Anna's Story
So it has been a LONG time since I wrote last...I realized it's been like a year. We did take a break...we did try things on the holistic side...still got nothing.
Back in December of 2014, my mom called me and was asking about adopting still and that. She said that there was a family that might possible want to do an adoption but she didn't know details as she was waiting for her to contact my mom back.
A few weeks went by and we still hadn't heard back from the lady. I dismissed it from my brain and moved on.
A month later (in Jan of 2015) my mom contacted me and asked if I could call when I got a chance. The lady had finally contacted her back. I basically dropped everything I was doing and called my mom. She went through saying that the birthmom (her daughter) didn't want to do an agency, only a lawyer, and no extra fees outside of the lawyer fees. SAY WHAAAT!?!? This was so beyond real!!
So let me give you a little background of where this all started. I have a 2nd cousin who lives in Florida. One day she went into the chiropractor (this was in Dec. of 2014) and happen to see pictures of his little girl, who is also adopted. She started then talking about his daughter and if he knew of anyone who wanted to do an adoption, she knew a couple who has been wanting to adopt for awhile (that would be us!).
He was in shock! Not 15 minutes ago did he have a client in that was saying that they just found out their daughter was pregnant. She wasn't able to care of the child, and him and his wife couldn't take on a newborn as they had her 5 year old and physically wasn't able to care for a newborn. They started talking about adoption and how that would work since the chiropractor's daughter is adopted. (I hope you're still following me here).
So my cousin gave my mom's information to the doctor and the doctor called my mom. (This is why she knew about it in Dec.) The doctor, because of privacy laws, couldn't give the client's info to my mom but my mom passed on her information to give to the client. My mom then contacted me to let me know of the possible adoption. A couple weeks later I asked my mom if she was every contacted and she said no. That's when I dismissed it and was like, ok whatever.
A month later the lady finally contacted my mom. She said her sister had passed away and she was taking care of funeral stuff and wanting to get a little more information on her daughter's pregnancy before contacting my mom. She went into details, and in return my mom passed on to me. That night we called the birthgrandmother and talked for quite awhile to her. She then gave us her daughter's information to contact her. We were scared and reluctant to do so, but we finally did. It was the most awkward conversation ever, but with a few more chats, we were growing quite comfortable with each other.
Ok, so one thing I failed to mention is that we are in Arizona...the birthgrandparents are in Florida...and the birthmom is in Michigan.
Moving on...
So we got some details....She was having a boy, he was healthy, and she was due the end of Feb. Ok great! That means we have just over a month to get the ball rolling! Oh boy...this was going to be a challenge as our adoption certification expired last September. We decided not to renew as we were going to do foster to adopt and we wouldn't need that certificate right away, so instead of paying for it then, we decided to wait. Ok...so I called our agency, told her the situation to get the ball rolling on that one. (Which by the way...we had JUST finished all our requirements for foster care when we found about this...our paperwork was suppose to be submitted a week prior to this, but when I contacted them they got swamped and it wasn't done yet.) She put us on hold for foster care and started the process of renewing our certificate.
We found a lawyer and we put notification in to our works to let them know the situation. We would be driving 2,000 miles to our new son. We decided to drive instead of flying because we were unsure as to how long we would need to be in Michigan. Since we did an interstate adoption, there were forms and that we needed to file in order to take him home with us.
We decided on a name....Matthew Michael! Matthew is Steve's middle name and Michael is my dad (and brother's) middle name. It also meant a blessing/gift from God....in fact they both meant blessing...so he was our double gift from God.
The end of February came around and the birthmom contacted me. She told me she gave our numbers to her roommate in case she went into labor. She then said she didn't think she would make it to that weekend. OH CRAP! We still had another week left of work...we are 2,000 miles away! I didn't want to miss our son being born...so we decided to take off a little early. We left on a Wednesday morning (a week sooner than we had planned). We arrived at my mom and dad's place (who also live in Michigan) on Thursday evening. The weekend came, the weekend went...no baby. Ok no problem...she wasn't due until the following weekend anyway...so we will just sit back and relax, and enjoy being with the folks. :)
The following weekend came, she still didn't have him, so she went in to get induced. She told us that they told her that she still had another week. Ok...so we have another week to wait...but in reality should could go at any time. The next weekend came and she went in to see about getting induced again...this time (a different hospital) they said that they had her down for the 17th of March being due. WHAT!? We were already here for 2 weeks and we still had just over another week before the 17th! You have got to be kidding me!?!?!? UGH! Oh well....sit, wait, pray, and be patient.
