I was at work today and noticed I had a missed call on my cell from an unknown number with a voicemail. I checked the message and it was from Teri, our adoption consultant, saying she wanted to visit with us about our information. Of course, I was nervously excited and couldn't wait to return her call! I quickly called Jon on my way out to my car and said I would wait to call Teri back until I was home so we could both listen. I basically ran through the grocery store to pick up what I needed and called her back immediately, only to reach her voicemail. She did call back within 20 minutes and did not have the news I wanted. I foolishly thought this would be "the call", the one telling us we have been chosen and are finally going to have our baby. Much to my dismay, this was purely information gathering. She had an adoption advisor review our information to check for any obvious red flags to a birth mom or any gaps that would cause us to fall between the cracks. There was only one thing that they could come up with that may increase our chances and that was for us to say we are ok with an immediate adoption. We discussed this with her and have decided that we would be open to that.
An immediate adoption would be when a woman has a baby and decides to contact the adoption law firm while in the hospital. There are a few down sides to this, including that there isn't time for the birth mom to provide the 25 page questionairre that the other mothers are required to fill out. Another negative is that there is not much decision or preparation time. In this type of situation, we would get a phone call from the adoption lawyer stating there is a baby available somewhere within driving distance and we would go there immediately to take the baby home from the hospital. The positive aspect is that 7% of the babies they place are from immediate adoption situations, so this has increased our opportunity of being chosen. I know 7% doesn't sound like much, but to us, that's HUGE!!
She also reminded us of the steps we will go through once we are chosen and once again, set our minds at ease regarding this process. Waiting is so terribly difficult for us but I keep trying to remind myself that they are very skilled professionals and they are working very hard to make sure we are put together with the right baby. If you know me at all, you know that letting someone else be in control of anything of this level of importance is extremely difficult for me!
On a positive note, there have been a total of 9 birth mothers who have specifically asked for our information from the adoption lawyers. This means, they found our web pages and contacted Adoption Network specifically wanting to know more about us. Now that is exciting to hear!
I can honestly tell you that every morning when I wake, I wonder if today will be the day we get the phone call that will change our lives forever. Here's hoping that day comes soon!!
