Our baby boy was born tonight. Because of the circumstances, we don't know much...just that it's a boy and the birth mom is not having any doubts about the adoption plan. The case worker is going to the hospital tomorrow morning around 9:00 a.m. and then we should be able to go up to the hospital after that. Once she signs the paperwork, we will be able to stay there, in a room, if one is available. And we will be able to stay there until he comes home with us on Thursday.
We are ecstatic!!!!!!!!!!!! We will probably be ready for visitors on Friday, but we will definitely post pics as soon as we can!
Please continue to remember the birth mother. She's had a hard day, and continuously keeps our feelings in mind; always considering what we would want. We are convinced she is an amazing woman!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Waiting...
The birth mother went to the hospital this morning at 3:00 a.m. Our case worker called me at 8:30 and told me this. It's now 8:17 p.m. and we've received no update. As you can guess, the waiting is awful!
We will certainly post something as soon as we can after he is born, and if you're immediate family, we will call you -- so, no need to worry! A lot of people have asked us when we will be able to see him, how soon we will get to go the hospital, when he's coming home, etc. We do not know any of this. Much of this is contingent upon the birth mother's decisions. So, we wait.
We are trying to keep busy with work and stuff around the house, but this evening, it's been difficult to keep our minds off of the situation at hand. We are praying that the birth mother is doing well and not having too hard of a time.
We appreciate everyone giving us our space during the adjustment period, as the transition into parenthood is going to be quite an experience! We will let everyone know when we are ready for visitors after he is home, and of course, a call is always appreciated before stopping by!
We do know that the birth mother cannot sign the papers (even if she wanted to) until the baby is 24 hours old. So, once we get the call, we have 24 more hours to wait for that. Nothing is legal yet, so until those papers are signed, we cannot breathe a sigh of relief. We are confident that God has brought us to this place, and we are praising Him right now that we are not anymore crazy than we are already feeling!!
Keep praying, and look for an update soon!!
We will certainly post something as soon as we can after he is born, and if you're immediate family, we will call you -- so, no need to worry! A lot of people have asked us when we will be able to see him, how soon we will get to go the hospital, when he's coming home, etc. We do not know any of this. Much of this is contingent upon the birth mother's decisions. So, we wait.
We are trying to keep busy with work and stuff around the house, but this evening, it's been difficult to keep our minds off of the situation at hand. We are praying that the birth mother is doing well and not having too hard of a time.
We appreciate everyone giving us our space during the adjustment period, as the transition into parenthood is going to be quite an experience! We will let everyone know when we are ready for visitors after he is home, and of course, a call is always appreciated before stopping by!
We do know that the birth mother cannot sign the papers (even if she wanted to) until the baby is 24 hours old. So, once we get the call, we have 24 more hours to wait for that. Nothing is legal yet, so until those papers are signed, we cannot breathe a sigh of relief. We are confident that God has brought us to this place, and we are praising Him right now that we are not anymore crazy than we are already feeling!!
Keep praying, and look for an update soon!!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Adoption 101 -- part 2
It is important to us that family and friends realize that adoption is not a "second best" option for us. It is the plan that God has had for us all along, and we are thrilled! We know that people don't intentionally make comments that are negative about adoption and honestly, I've used a lot of negative language myself. I've done some research on the subject and found the following list on several sites, so I hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws by posting this:
Positive Language -- Negative Language
Adoption triad -- Adoption triangle
Biological parent -- Natural / real parent
Birth father / mother -- Real / Natural father / mother
Birth parent -- Real parent
Make an adoption plan -- Give up
Interracial -- Mixed race
My child -- Adopted child
Parent -- Adoptive parent
Search -- Track down parents
To parent -- To keep
It is important to us that our child knows that he was not "given up," but an adoption plan was made for him. In any case, it is a brave decision for a birth mother to choose adoption over the many other options. We will always love and be grateful to the woman who is carrying our child right now and praise God that she chose to make an adoption plan for her baby. We pray for her daily and probably will for the rest of our lives.
Logan will be our REAL son. We will have a child of our OWN. He will be our own and we can't wait to tell him how much we love him and how long we've been waiting for him. For most people in our lives, this is their first (as well as our first) experience with adoption. I would not have known any of the information that I am learning if I wasn't going through it, so I happily pass along what I am learning. I hope it helps!
