Our birth mother is 35 weeks along and has 35 days remaining -- Thirty-five days! WOW.
The past several weeks have been nothing but getting ready for Baby Girl LaManna. Some of which includes (but is not limited to) selecting pediatricians, visiting day care facilities, and finalizing all the logistics for us to head out to California on Jan 1st, 2012. Because, not only are we preparing for the hopeful arrival of a little one. We are also planning for an impending one to two week "vacation" after the baby is born. Because this will be an interstate adoption, we have to stay in the state where the baby is born while all the paperwork and legal stuff clears. It takes ten days to two-ish weeks. And of course, this little "vacation" will start, oh I don't know, sometime between Jan 1st and Jan 20th (or perhaps, god forbid, the end of this month). Because, in case you didn't get the memo....babies can't read calendars. They can't be bothered with pesky due dates, they come when they are ready. And sometimes, they decide to start making their grand exit in the middle of the night.
There's nothing left to do really, except wait. And if there's one thing we've gotten good at during this process, it's waiting. (And paperworking - is that a word?) This is a different kind of waiting though, than the waiting that came before we were matched. That waiting felt theoretical, with no end in sight, and no real idea what would happen before we got to the end. This waiting feels definite. One way or another, this baby will be born. The waiting will end. We are excited, without a doubt. But we are nervous. Anxious about what it will all be like, how it will all happen. Anticipating the actual birth? With all the many words that are tucked away in my brain, I still don't have the words to describe the anticipation involved in this.
Our lawyer in California contacted us Saturday night to let us know that she was filing paperwork at the hospital where the birth mother plans on delivering. This is normally 'routine' paperwork letting the hospital know that first and foremost this is an adoption. She has provided our names and contact info to that hospital so (1) they know who we are and know why we are there, (2) we can get fitted with those high-tech hospital wrist bands once the baby is born. There is also a section for the birth mother's wishes/wants. More specifically does she want to hold the baby after birth, or stay on the maternity floor and who she wants in the delivery room during birth...well, our lawyer gave us the surprising (yet, amazing) news that the birth mother would like Rachel to be in the delivery room with her! We are at a loss for words at how wonderful a gesture this is...and we know that it is also something that could change - depending on how delivery goes; but for right now, we are on Cloud 9 and could not be happier!!
Thank you for your continued support, thoughts and prayers! Let the countdown begin...