On Monday, the 16th, our birthmom called us just after 7am. She told us that she was at the hospital, she was 7 cm dilated, and it was time! WOOHOO!!! We grabbed our stuff and left as soon as possible. My mom went with us, but my dad stayed behind to care for the pups and wait until he was actually here before he came to see us all. We were on our way!!!
Just after 8, we were still on our way, but maybe 10 minutes away, I get another phone call. It's our birthmom. She said she had a surprise for us. I had no clue what that would be so I was like, oh what's your surprise. She said the baby was a GIRL!!! A WHAT?!?!? Really??? A girl!?!? Yup!!! A GIRL!!! SHE was born at 7:54am, she weighed in at 7lbs even, and she was 20" long!!!
CRAP! Now we no longer had a Matthew Michael....new name brainstorm time!!! Everyone on the car was just in shock! My mom called my dad to let her know that they didn't have a grandson anymore but a new granddaughter!!! My dad joked saying he was going to take her name off all the credit cards! LOL Anyway...back to the fact that we only have boy clothes and we have a boy name picked out....we were within minutes to the hospital and our DAUGHTER needed a name!!! Ok, think...think....think....
We got to the hospital, parked, and grabbed our things....we still haven't thought of a name. We did start revisiting our names that we have had picked out for a long time. I really liked Anna, but Steve didn't want Elizabeth with it (like it was originally)....so because we were going to do his middle name and my dad's middle name...Anna is his mom's middle name, so we decided on my middle name...Renee. Our daughter had a name!!! Anna Renee!!!
We walked to where they were holding her (in the nursery) and got to see her for the first time. I was speechless!! This was really happening!!! We are finally getting our daughter and she was the cutest baby! We couldn't hold her or have her in our room right away though as they needed to verify that we were the adoptive parents. They got all the paperwork situated, took our IDs, and then were finally able to hold and meet our daughter for the first time! Oh my word! Words can't describe the feeling we had in that room as we got to see and hold her for the first time! It felt so right!! She is the perfect addition to our family!!!
My dad came up to see his new granddaughter and him and mom went home as we got to stay in the hospital with her. We got to have her in our room the entire time. It was fantastic and a great and wonderful feeling.
We finally got the ok to leave the hospital Tuesday afternoon. We made our way back to my parents place. Now that she was born, the paperwork for the interstate adoption stuff can finally be started.
Friday night we got word that we can leave the state. This was it!!! We finally get to take her home...to her real home....where it's just Steve, myself, her and the dogs!!! We were excited and scared! We were ready for this new chapter in our life!!
Back in December of 2014, my mom called me and was asking about adopting still and that. She said that there was a family that might possible want to do an adoption but she didn't know details as she was waiting for her to contact my mom back.
A few weeks went by and we still hadn't heard back from the lady. I dismissed it from my brain and moved on.
A month later (in Jan of 2015) my mom contacted me and asked if I could call when I got a chance. The lady had finally contacted her back. I basically dropped everything I was doing and called my mom. She went through saying that the birthmom (her daughter) didn't want to do an agency, only a lawyer, and no extra fees outside of the lawyer fees. SAY WHAAAT!?!? This was so beyond real!!
So let me give you a little background of where this all started. I have a 2nd cousin who lives in Florida. One day she went into the chiropractor (this was in Dec. of 2014) and happen to see pictures of his little girl, who is also adopted. She started then talking about his daughter and if he knew of anyone who wanted to do an adoption, she knew a couple who has been wanting to adopt for awhile (that would be us!).
He was in shock! Not 15 minutes ago did he have a client in that was saying that they just found out their daughter was pregnant. She wasn't able to care of the child, and him and his wife couldn't take on a newborn as they had her 5 year old and physically wasn't able to care for a newborn. They started talking about adoption and how that would work since the chiropractor's daughter is adopted. (I hope you're still following me here).
So my cousin gave my mom's information to the doctor and the doctor called my mom. (This is why she knew about it in Dec.) The doctor, because of privacy laws, couldn't give the client's info to my mom but my mom passed on her information to give to the client. My mom then contacted me to let me know of the possible adoption. A couple weeks later I asked my mom if she was every contacted and she said no. That's when I dismissed it and was like, ok whatever.
A month later the lady finally contacted my mom. She said her sister had passed away and she was taking care of funeral stuff and wanting to get a little more information on her daughter's pregnancy before contacting my mom. She went into details, and in return my mom passed on to me. That night we called the birthgrandmother and talked for quite awhile to her. She then gave us her daughter's information to contact her. We were scared and reluctant to do so, but we finally did. It was the most awkward conversation ever, but with a few more chats, we were growing quite comfortable with each other.
Ok, so one thing I failed to mention is that we are in Arizona...the birthgrandparents are in Florida...and the birthmom is in Michigan.
Moving on...
