Friday, February 1, 2013

and the wait is over.

as soon as we got in the car we called our case worker, Megan, to let her know how the meeting went, to tell her we were on the road.
we estimated the time we'd reach columbus, since she would be the one meeting us at the Gentle Care offices go through our paperwork with us and to introduce us to foster mom and our daughter for the first time.
so we told her we'd be there in 2 1/2 hours and she said she'd call us as soon as she got word that Nyla's birth mom had finished her paperwork. the call should come in about 15-20 minutes. As we headed out of town we prayed for her - that there would be no doubt in her mind over the next few minutes, that she would have peace and not change her mind.

Curtis drove as i checked my voicemail. friends that had been praying for our meeting had called to pray for us over the phone, others wondering how the meeting went, the support was overwhelming. we also took photos and a video of us during the drive. you can see how happy were were.



Just as we were getting on the highway to head south, Megan called back. she had signed and everything was a go. whew. the flood of relief and pure joy was palpable in that car. this was really happening! in a little over 2 hours we would meet our daughter. unless we literally died on the way to columbus, she was ours.

we spent the next 2 1/2 hours returning phone calls, sending happy texts and just getting more and more excited.

at one point about an hour into our drive curtis stopped for food. my stomach was also growling for the first time in days. i didn't think i could eat yet, but he ordered me a little wrap anyways. it took me the rest of the trip to finish it but it was the first meal i'd had since tuesday night that i didn't want to throw up after one bite. it felt good to feel good again. not anxious or nervous - but just excited.

heading into columbus we counted the minutes according to our GPS that we'd get there. but closer to their office Megan told us that she was going to be mean and make us do our paperwork before she had  Nyla's foster mom bring her in. She knew that once she showed up with the baby we wouldn't want to go through the stack of paperwork, so she staggered our arrivals by a half an hour. we understood, but were understandably a bit disappointed.

When we pulled into the parking lot to their office i called Megan who had just gotten there to unlock the door. We got out of the car with the infant car seat. This was the last time it would be empty. when we got back in our car, she'd be with us. it was surreal.

She let us in the main entrance and led us to their sweet offices. Baby announcements and photographs of families that had adopted with their help lined every wall. I could have stood there for hours looking at ever family, but we had work to do - i wanted to sign the papers so we could meet our girl.

We hadn't seen Megan since we did our initial weekend of training almost a year and a half ago. she was pregnant then. we hugged and got down to business.

a stack of papers the size of our mortgage paperwork sat in front of her. luckily she had sent us all of them the day before so we had already read through everything and were ready to just sign sign sign.

Halfway through the stack foster mom called. she was outside, needing to be let in. my heart started to race but i felt so calm.

Megan went out to let her in the  main entrance and we followed her to the front door to their office not sure if we should follow her all the way out or not. curtis got out his phone. i'm not sure if he took photos or video but we were just giddy with the thought of finally meeting her.

then we saw them walking toward us, just a glass door separating us from our daughter. Foster mom was chatty, but all i was thinking was take that winter cover off that car seat, i want to see her.

then she did and the rest is history.

that initial picture we saw made her look so big and chubby, but she was tiny.
she had on a little red and silver christmas outfit and a little white headband on.

at one point i think curtis said something about her being so much cuter in person. i said nothing, or maybe i did and i just don't remember. i just remember thinking, i don't want to be rude but i want her out of this car seat. i want to hold her.

we all walked back to the office we were signing papers in and sat the carseat down on the ground. Curtis got her out and handed her to me. my girl.



i can't stress enough how completely surreal this moment was, yet so comfortable and natural.
i held her as we chatted with foster mom about her schedule and sleeping and how she was eating. i held her as we signed the rest of our paperwork, as we talked about everything and nothing at all.

then i changed my first of her itty bitty diapers. on a changing pad laid on the floor just like i do for micah. we took a few pictures with foster mom and her son and then that was it. we all put coats back on and Megan walked us to the front of their offices. she was probably staying to finalize some paperwork and lock up, but then, in the hallway, it was just us.

it was that same feeling we had as we were leaving the hospital with Micah. That you're-actually-letting-us-leave-here-with-him feeling. the same exact feeling. you mean we're actually allowed to just walk out of this building with our daughter.

before we left i had curtis stand next to the building directory sign that told where Adoption by Gentle Care was located.


then that was that. we got in the car and left.
but we weren't on our way home yet. while we were signing our paperwork one of my best girlfriends - Kate - and her family we driving up from Dayton to Columbus to meet us. We were headed to a nearby Barnes and Noble to introduce our girl to some of her honorary cousins, aunt and uncle. It was the perfect way to start our little journey home...










then it was time for her first feeding since we'd had her. my time to feed her. you can see how happy i am to do it.



and after a too short visit, they took our first two pictures of us all together and we were on our way home.



1 comments:

Amanda Brdlik said...

Jess,

I've so enjoyed reading about your little girls' homecoming. Thank you for sharing this amazing experience with us.

 
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