Monday, June 17, 2013
Due date
Well, today is the due date. And there is no word. I don't want to go to work this week. I know I'm not going to be able to concentrate!
Meeting the birth parents
Well... today was the day. We met with the birth parents. They are a couple who is still together but I'm not going to divulge much more info than that. E (birth mom) and S (birth dad) were amazing. They are fun, sweet, caring and wonderful people. We clicked right away after meeting them and we had a great meal talking about video games, movies, books and everything else. It was easy going and just so great to get to know them better. Our social worker was there and she helped us cover some of the slightly tougher topics like naming of the baby, what the birth mom wants as far as us at the hospital and some other harder things. But all in all it was great!
At the end of the meal, as we walked out with Stephanie, we asked her "how did we do?" She said "I barely had to talk, that means it went VERY well". EEEK!
Now, we wait.
Due date is only 4 days away. We don't know much about the birth mom's situation (if she's dilated, having contractions etc.) so we just have to sit and wait. This is going to be hard!
At the end of the meal, as we walked out with Stephanie, we asked her "how did we do?" She said "I barely had to talk, that means it went VERY well". EEEK!
Now, we wait.
Due date is only 4 days away. We don't know much about the birth mom's situation (if she's dilated, having contractions etc.) so we just have to sit and wait. This is going to be hard!
Meeting with our Social Worker
Well, it's been one week since we've found out we've been matched. I've barely slept. Its crazy, this is the TIME to sleep, before the baby comes but I just can't seem to. I'm too excited and nervous.
Today we met with Stephanie. We signed a LOT of paperwork and got some more information about the birth parents and the situation. The funniest thing is that we were going over some of the paperwork and Stephanie says to us "I told you it's a baby girl right?". Matt and I just looked at each other. I said loudly "NO!!! You didn't!" (don't worry, Stephanie is cool and she knew I wasn't YELLING at her). Matt and I kissed and got completely excited. We both wanted to be parents no matter what but deep down in our hearts, we really both wanted a girl. We would have been THRILLED with a boy as well but we desperately wanted a girl. A few seconds after she told us it was a girl, she continued on with paperwork. I then had to stop her and said "we need to stop, I can't hear a thing you're saying." I was still so amazed it was a girl!!
We set up a meeting to meet the birth parents next week. I'm so nervous!!!! What if they don't like us? I know THEY chose US but still, what if we say something wrong and they change their minds about us. What if we're nothing like what they though we'd be like? (which would be very odd because our profile is SO US!). What do they look like? What do they sound like? What are their hobbies? I'm so excited to meet them!
Today we met with Stephanie. We signed a LOT of paperwork and got some more information about the birth parents and the situation. The funniest thing is that we were going over some of the paperwork and Stephanie says to us "I told you it's a baby girl right?". Matt and I just looked at each other. I said loudly "NO!!! You didn't!" (don't worry, Stephanie is cool and she knew I wasn't YELLING at her). Matt and I kissed and got completely excited. We both wanted to be parents no matter what but deep down in our hearts, we really both wanted a girl. We would have been THRILLED with a boy as well but we desperately wanted a girl. A few seconds after she told us it was a girl, she continued on with paperwork. I then had to stop her and said "we need to stop, I can't hear a thing you're saying." I was still so amazed it was a girl!!
We set up a meeting to meet the birth parents next week. I'm so nervous!!!! What if they don't like us? I know THEY chose US but still, what if we say something wrong and they change their minds about us. What if we're nothing like what they though we'd be like? (which would be very odd because our profile is SO US!). What do they look like? What do they sound like? What are their hobbies? I'm so excited to meet them!
We're matched!
I can't believe it! We're matched! We're actually matched! Here's the story:
On May 8th (a Wednesday) around 4:00 I got a call on my cell phone while at work. I don't answer calls I don't know so I let it go to voice mail. Then a few seconds later Matt comes over and says "go answer the phone". I thought it was odd that he knew I got a call on my cell phone so I asked how he knew that. He said that they paged me that I had a call on hold. I never heard it! I immediately got suspicious. I took a few seconds (much to Matt's dismay) to listen to my voice mail on my cell phone. It was Stephanie, our social worker asking me to call her right away. I got very excited and started walking toward the work phones out in the hallway. I looked back and saw Matt just standing at my desk and I motioned for him to come with me (being that I was pretty sure I knew what the call was).