Positive Language -- Negative Language
Adoption triad -- Adoption triangle
Biological parent -- Natural / real parent
Birth father / mother -- Real / Natural father / mother
Birth parent -- Real parent
Make an adoption plan -- Give up
Interracial -- Mixed race
My child -- Adopted child
Parent -- Adoptive parent
Search -- Track down parents
To parent -- To keep
It is important to us that our child knows that he was not "given up," but an adoption plan was made for him. In any case, it is a brave decision for a birth mother to choose adoption over the many other options. We will always love and be grateful to the woman who is carrying our child right now and praise God that she chose to make an adoption plan for her baby. We pray for her daily and probably will for the rest of our lives.
Logan will be our REAL son. We will have a child of our OWN. He will be our own and we can't wait to tell him how much we love him and how long we've been waiting for him. For most people in our lives, this is their first (as well as our first) experience with adoption. I would not have known any of the information that I am learning if I wasn't going through it, so I happily pass along what I am learning. I hope it helps!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Okay, we're READY
We are ready. Will someone tell our son that we are ready to bring him home?!
Here's his little crib, all ready for him. We are counting down the days until his due date...praying he arrives early!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Charlie
This spoiled pooch has no idea how drastically his life is going to change within the next few weeks.
Too cute!
Don't you just love baby stuff?
Here's a picture of Logan's bassinet. It's just a little over 2 weeks until his due date. Our social worker told us everything is fine with the birthmother. She is experiencing some signs of labor, but I've heard people say they had those same signs a couple weeks leading up to their delivery. Either way, it won't be long now!
We enjoyed sleeping in until 7:15 this morning. We know those days are numbered.
Friday, September 19, 2008
This weekend
This weekend, we are going to look for cribs and we are going to REGISTER! I have no idea about all these things that babies need, so this should be interesting. I know the basics -- diapers, bottles, etc....but beyond that....clueless!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Logan's Room
We are making progress on the baby's room. I painted stripes just on one wall.
No crib or anything like that yet, so it's pretty much just an empty room. But it's starting to feel like "his" room. I was actually hanging some of his little clothes in the closet. It's starting to feel more real.
Our good friends from Florida are having their baby RIGHT NOW (she's in labor now), so we are so excited for them. It's definitely a baby-time of year!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
All About the Boys
Well, we had our last hurrah with the boys this past weekend...that is, the last one before we add one more little boy!
One of our very favorite things to do is spend time with our nephews, so all five of us loaded into our car (which seemed very small with 3 growing boys in the back seat) and headed to Chicago this weekend.
There were several fun things about this weekend. First, we got to pick the boys up from school at 1:00, so they got to leave early. I think I was more excited about this than they were. It rained all Friday night and all day Saturday, but we were still able to enjoy our time.
On Friday, we rode the trolley to Navy Pier where we walked around and then we ate at Bubba Gump's. Once back at the hotel, we went swimming. On Saturday, we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast with pretty much any breakfast food you can imagine. We took a cab (I think this was the boys' first cab ride) to the Shedd Aquarium where Zeb was able to practice his photography. We were a little disappointed because the dolphin show is out of commission for the next year, and one of the main reasons we went there was to see that show.
After the aquarium, we were on a mission to find Mr. Beef's (Zeb's choice). He was the only one that ate lunch there. The rest of us ate at Ed Debevic's. The boys' cousins had eaten there and told them about how it's their "thing" to be rude to their customers. The boys got a big kick out of that, but they were so afraid to say or do anything.
We encountered a lot of rain, but all-in-all, it was a great time. Zeb and I enjoyed spending time with the boys, as we always do, but this time was extra-special for us, because we know that it was the last time like this. We look forward to making a bunch more memories with our nephews and our own son!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Medical Records and Homestudy Update
The case worker called this morning to tell us that everything with the medical records looks good. What a huge relief!
We had our physicals this morning and had to get a TB test. On Monday, we have to go back and get the results of the TB test. We also went to the police station to get our fingerprints and our background checks. So, just a few pages of paperwork to complete to have our homestudy all up-to-date.
