On March 5, Scott and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. It was a Monday and we had plans to go out to eat and spend the evening together. My work day was coming to a close when I heard my cell phone vibrate and my heart jumped out of my chest when I saw our agency area code. My hands were shaking as I answered the call. The words we have been waiting to hear were spoken, "You all have been matched with a birthmom, and oh, she is 39 weeks pregnant." Our case worker gave me as many details as she knew at the time and then she asked if I had any questions; I very quietly asked if she knew the sex of the baby. I could hear her smiles as she said, " Jessie, it's a girl." I had held it together until those 4 words; and I won't lie, tears started streaming down my face. I wrote down information and directions and the next few steps we would need to take very quickly in the process. I hung up and stared at my phone for a moment before calling Scott. My hand was shaking so badly I could hardly hit the one button necessary to speed dial. I am not even certain of my words, but I know I got the point across as I do remember him saying; "Jessie we are going to have a daughter."
Things began happening very quickly. We called the attorney, mapped our route to the hospital, installed the car seat base and packed and repacked the diaper bag and our overnight bag and waited for the call. Our birthmom did not want to meet us until the hospital, so we were trying to think of what questions to ask her and started praying for her with every breath we took. We knew everyone seemed healthy and that this seemed to be a great adoption plan according to our agency.
A lot happened during that week of waiting, but we can look back and see God's plan in orchestrating everything according to his plan, and not our own. We are so grateful for that!
Friday morning 3/16, I received a text from our case worker at the agency and it was a picture that said, "she's here!" It took me about 2 seconds to call her and I just heard a bunch of giggles as she said they were waiting to see how many seconds it took for us to call.
We were told our daughter was born late on March 15 a healthy 8 lbs 20 3/4 inches and our birthmom had asked us not to come to the hospital until Saturday morning which is how long she had to wait in order to sign the adoption papers. As hard as it was to stay away knowing that our daughter was here, I could not help but understand that her birthmom needed that time to spend with her.
Friday was a very long day. We stayed busy by finally going to update our phones so we could take good pictures and video. We met a friend for lunch and tried to stay distracted by making the various phone calls to family.
We left the house at 6 a.m. Saturday morning for the 2.5 hour drive to the hospital. We met our case worker at the front entrance and she prepped us for our first meeting.
Stepping out of the elevator and onto the third floor knowing we were about to meet our child was almost too much, but I was not going to cry (not yet, anyway.) We waited down the hall so our case worker could see if she was ready for us. A few minutes later we walked into the room. There they were...a beautiful woman cradling a tiny little baby. My heart has never felt so much love as at that moment; holding Scott's hand, getting the first glimpse of our child and the incredible woman who was making it all possible.
She looked at me and Scott and we went to sit in seats by her. They were both beautiful! I remember getting out the words, "It is so good to meet you." She extended her arms and I asked if she was sure and then the most perfect little girl was in my arms. I teared up, but knew we needed to talk to our birthmom and answer any questions she may have so I was desperately trying to hold it together.
We are so thankful that our case worker was there with us! She kept the conversation flowing and it seemed very relaxed. Before we knew it, our attorney was walking through the doors and we needed to step out. I handed our precious baby back to her birthmom and we walked out to wait, knowing that she was about to sign the papers to give us her baby. There are no words to describe what I was feeling at that moment.
It was only about 20 minutes later that our case worker came out and said everything was going as planned and that our birthmom really liked us and felt very confident with her decision in choosing us.
A few more minutes and we were signing papers with our attorney! It all happened so fast and we now had a daughter! Our birthmom did ask us if she could have the rest of the day to spend with our baby (ours meaning hers, mine and Scott's) and that she would like us to come back at 7 p.m. to spend a few more hours with her before her discharge. She wanted to hand our baby to me as she left. She would be discharged first and then we would be discharged sometime around midnight. Leaving then was the second hardest thing we did that day.
We went and bought flowers for our birthmom having discussed that she loved hot pink earlier, so we bought a cute little arrangement of hot pink roses in a pretty little vase and took them to the nurses station for them to give to her. I cried a little in the flower shop as I wrote a note to her; how on earth could I express what was in our hearts at that moment. I did the best I could in 2 short sentences on that little flower card. Scott had a great conversation with the florist about our adoption.
We then went to get some lunch and the hunt began for a photo album that we could give our birthmom as she stated she would like for us to send her pictures. We were also able to visit a friend that afternoon as he was in the same city with his child in the hospital. What a blessing to get to hold that sweet baby knowing that mine would soon be in my arms.
Scott and I ate dinner and called the hospital to make sure she was ready for us. We went back to the room and the 4 of us had really good conversation. Grateful that Scott is a good talker and I did not have to carry the conversation by myself. I was overwhelmed and amazed by the beauty and courage of this young woman. God blessed us with getting introduced to those two girls that day. We found out some fun information and I will journal that for Josie. Our birthmom had asked earlier if we would incorporate Nicole into her name. We told her we would be more than happy to do that. She asked us that evening what we had named her: Josie Sophia Nicole. She stated she loved the Sophia Nicole and I let her know Josie is after my grandmother.
She had some friends and family stop by around 8:30 p.m. and as her discharge was set for 9, we excused ourselves so they could say their goodbyes.
We had an excellent nurse and Scott and I were given a room down the hall to wait. It ended up being around 10:45 when we were called back to our birthmom's room. We met a few members of her family and it was a little intense. I had selfishly hoped we could have a few more moments alone with our birthmom and Josie, but I am grateful for the time we did have. It all happened so quickly and I am still not able to speak or type out the words about those last few minutes, but I will say I have locked them forever in my heart as the most precious moments of my life as I shared a hug with Josie and her birthmom with tears streaming down both of our faces. Then she was gone.
I did fall apart then and God bless Scott for being the amazing husband that he is. We went back to our room and just held Josie and waited for her 48 hour test in order to take her home.
I have treasured each moment of having her home so far and we will continue to write about our adventures in parenthood. We will have follow ups with our agency who will continue to work with our birthmom and we will wait the 3 months for our court date to finalize everything.
Thank you for your support and continued prayers. Please continue to pray for our birthmom and that she will have peace with her decision. So much love in our hearts for her as we cannot help but look at Josie and see her sacrifice. We serve an amazing God.
