasound tech were concerned about a large amount of fluid in our baby's tiny little head. We could see ourselves what looked like a problem, and afterwards, Google searches didn't have a calming effect.


We were lucky to get into the high-risk Maternal Fetal practice at Mount Carmel-St. Anne's Hospital in just a few days. There, everything looked a whole lot better than the week before, and looked fine to the doctors (and to us). They connected us with Katie, a genetic counselor, to run a panel on Jessica's bloodwork, which came back fine.

That bloodwork also told us an important detail about this baby - one that we hadn't found out with our other three kids. The baby was a girl!


By this point, we had already mobilized some prayer warriors as we headed for a key ultrasound right before Thanksgiving. We were approaching the end of the first trimester, and once again, the Hospital MFM team said everything seemed normal. Combined with the results of Jessica's bloodwork, they saw no need for another ultrasound until January - about the 18th week.

And that's when most of you started hearing about her - from the pink fireworks on Thanksgiving, to the phone calls and FaceTimes with some big smiles. We were ready with the name Caroline Mary.


Overall, everything else we were experiencing was just like our other three pregnancies - nothing else unusual. We felt were overjoyed and excited to welcome Caroline Mary into our family with her expected arrival--June 9, 2019.