Once I picked up the line, it was Stephanie. She asked me if I was sitting down and I said no and she then proceeded to tell me that we were matched! I asked if she could repeat it and I held the phone so that both Matt and I could hear and she said yet again "You're matched!". I about fainted! We told Stephanie we'd call her back in a few minutes once Matt and I got to a meeting room so that we could have some privacy.
We went into a meeting room and called her back. She then told us all about the situation. About a month before, we were asked if we wanted to be shown to this specific couple. They matched all of our criteria that we wanted except for one small detail. So we had to decide if we were ok with this change to be shown to them. We were ok with it and we were obviously shown. They took one month to choose and they chose us!
We can't believe that we're matched. It's completely surreal and amazing. I knew this day would come but no matter what, it still doesn't prepare you for the excitement, fear, anxiety and every other emotion you may have.
Oh, and the craziest part... the birth mother is due in only a week and a half! The due date is two days before our 6 year wedding anniversary!
On May 8th (a Wednesday) around 4:00 I got a call on my cell phone while at work. I don't answer calls I don't know so I let it go to voice mail. Then a few seconds later Matt comes over and says "go answer the phone". I thought it was odd that he knew I got a call on my cell phone so I asked how he knew that. He said that they paged me that I had a call on hold. I never heard it! I immediately got suspicious. I took a few seconds (much to Matt's dismay) to listen to my voice mail on my cell phone. It was Stephanie, our social worker asking me to call her right away. I got very excited and started walking toward the work phones out in the hallway. I looked back and saw Matt just standing at my desk and I motioned for him to come with me (being that I was pretty sure I knew what the call was).
Once I picked up the line, it was Stephanie. She asked me if I was sitting down and I said no and she then proceeded to tell me that we were matched! I asked if she could repeat it and I held the phone so that both Matt and I could hear and she said yet again "You're matched!". I about fainted! We told Stephanie we'd call her back in a few minutes once Matt and I got to a meeting room so that we could have some privacy.
We went into a meeting room and called her back. She then told us all about the situation. About a month before, we were asked if we wanted to be shown to this specific couple. They matched all of our criteria that we wanted except for one small detail. So we had to decide if we were ok with this change to be shown to them. We were ok with it and we were obviously shown. They took one month to choose and they chose us!
We can't believe that we're matched. It's completely surreal and amazing. I knew this day would come but no matter what, it still doesn't prepare you for the excitement, fear, anxiety and every other emotion you may have.
Oh, and the craziest part... the birth mother is due in only a week and a half! The due date is two days before our 6 year wedding anniversary!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Mother's Day
So, this past weekend was Mother's Day. It was a tough day for me. I have the best mother and mother-in-law but not being a mother yet myself made it hard to get through the day. Instead of celebrating with a child of our own, we celebrated with our furry child, Teddy.
I'm sure the day will come when I will be a mother (to a human baby ;D)... this Mother's Day just wasn't it.
I'm sure the day will come when I will be a mother (to a human baby ;D)... this Mother's Day just wasn't it.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Newborn & Toddler care class
Monday Matt and I had a newborn and toddler care class. It was at a Giant grocery store in Harrisburg (I found it kinda weird for grocery store to have a community room but hey, whatever).
We headed over right after work even though we knew we'd be very early. We didn't know what the traffic would be like and we wanted to make sure to get there with enough time. Plus, if we went home we'd only be there for about 10 minutes before we had to leave anyway.
So we get there just before 5:30 (an hour before the class starts). We go into the store to look around. I found online that this store is a bit more like a Wegman's, where they have hot food, deli sandwiches and a place to sit down and eat. So we looked around and got some dinner (Matt got pizza, I got a turkey sandwich) and we sat in their little cafe area and ate our dinner. Then at 6 we went upstairs to the community room. We were the first ones there (not really a surprise since we were now 30 min. early!), but no problem, we just sat and played on our phones for a while. Finally people started showing up. One of the couples had a teeeeeny tiiiiiny little girl with them. We later find out that she's only 3 weeks old! Adorable!
Anyway, around 6:30 one of the case workers from our office comes in with the teacher. We all gather around the table in the room and have a seat while the teacher passes out large cloth bags. (I didn't realize we'd be getting goodies, so I was pretty excited!)
