She had been married for many years along with her husband, Allen Goins, and they had been hoping to have children since June 2008. They tried for a long time. They had fertility treatments, IUIs, pills, shots, and even two surgeries. They spent over three and a half years trying to get pregnant, but nothing worked. All of that failure took its toll. They felt tired, sad, and hopeless. She remembers sitting in church, holding her breath when people prayed for babies, but secretly hoping not to hear someone else’s pregnancy news. She stopped buying pregnancy tests because they always came back negative. She hated going to baby showers.
She hated the sadness that came every month when nothing happened. Because nothing else worked, they decided to adopt. In the summer of 2011, they started the adoption paperwork. Not long after, we got a call: a birth mom had chosen us. Two months later, they welcomed their first daughter, Delaney Jane Goins, into their family. About a couple of years later, they adopted a second daughter, Kylea Elizabeth Goins. Then a third child, a boy, through adopted again. By then, they felt their family was complete. Three beautiful children, all thanks to love and adoption.
At that point, her husband mentioned getting a vasectomy. He wanted them to be done having kids. She laughed. She was 36; she hadn’t been on birth control for ten years, they’d never had a single positive pregnancy test, and they already had three children. What are the odds they’d ever get pregnant? But then something happened that she never expected. A few weeks after he talked about the vasectomy, she started feeling unwell: tired, nauseous, sometimes vomiting. She thought maybe it was a bug, or stress, or a vitamin deficiency. Maybe something simple. She went to see the doctor, just to check things out, maybe rule out pregnancy.
When the nurse asked if she might have been pregnant, she told her their history. It felt impossible. But she said, “Let’s do a pregnancy test anyway.”She sat there alone, waiting. Her mind raced. Could it really be? Did she dare hope? She remembered all those years of pain, disappointment, and negative tests. She was scared. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. After a few moments, the doctor came in. Her face was calm, but her words changed everything. “You’re already pregnant,” she said.
The shock hit her so hard. All those lost years, the tears, the failed treatments, it felt like God was giving her a surprise gift after all. She felt her knees go weak. She had prayed to be a mom, and she already was in many ways, because of adoption. But this felt different. It was a dream she had quietly held onto, and now it was real. A few days later, they went for the first ultrasound. She sat on that table, remembering the countless times she had sat waiting for negative answers. This time she prayed silently for something different, for a flicker, a heartbeat. When the technician rubbed the wand on her belly and turned up the sound, we heard it: a strong, steady heartbeat.
She and her husband looked at each other and high-fived. Outside, doctors and nurses who knew our story began cheering and hugging us. It was like the world had paused for them that moment. The due date they calculated was just one day after the final adoption of our son. It felt like the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.
Then on December 20, the day they welcomed their little girl, everything changed forever. She came into this world healthy, perfect for their long-awaited, unexpected miracle. Her name is Caroline Rose Goins. She weighed 7 pounds 13 oz and was 20½ inches long. They held her, cried, laughed, and were overwhelmed with gratitude. After all those years of pain and heartache, after giving up hope of ever getting pregnant, they had been given the greatest gift. She looks back now, and she still can’t believe it. She carried in her arms not just the children they adopted, but a baby formed inside her, a baby she never thought would come.
It’s a reminder that sometimes life surprises you, even when your heart is hurting, and you’ve almost given up. She is thankful, deeply thankful for every tear, every struggle, every heartbreak. Because they led her to this beautiful moment. This gift of life, of hope, of family. And finally, the dream she barely dared speak out loud came true.
