One Month…Amazing how life changes

The last time I blogged on here, it was to talk about how the match had fallen through and we were back in the waiting game.  A game that we were all too familiar with, after years of infertility.  Waiting for my period to start, waiting for ovulation, waiting through the 2WW, waiting for that elusive positive pregnancy test.  Then waiting for treatment cycles, waiting for IVF, and finally, waiting through the adoption process.

We were no strangers to waiting, that’s for sure.  And yet, everyone would tell me that the wait would one day be over, and our dream of having a child would come true.  All good things come to those who wait, many reminded me…and while that was true on so many levels, it’s hard to hear and even harder to practice.  But, like all good sayings that stand the test of time, it was true.

So, now I stand here, at my kitchen counter, staring at a baby monitor.  One month ago, our lives changed inexplicably.  It was two days after the 4th of July (and consequently, two days after we FINALLY finished our massive basement remodel, lovingly hash tagged as #homeremodelhell on Instagram), and I was sitting on the couch, binge watching “The Great British Baking Show” on Netflix.

(Sidenote:  Seriously, if you haven’t watched it, you need to.  RIGHT.  THIS.  SECOND.  Mary Berry is my grandmother dream…nothing like a boozy grandma, right there).

Anyways, as I was watching Netflix, J was out for a bike ride.  We’ve both been training for various triathlons, so he was on a training ride, and I was taking a morning off.  Then, my phone rang.  It was my contact at the agency.  Honestly, I didn’t think anything of it.  We chat via text quite frequently, and I thought maybe she was calling to ask for more books, or had a question about something or other on our home study.  Maybe, MAYBE, she was calling to tell us that an expecting mother liked our book and wanted to talk to us.

Nothing prepared me for the direction the conversation took, however.  “We had a mother give birth last night to a baby boy, and she loved you guys.  She wants to talk to you, as soon as possible.”

And thus, the journey began.  I’m pretty sure I asked her if she was sure at least four different times.  And then thanked her, and cried, and thanked her again.  Then she told me to call J and get him back from his training ride, as G (the birth mother) wanted to talk to us both.  So…I did.  And then I called J, and cried on the phone to him (he thought something was wrong with the cats because he couldn’t understand a word out of my mouth…poor guy), and he raced home.

We got on the phone with G, and talked for a half hour or so.  Getting to know each other, answering questions we each had.  She wanted to know what we wanted to name him (we had no clue), and we wanted to ask how “open” she’d like this adoption to be.  It was rushed, and hurried, and full of love and concern for one special little boy.

After getting off the phone, J and I pretty much raced around the house getting ready.  Baby boy was in Louisiana, which was a 13 hour drive, so we had to plan what all to take on our road trip.  Plus, with ICPC (Interstate Compact for Placement of Children), we had no idea how long we would be in Louisiana (typically 10-15 days to be allowed to leave the state and travel home), so we needed to take a lot of stuff to get through the stay.  After showering and packing the car, we got on our way and headed south!

We arrived and went straight to the hospital to meet the birth mom and the baby.  Words can’t describe just how many emotions went through our hearts and minds at the enormity of what was before both us and the birth mom.  It was incredibly hard to watch her grieve, but we tried to help where we could.

After being released from the hospital, little man came back to an apartment with us until paperwork cleared and we could go home.  Once that happened, we packed back up the car and started the journey back to our house.  From there, we’ve spent the past few weeks just getting settled.  Little man is schooling us in the ways of babies, but man it’s hard.  Worth every minute, but incredibly hard.  He’s now a little over a month old, and it continually amazes me just how much our lives have changed in just a little over 30 days.

The journey is just starting, and it’s sure to be a wild ride!

Much love,
K.