Our Adoption Journey Comes to an End

For most people, they see that our adoption journey was a fast one. And, it really was in adoption waiting terms.

We completed our Home Study very quickly because it was June - vacation month for most. We were going on vacation to the beach with friends and our social worker was going on vacation too at a different time. We really had to speed things up on both ends. So, our Home Study was completed in a couple of weeks with all three interviews taking place in one week.

We were finished with one part- our part. We were then prepared for a two year wait for placement. We went to Vegas for Gary's work trip to relax. Day 3 ended all relaxation for us both. We received the phone call that we had been chosen and needed to make a trip to Chicago to meet our birth mother in August. We couldn't say no. We had to meet her. We did and we felt such a peace afterward. We tried not to get too excited. She didn't have to continue and even after birth we knew she could still change her mind. But, every time I felt a negative thought or worry come into my mind, I was reminded in some way that God was in control. Throughout this process, I never felt such peace. I had never felt that peace when we were doing fertility treatments.

We came home after meeting our birthmother and waited corresponding through email until the birth. We were expecting delivery in December from the beginning.

On the night of the 13th of November, I came home from work with a fever and feeling pretty bad. I took two extra strength Tylenol and went to bed. 10:30 came and I had just fell into sleep and was getting over the fever when my phone rang. I was a little out of it and noticed the call was from Illinois. My first thought was that it was my leader in Clever Container calling since she is based in Illinois, but I wondered why she would call at 10:30 at night. I answered the phone and it was our birthmother's mother. Our birthmother was at the hospital- 2.5 weeks early. A million thoughts went through my head.  I was sick!! Was this false labor? I didn't really even know what to say. I ran downstairs still listening to the caller. I went downstairs making the motion of someone being pregnant. Gary said, "Who's pregnant?" I pointed to he and I. He was in shock too. I spoke to our birthmother and heard the fear in her voice. She begged us to come right then. We thought it might be false labor so we hung up and waited for the next call after the doctor saw her to say if she needed to stay or not. I cried because I was sick and commented through tears that we had waited so long for a child and now that he was here I wouldn't even be able to hold him. I was so upset.

We went to bed and tried to sleep. This was after I sent Gary to Wal-mart for detergent since we had none and tried to finish packing. Gary was pretty sure it was false labor and said we would plan things out the next day and most likely not have to go. He was in a week long training downtown for work and would miss the last two final days if we left on Wednesday. I was sure we needed to get ready. Adrenaline was the only thing pushing me because I was still running fever and was feeling really bad.

At 4:30 in the morning, my phone received a text. It was from our birth mother's mother. Our birthmother had gone to 10cm and was about to push in 10 minutes. I thought about just going back to sleep and letting Gary sleep, but I couldn't. I woke him by saying, "You are going to be a dad in 10 minutes." He woke up with a start and was in full alert mode. He got up and started planning- hotel, flights, rental car, packing. The first flight out was at 6:30. No way we could make that. So, we waited until the afternoon after we got everything ready. The teenage boy who watches our dogs had to be called. He would be going to school around 9 and we really needed to have him come get our keys. Gary texted him and he came over. He was at our house by 6:30. We were shocked he was even awake. He said he usually didn't get up until later, but he woke up early and something kept him awake!!! We know it was God and His plan working even in the small details.

We arrived in Chicago a couple of hours after take off from Atlanta and went straight to the hospital to see our son. It was surreal. It felt we were visiting a good friend in the hospital to see her baby. After all, that was what we had always been doing- visiting other people's babies in the hospital. (More on the hospital experience later).

It was a whirlwind. From the time we decided to adopt in March to the birth of our son in November. Nothing was ready at home, but I had managed to finish the mural and get some space in our cabinets. I didn't feel ready at all. But, nothing is ever in our plan. God had it all under control.

Stay tuned when I have another night of wonderful sleep- thanks to Gary and Assassins Creed III. I will blog next on the hospital experience and how God allowed us to have peace and a wonderful open relationship with our birth parent and her family as well as sharing our Faith in God with them.