It's hard to believe that his due date is one month from tomorrow. I believe we have just enough stuff to keep us busy in between now and his arrival, but not too much that we can't get it all done. God sure does plan the very best for us, doesn't He?
We had our physicals this morning and had to get a TB test. On Monday, we have to go back and get the results of the TB test. We also went to the police station to get our fingerprints and our background checks. So, just a few pages of paperwork to complete to have our homestudy all up-to-date.
It's hard to believe that his due date is one month from tomorrow. I believe we have just enough stuff to keep us busy in between now and his arrival, but not too much that we can't get it all done. God sure does plan the very best for us, doesn't He?
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Update
I'm sure that people who are carrying a baby go through stresses...I don't doubt that. But we are experiencing a completely different kind of stress. We are concerned about the baby's health, of course, and the health of his birth mother. We pray that they are both healthy and staying strong for the delivery.
Because the birth mother has chosen not to meet us, we do not get unsolicited updates. I know that our social worker is so busy, so I hate to call her and take up her time, just to ease my mind. But, I had to break-down yesterday and call the social worker just to see if she had heard anything. Now, I had been fighting off the urge all day, but decided to call at a particular moment. When our social worker answered the phone, she said, "I just met with the birth mother that picked you." How crazy is that?! Our birth mother was leaving there, just as I was dialing the phone!
Everything is going well. She is making all of her doctor's appointments and now has weekly appointments with the social worker. She is still 100% committed to her adoption plan. We've been told that she has not wavered at all about her adoption plan. She is going to be tested for gestational diabetes, but I'm not sure about the details of that (why they are testing her, is there cause for concern, etc.).
So, we wait and we pray. Don't get me wrong, there's a TON to do while we wait. Tonight, dad was over working on the closet in the baby's room. (I think we'll be lucky to have that room done by the time Logan arrives.) Tomorrow, we are going to get our fingerprints and background check at the police station, going to the doctor's for our physicals (all this must be done to update our home study), and then -- just for fun -- we are checking out a daycare. We have several family members who have generously offered to watch the baby, and we are sooooo grateful for that! However, we do see the benefit of exposing him to other children and organized group activities once or twice a week. But, that's a subject for another post! No judgments, please!!!
For those of you that are reading this, I know you're probably our faithful prayer warriors, too. For that, THANK YOU! This really is a difficult time for us, although we are anxiously awaiting his arrival. We appreciate your continue prayers for Logan, his birth mother and us!
Because the birth mother has chosen not to meet us, we do not get unsolicited updates. I know that our social worker is so busy, so I hate to call her and take up her time, just to ease my mind. But, I had to break-down yesterday and call the social worker just to see if she had heard anything. Now, I had been fighting off the urge all day, but decided to call at a particular moment. When our social worker answered the phone, she said, "I just met with the birth mother that picked you." How crazy is that?! Our birth mother was leaving there, just as I was dialing the phone!
Everything is going well. She is making all of her doctor's appointments and now has weekly appointments with the social worker. She is still 100% committed to her adoption plan. We've been told that she has not wavered at all about her adoption plan. She is going to be tested for gestational diabetes, but I'm not sure about the details of that (why they are testing her, is there cause for concern, etc.).
So, we wait and we pray. Don't get me wrong, there's a TON to do while we wait. Tonight, dad was over working on the closet in the baby's room. (I think we'll be lucky to have that room done by the time Logan arrives.) Tomorrow, we are going to get our fingerprints and background check at the police station, going to the doctor's for our physicals (all this must be done to update our home study), and then -- just for fun -- we are checking out a daycare. We have several family members who have generously offered to watch the baby, and we are sooooo grateful for that! However, we do see the benefit of exposing him to other children and organized group activities once or twice a week. But, that's a subject for another post! No judgments, please!!!
For those of you that are reading this, I know you're probably our faithful prayer warriors, too. For that, THANK YOU! This really is a difficult time for us, although we are anxiously awaiting his arrival. We appreciate your continue prayers for Logan, his birth mother and us!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Labor Day
I did a lot around the house today because Zeb was working (he wasn't here to get in my way!)....the baby's room is painted, although I'll need to do some touch-ups later this week. We moved the guest bed into the other bedroom when Zeb got home from work. I packed up a lot of stuff and threw away a lot of stuff. My house is still a mess, but it's getting better.
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