So we got some details....She was having a boy, he was healthy, and she was due the end of Feb. Ok great! That means we have just over a month to get the ball rolling! Oh boy...this was going to be a challenge as our adoption certification expired last September. We decided not to renew as we were going to do foster to adopt and we wouldn't need that certificate right away, so instead of paying for it then, we decided to wait. Ok...so I called our agency, told her the situation to get the ball rolling on that one. (Which by the way...we had JUST finished all our requirements for foster care when we found about this...our paperwork was suppose to be submitted a week prior to this, but when I contacted them they got swamped and it wasn't done yet.) She put us on hold for foster care and started the process of renewing our certificate.
We found a lawyer and we put notification in to our works to let them know the situation. We would be driving 2,000 miles to our new son. We decided to drive instead of flying because we were unsure as to how long we would need to be in Michigan. Since we did an interstate adoption, there were forms and that we needed to file in order to take him home with us.
We decided on a name....Matthew Michael! Matthew is Steve's middle name and Michael is my dad (and brother's) middle name. It also meant a blessing/gift from God....in fact they both meant blessing...so he was our double gift from God.
The end of February came around and the birthmom contacted me. She told me she gave our numbers to her roommate in case she went into labor. She then said she didn't think she would make it to that weekend. OH CRAP! We still had another week left of work...we are 2,000 miles away! I didn't want to miss our son being born...so we decided to take off a little early. We left on a Wednesday morning (a week sooner than we had planned). We arrived at my mom and dad's place (who also live in Michigan) on Thursday evening. The weekend came, the weekend went...no baby. Ok no problem...she wasn't due until the following weekend anyway...so we will just sit back and relax, and enjoy being with the folks. :)
The following weekend came, she still didn't have him, so she went in to get induced. She told us that they told her that she still had another week. Ok...so we have another week to wait...but in reality should could go at any time. The next weekend came and she went in to see about getting induced again...this time (a different hospital) they said that they had her down for the 17th of March being due. WHAT!? We were already here for 2 weeks and we still had just over another week before the 17th! You have got to be kidding me!?!?!? UGH! Oh well....sit, wait, pray, and be patient.
On Monday, the 16th, our birthmom called us just after 7am. She told us that she was at the hospital, she was 7 cm dilated, and it was time! WOOHOO!!! We grabbed our stuff and left as soon as possible. My mom went with us, but my dad stayed behind to care for the pups and wait until he was actually here before he came to see us all. We were on our way!!!
Just after 8, we were still on our way, but maybe 10 minutes away, I get another phone call. It's our birthmom. She said she had a surprise for us. I had no clue what that would be so I was like, oh what's your surprise. She said the baby was a GIRL!!! A WHAT?!?!? Really??? A girl!?!? Yup!!! A GIRL!!! SHE was born at 7:54am, she weighed in at 7lbs even, and she was 20" long!!!
CRAP! Now we no longer had a Matthew Michael....new name brainstorm time!!! Everyone on the car was just in shock! My mom called my dad to let her know that they didn't have a grandson anymore but a new granddaughter!!! My dad joked saying he was going to take her name off all the credit cards! LOL Anyway...back to the fact that we only have boy clothes and we have a boy name picked out....we were within minutes to the hospital and our DAUGHTER needed a name!!! Ok, think...think....think....
We got to the hospital, parked, and grabbed our things....we still haven't thought of a name. We did start revisiting our names that we have had picked out for a long time. I really liked Anna, but Steve didn't want Elizabeth with it (like it was originally)....so because we were going to do his middle name and my dad's middle name...Anna is his mom's middle name, so we decided on my middle name...Renee. Our daughter had a name!!! Anna Renee!!!
We walked to where they were holding her (in the nursery) and got to see her for the first time. I was speechless!! This was really happening!!! We are finally getting our daughter and she was the cutest baby! We couldn't hold her or have her in our room right away though as they needed to verify that we were the adoptive parents. They got all the paperwork situated, took our IDs, and then were finally able to hold and meet our daughter for the first time! Oh my word! Words can't describe the feeling we had in that room as we got to see and hold her for the first time! It felt so right!! She is the perfect addition to our family!!!
My dad came up to see his new granddaughter and him and mom went home as we got to stay in the hospital with her. We got to have her in our room the entire time. It was fantastic and a great and wonderful feeling.
We finally got the ok to leave the hospital Tuesday afternoon. We made our way back to my parents place. Now that she was born, the paperwork for the interstate adoption stuff can finally be started.
Friday night we got word that we can leave the state. This was it!!! We finally get to take her home...to her real home....where it's just Steve, myself, her and the dogs!!! We were excited and scared! We were ready for this new chapter in our life!!
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