Meet our little 'E'

 Warning: This is a long blog post. Sorry.... it's a lot of ground to cover! 

I received a call in January of 2018. On the other end was a woman that I knew next to nothing about. She mentioned that a fellow acquaintance, one who had connections in Nebraska that knew us, told her our story and that we would make great adoptive parents. 

Stepping back from the phone conversation- I had met this lovely woman, the acquaintance/friend,  a few times, and knew that they were kind hearted and genuine. She sincerely was on our side and wanted to see us succeed in adoption. (I won't be naming everyone on here, because I haven't gained their express permission to do so... :) One day, her son was working on his car with a friend. The friend mentioned that his significant other was pregnant but that they weren't ready to be parents. Our story was passed along that day and phone numbers.... 

Back to the phone conversation- The other woman was E's birth mom. I told her about Ryan and I, our lifestyle, and answered whatever questions she had. We spoke about common interests and got to know each other. Near the end of the phone conversation she stated she would want us to be present at the hospital, for the birth, and that was happening within the next 3 weeks. Then she mentioned she was having a baby girl. I promised we would be there for the birth and would meet her at the hospital. We exchanged pictures via text, and then I got one more call from her a week and half later. The birth mom stated that she was going to come a week early, the final due date was February 2nd. We had 2 weeks left. 

At this point, it was a crazy emotional rollercoaster starting. Fear that it wouldn't go through, excitement that we might be close to having a baby after so many years of infertility, wondering how the birth mom was handling everything, and trying to figure out how much stuff we would actually need if this went through. Not to even mention trying to settle on a name within 2 weeks.... and if you know us, you could give a guess on how well those discussions went given our different tastes for names, and everything else in life!!! With all these emotions- who did we tell? 

We told a few very close friends. As I will discuss later on, you need letters of recommendations for people who are not your family members. They needed to provide these for us for the home study. Did I tell any family members? I told my older sister. Ryan and I agreed to not tell anyone else when things were close. If the adoption fell through, which it very well could, then telling everyone you weren't taking a baby home is devastating. It's heartbreaking and emotional enough handling your own feelings, and then you have to relive the pain while telling all the other people that it didn't work out. This plan was actually a bigger blessing than I could foresee in E's case.... I will tell you later why that is so. 

So, we drove out to Colorado, past our parents' places and stopped at a restaurant in downtown CO Springs. I was bursting at the SEAMS to tell someone! So, I told the poor unsuspecting waitress. The nonchalant question/statement of: "Well, thanks for coming, what will you guys be doing later on this evening?" was delivered in a friendly way to us. I busted out with, "We're adopting a baby GIRL! And none of our families know!" You should have seen her eyes.... She recovered quickly and handled it well with some follow up questions. 

Alright, we checked into the hotel and set our alarms for 5 AM. Bio-mom was getting induced earlier and we would arrive by the time everyone had settled in. When we were walking up to the hospital the next morning, a woman stopped us and asked, "Are you Jo?" To be known in a small town is normal. To be known in a major city that you haven't been in is weird. It was bio-mom's mom that had seen our photos via text and she recognized me. We walked up to the room with her and from there met: great grandmother, grandma, birth-mom, half-brother, best friend, and a few others. 

In the hospital, we had time to get to know everyone that was present. I spent some time working on Masters homework for classes, sending emails to coworkers, and talked to whomever came in and out of the room. It took until 5:41 PM to have a baby girl born. We stayed in the room up until the pushing and then everyone left. However, we returned after 30 minutes to1 hour later. Bio-mom had E in her first outfit and was feeding her the first bottle. The family took turns passing E around and holding her. When we got to hold her and take a picture, we were crying. 

I spent the next 2 weeks in the hospital with a tiny one who had a tough time eating and dropped weight. Birth mom was discharged but came back every so often to chat with me and hold E. Ryan traveled back and forth on the weekends. After this period of time, we were released from the hospital and we were free to share the news! We went up to the parents' homes, first Ryan's and then mine the next day, knocked on their doors and introduced them to their new granddaughter. 

I couldn't believe they were letting us leave with a baby.... God was/ had been good but the journey was still going to be longer than anticipated. We now needed to deal with an agency who was dragging their feet.