We open up our bags to find: A binder with a lot of information and articles regarding what we're going to learn about, a children's book (the book nerd in me went WOOOOHOOOOO at seeing this), a magazine, a boo-boo bunny, and a cooler with two ice packs for bottles (or beer–apparently the cooler holds two beers perfectly). Then we introduce ourselves a little and we start in on the learning.
We got a LOT of great information. The main thing I learned is how to start and keep a routine to get baby to sleep through the night.
We talked and learned for 2 1/2 hours. At the end, we got to chatting with one of the other couples there. They were really nice and we decided to exchange business cards for contacts. It turns out that the woman is actually a wedding and event floral designer! Hopefully we'll get to work with her in a business capacity sometime.
It was a great class and it really made us so excited to become parents! Seeing that little girl just made me want one even more. And of course there is always the excitement and enjoyment of meeting others who are going through the same thing you are. Having a support group of friends really helps out!
We headed over right after work even though we knew we'd be very early. We didn't know what the traffic would be like and we wanted to make sure to get there with enough time. Plus, if we went home we'd only be there for about 10 minutes before we had to leave anyway.
So we get there just before 5:30 (an hour before the class starts). We go into the store to look around. I found online that this store is a bit more like a Wegman's, where they have hot food, deli sandwiches and a place to sit down and eat. So we looked around and got some dinner (Matt got pizza, I got a turkey sandwich) and we sat in their little cafe area and ate our dinner. Then at 6 we went upstairs to the community room. We were the first ones there (not really a surprise since we were now 30 min. early!), but no problem, we just sat and played on our phones for a while. Finally people started showing up. One of the couples had a teeeeeny tiiiiiny little girl with them. We later find out that she's only 3 weeks old! Adorable!
Anyway, around 6:30 one of the case workers from our office comes in with the teacher. We all gather around the table in the room and have a seat while the teacher passes out large cloth bags. (I didn't realize we'd be getting goodies, so I was pretty excited!)
We open up our bags to find: A binder with a lot of information and articles regarding what we're going to learn about, a children's book (the book nerd in me went WOOOOHOOOOO at seeing this), a magazine, a boo-boo bunny, and a cooler with two ice packs for bottles (or beer–apparently the cooler holds two beers perfectly). Then we introduce ourselves a little and we start in on the learning.
We got a LOT of great information. The main thing I learned is how to start and keep a routine to get baby to sleep through the night.
We talked and learned for 2 1/2 hours. At the end, we got to chatting with one of the other couples there. They were really nice and we decided to exchange business cards for contacts. It turns out that the woman is actually a wedding and event floral designer! Hopefully we'll get to work with her in a business capacity sometime.
It was a great class and it really made us so excited to become parents! Seeing that little girl just made me want one even more. And of course there is always the excitement and enjoyment of meeting others who are going through the same thing you are. Having a support group of friends really helps out!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
More Paperwork
So, we got a letter in the mail from our adoption agency. Apparently, some of our paperwork is expiring soon and we need to get it redone. Things like fingerprinting, physicals, child abuse checks. These things are only good for one year. Its hard to believe that it's been a year since we started our home study and got these things done! I went online to one of the websites to get the clearance done and I filled out all of the information and paid the fee. Then, the website said it timed out and to hit the back button and try again. Well, I hit the back button and nothing happened. So I go to the part where it says to check on a status... It asks me for a specific number... which they never gave me. So I'm pretty frustrated right now! Guess we're going to have to call the help line sometime soon. Just another thing to add to the list.
On a better note, we're planning another fundraiser. This one is going to be a mini photo session fundraiser. We have multiple photographers helping us out with this one and we're pretty darn excited about it. We get to combine our passion for photography with helping to build our family. We're not 100% on all of the details yet but we do know that it will be on Sunday, May 19th. We really hope that we get a good turn out. So if you're interested contact us and I'll give you some more info!
On a better note, we're planning another fundraiser. This one is going to be a mini photo session fundraiser. We have multiple photographers helping us out with this one and we're pretty darn excited about it. We get to combine our passion for photography with helping to build our family. We're not 100% on all of the details yet but we do know that it will be on Sunday, May 19th. We really hope that we get a good turn out. So if you're interested contact us and I'll give you some more info!
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