It's 6 weeks today since we got the call about C. It's hard to believe it's been that long! My days are blurring together and I'm trying to soak in as much each day as possible. He's growing so fast - even day to day I notice differences, and I don't want to miss anything. Please forgive the sporadic postings, but I've been working on this one, and now that little man is taking a nice nap in his ErgoBaby carrier (this thing is AWESOME), I hope I can get enough written to publish at least part of the story.
I'll begin with "the call"...
Tuesday, April 24th was pretty much a normal day. I got up, went to Mass, came home, had one cancelled piano lesson, taught 3 more and waited around the house. I was going to go to the grocery store, but figured I'd stay home in case the call came in. By the time my third lesson finished at 2:00, I figured the meeting with the birthmother was over, as the agency was supposed to meet with her in the morning. I puttered around the house, and kept checking my email, figuring to see an email that we weren't picked. It never came. Time kept creeping by. I'm pretty sure I talked to my youngest sister (we talk very frequently - she's a physical therapist and travels to client's homes, and I'm the one home during the day to keep her company on her drives. :)) Anyway, she called to see if we had heard anything, and I said no. I figured it wasn't the baby meant for us. DH and I talked a few times as well; again confirming that neither of us had heard anything. Usually, I was the one who first saw the emails from our social worker about possible placements; but he had been the one to see the email on Monday.
Around 3:00 the phone rang, and I jumped... but it was a friend checking on something else. Time crawled by. I just wanted to get the email confirming that we hadn't been picked.
At 4:05 the phone rang again and it was our agency. My heart jumped a bit, but even then, I thought they would be calling to say that we weren't picked and that there was another situation for us to consider, or maybe a question about something else. It wasn't the social worker that I normally spoke with, although I had met her at one of the classes. She kind of dragged it out. They had met with the birthmother that morning... she was a real talker... they just got back from meeting with her... etc... etc... and "she picked you!!!!"
It took me a second... and then I started crying, laughing, gasping all at once; and alternately pacing and sitting down in just complete shock and amazement. She tried telling me other details and I interrupted to say - can I call DH?? She laughed, said yes, and told me to call her back.
I called DH... it took him a few rings to pick up (I knew he was probably in a meeting at that time - which he was - but it was fortunately in his office)... he said hello and I said...
"Hi, Daddy."
DH: Pause.... "Are you serious?!?"
Me (crying): "YES!!! SHE PICKED US!!!!!!!!
We talked a bit more - he told me he was in a meeting and I asked him if he could come right home so we could start calling our families.
He told me he hung up the phone, stood there for a second, looked at the guy in his office and said "Uh, I have to go!"
His co-worker said "Well, congratulations - I don't know what it is, but it sounds good!"
DH began packing up... and a minute later his boss walked in, looked at DH with his coat on (probably wondering what he was doing - they had a 2-day off-site meeting scheduled that DH and his boss were supposed to lead). He said "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"
DH: "Actually... no... my wife and I just got the call from our adoption agency and tomorrow we are picking up our son!!"
His boss was THRILLED for him - he and several colleagues knew we were waiting and have wanted kids for a long time. They knew about my surgeries, though not in great detail.
After DH and I got off the phone, I called our SW back and got more details about Baby C. We were going to be able to meet his birthmother at the hospital, and we needed to be there at 10 the next morning to sign papers and bring him home. She told me what we needed to bring and I had a stack of post-it notes all stuck together from all the notes I took from the call! They were all over the kitchen table, haha. :) I also called our financial planner to take care of that end of things. He was DH's college roommate and he and his wife - and their 8 kids, have been praying for us.
DH (it seemed like forever) got home quickly... I met him at the door and we pretty much jumped up and down in excitement! We wanted to begin by calling family - it was almost rush hour, and thus would take considerable time to get to the store and get back... so we began by calling my mom.
She answered the phone and we said "Hi, Grandma!" My mom was working at the polls that day and she said "this isn't Grandma", assuming we had dialed the wrong number. Our response "Oh, yes it is!!!!" She was so excited, and asked if she could share it with the friends she saw come in. We initially wanted to keep things quiet - for the 10 day waiting period - and that lasted all of a minute. After she got off the phone with me, a friend stopped by and the neighbor working the polls with my mom said "aren't you going to tell her your news?"
I can't remember in what order we called everyone - DH's mom was probably next - we could seriously hear her screams from California. :) Like my mom, we greeted her with "Hi, Memere!" She said "this isn't Memere." We said "Oh, yes it is!!" She was out in CA visiting family and she actually was with DH's grandmother, "Memere". She said it didn't register that it was her cell phone that she answered, not her mother's land line! We called both Dads - mine at work (he knew as soon as we asked him what he wanted to be called- Grandpa, Granddad, etc)... DH's dad leaving a golf course with DH's uncle. We reached my sister V at home, who started crying - we asked her if her fiance T was in town - he lives in the area where we needed to be and if we could spend the night at his place - fortunately he was and we did! We reached my sister R in the car, and she said she literally had tears running down her face. She was on the way to one of her clients' homes. (She's the PT)
We got a hold of everyone else .... my sister M in Nashville, sister S (the nurse who lead us to our agency in the first place) - we woke her up... she works night shifts so she was still a little out of it. I talked to her for a while on the ride down to T's place asking all kinds of questions about how to take care of a newborn!!
DH's brothers - and sister in law. So, so excited to hear our news, they all begged us to send pictures ASAP. His brother D was on the golf course too - he coaches high school - and he said he didn't even care how his kids played after he got our news!
We called a few close friends, including our friends M & D (they live about a minute walk away on the next street over) who wanted to stop by.
We called my Grandma - she said she wasn't going to cry like she did when she got the call when I was born, but when she hung up, as she told us later, she realized her nose was bleeding! That was kind of funny. :) We talked to my Uncle J - actually, we reached him before Grandma - he said he already knew he was "great" but was clearly excited to be "great-uncle". He's amazing - great with kids. I'm sure Baby C will have lots of fun playing with him when he gets bigger!
While we were on the phone with my Grandma, M & D stopped by - huge hugs were exchanged and D actually picked me up - and DH too for that matter! They were so, so excited for us. (They're C's godparents, too, by the way.)
M was leaving for choir practice (where we would have been heading too!) - I told her to share the news and apologize to our choir director that I wouldn't be able to play for Confirmation the following night with the the Bishop! We were leaving for BabiesRUs, so they didn't stay long. Before they left, we recruited D's help the following night to assemble the crib!
To be continued.... :)
