I have chills just writing this!! It may be a long post - so enjoy!
So about 1pm, I was speaking with my mom about the conversation and she played blackbird by the beatles. I was just telling her how I can relate to another song by Sia called "Bird Set Free" and how for me, it was a mirror of how I felt about the adoption now. At that exact second, I had a call on my cell phone from the same state of our agency. I looked and was almost not going to pick it up since we have had a lot of spam calls. I slid the bar on my phone and my social worker was on the line. Immediately, my body was tingling as the tone of her voice was so different this time. Practically everything had been shut down in our area, including the agency but she was calling us! Her first words "Hey, is Phil around, I need to speak with the both of you". I calmly walked away from my mother, not even telling her who was on the phone. I figured, if it was nothing - I didn't want to get her hopes up and if it was THE CALL...I wanted to tell her at the right moment. I opened the office door and motioned to my husband as I mouthed who was on the phone. He nodded as he finished his work meeting and I let our social worker it may be a minute or so as he is in work. As I entered my room with the cellphone in hand, I kept saying "you are killing me...what is going on", as my heart beat and breathing became faster. She laughed and just kept saying, "I want to talk to you about a situation". (I will keep the entire birth mothers story private as it is hers and our daughters - but it was perfectly meant to be!)
Finally, Phil entered the room and I made her call my house, in part because I couldn't quite hear her clearly and in part because I wanted to record that moment for us, if it were to be THAT moment! She checked to make sure we were both there and to be honest, we were clinging to one another's hands as we anxiously awaited for her to get to the point lol. She went through this special situation which we were emailed and didn't see and honestly, it was perfect...I did not hear one thing that scared us at all. Perfect I tell you! After she went through the details, she said " Well...congratulations!!". That moment...I would relive every single moment of my life again and again and again. I am so happy I have it on tape, so I could share it with our daughter!
Now...to tell everyone!!!!!!
We had been waiting to see God's hand create our miracle and watch as everything fit into place and this process has showed it to us. That He is doing it even if we could not see. Hopefully through our story, you will experience, you will find hope as you wait for your pieces to find their places.
Our best friends/ Our Daughters Godparents to be, came over with our first girls clothing and to celebrate!
So with all that snow, my brother shoveled us out at 6 am and we were on our way!! It took us 4 hours to drive to where she was, we quickly stopped to check into a hotel. The thing about the trip that made me see that God was with us was this one moment as we drove...we saw this sign! The snow had covered "animal care" and only showed Adoption Center with an arrow to the the bridge towards the hospital! It was just one of those moment that He was showing us He was still guiding us!
They looked at us and said "Are you ready to meet your daughter?" We jumped up and said "Yes!!" and we were off! We walked through a lot of hallways as I told the social workers that we always envisioned this moment happening. They asked us if we had the nursery done and we showed them photos as the elevator reached the second floor.
We slowly approached the nursery and all of the nurses were smiling as they looked at us. We found out later they were soooooooo excited that we were adopting our daughter. In fact our social workers said the agency was over joyed we finally were chosen too! It made this moment feel so much better!
As we were escorted into a private room, the nursery door was right across from us and we sat there and waited. We had noticed there was a little bit of chaos and a lot of talking. To be honest, we were wondering if the birth mother changed her mind at this point. Later we found out that she had signed and left the hospital. So here we were...about 15 feet as we heard cries coming from the nursery and the faint sound of a baby cart being pushed. This was the moment. The door opens. The baby....
She is beautiful though!!
So, I have read a lot of hospital experiences, including those who were able to stay over night and some who were not welcome to stay in the hospital. Here is our story!
The nurses came in and congratulated us and had to move us to another room because it was being prepared for a birth. As they moved us they did let us know there was a possibility we could not stay. Luckily for us, that never happened - we got a room!!
These are the people we have depended on for support, those who prayed for her, for us, for a dream to come true! During this time, I watched my childhood friends and brother become instant uncles/aunts. I watched my mom became a grandmother for the first time. I watched my husband be the amazing dad I knew he would be! We had the most amazing support system!! During our stay, we wrote a letter to the birth mother and shipped off photos to the agency, with hopes that maybe she would read it one day when she was ready to. We legally have to do this for another 6 months and then yearly. I am saving these letters for our daughter to read when she is older.
As we waited for icpc to pass, we did have many times we longed to just be home. Living out of luggage was not comfortable at all and especially not having organization made life with a newborn a bit chaotic! We were barely drinking and eating and barely had time for a shower (we did, don't worry!). Sleep was pretty much non-existent and still is lol but it is amazing. We were honestly delirious. Some inside jokes we will tell you about.
*The whole story of God, Blue Hair, He-Man, The second pediatrian*
The day before Good Friday/Passover/Easter Weekend, we were getting a bit frustrated, wondering when we would get the call to go home. We knew the holiday weekend would mean us extending our stay another 4 days. We checked in with our social worker, who said she didn't hear anything and they were closed for the next 3 days. I decided to go pick up formula and when I did, my social worker called "This is the second call you have been waiting for - GO HOME!!!!" *Screams*!!!!! I hopped into the car and opened the hotel to see my husband cuddling our daughter...I said, "you know how icpc is closed for the next 3 days?" , he nodded and made a sad face and I shouted "Well, let's not worry about that - it is time to go home!!!" and we screamed with excitement! It took an hour to pack everything up and dress our daughter in her to go home outfit and we were off!!
We are a family!!