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| Wendy | Posted: May 15, 2007 08:55:37 AM
I have definitely had some experience with the waiting. We were just two weeks shy of a two year wait when I held my son in my arms! I would check in with Megan Spaeth about once a month and she kept telling me that "Good things happen to those who wait and she felt that would be the case for us". She was SO RIGHT!!! Elson and I always did feel that we were waiting for that one special child that belonged in our family, but that did not make the waiting easy. I remember at the beginning it was hard then became a little easier and at the end became more difficult again. Elson and I were bathing Carson together on Saturday and I asked him if he knew why we waited almost two years - because of this little boy. The whole situation was so perfect for us!! His birth mom wasy crazy about us which felt great, we didn't have to travel far, were there when he was born and he even looks like us. He is definitely the most incredible thing that has ever happened to us and still (ten weeks later) it takes my breath away!!! Angel - Congratulations!!! Trish - I cannot wait to hear from you!!!
| | michelle | Posted: May 14, 2007 08:33:22 PM
gosh, you guys have been waiting a while. i have decided to try not to obsess as much as i did the first time around. (not winning that battle) i am hoping for a post birth placement to ease the stress of the situation. i am also hoping to get a phone call and it completely catch me off gaurd. in actual reality my house is cluttered with my 2 year olds toys/books, i have laundry that needs to be done, and i need to go to the grocery store. plus i have all this stuff in my living room to get off to ebay for my adoption fundraiser. so in reality if they called me today i would probably freak out. the nursery is somewhat set up not at all what i would like. we are going to wait a little while . i am not at all prepared like i was with the first adoption, but then again i don't think anyone or thing can ever prepare you for that!!! I truly beleive that there is a little soul out there looking to find his/her way to the right mommy. there are so many things that you worry about in adoption. but when it is all said and done the perfect child comes to you. everything you could ever imagine or dream. this i know for sure!
hugs and prayers to everyone tonight!
Michelle
| | Whitney | Posted: May 14, 2007 07:23:01 PM
Thanks for the Mother's Day wishes Lisa and thanks for the encouragement Adrienne. I Know it will happen eventually for me and all of us! I think you all have a great profile too. Everyone is so deserving and nice and I hope it happens soon for all. The first year actually went by pretty fast, I just didn't expect over a 14 month wait! I am so thankful to have Kaitlin and know it will happen when it is God's time!
| | Adrienne | Posted: May 14, 2007 04:10:39 PM
Whitney, the wait can't be too much longer for you. You guys have a great profile and I find it hard to believe a birthmother hasn't picked you guys yet. It's going to be soon, I really do believe that. Michelle, I also check the available situations on a daily basis. I know it's not the best idea, but I feel like our birth mother could be out there right now and I just want to see. We painted the nursery and organized and decorated some about 2 years ago. It was the first bedroom we did when we moved into our house. At that point we were hoping to get pregnant. Luckily the room doesn't make me sad, but reminds me of what will come one day (hopefully a day that's not too far off).
| | Adrienne | Posted: May 14, 2007 01:05:38 PM
Angel, he is so precious! He's quite the handsome little fellow. Congrats again! I hope everyone had a great mothers day. The weather in our area was absolutely gorgeous.
| | michelle | Posted: May 14, 2007 11:45:35 AM
angel he is gorgeous! congrats! love the video and the song on your myspace.
| | Lisa | Posted: May 14, 2007 09:59:08 AM
Good Morning Ladies,
How is everyone this morning? I hope that all of you new mommies had a wonderful 1st Mother's Day. I am hoping and praying that next year I will be celebrating my 1st Mother's Day along with the rest of you that are waiting...
Angel, Your son is precious. I hope that you had a lovely day yesterday.
Whitney, I hope that you had a great day yesterday with Kaitlin. Hopefully we are next on the list...
Jenn, I can only imagine how special yesterday was for you. I am sure that you getting settled and into a routine with Hailey.
Adrienne, I hope that your wait won't be too long. Hang in there.
Have a great week everyone!!!
| | Whitney | Posted: May 14, 2007 09:02:01 AM
Good Monday Morning to all! I find myself being so impatient lately and it is driving me crazy! Daily I check to see if there are any new families and who has been matched. I always wonder why they are getting picked before us, is theirs more appealing to a BM, etc. I also like to check the number of situations and see how many for which we meet the requirements listed. I think that active profiles are being shown to the situations listed. I mainly have the nursery ready because we are using the same nursery our daughter used and she is in a new room now. It is a Pooh theme and good for a boy or girl. I know it will happen, but I did not think it would be over a year. I wanted my kids to be closer in age, but it a gamble as to how long you wait. Hope you all have a great week!
| | angel | Posted: May 13, 2007 03:52:51 PM
Hey evey one. today my baby is 1 week old and is the best mothers day present you could ask for .
for all how would like to see my baby just go to myspce.com and search angelottaway@hotmail.com he is a doll.
| | Carol | Posted: May 11, 2007 04:04:10 PM
Girls...I couldn't let the weekend get here without wishing all of you a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! So many of you are newbie mothers and for all you others...Your time will be SOON!!! God Bless and have a WONDERFUL MOTHER'S DAY!!!
| | Adrienne | Posted: May 11, 2007 02:55:32 PM
Hi everyone! Angel congratulations! You must so excited! I really am happy for those of you have matches. That is definitely what gives me hope that our day will come. Lisa, we are in the T1 program but feel like we're pretty open on our APQ. Thank you for your comments on our profile. When we first started working on our profile, we thought how in the world are we going to put into words who we are but once we started breaking it down to one section at a time, it came quite easily. Well, Happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there! Enjoy your little ones for those of us who are still waiting.
Adrienne
| | michelle | Posted: May 11, 2007 02:26:54 PM
thanks whitney much needed reassurance. we are in the assisted agency program. hoping to get a little sister for our little guy. we thougth it would be important that he have a common bond. we have only told one or two people we are adopting again. i told myself that things will not happen like the last time. (but of course i secretly wish they would) i can see how anxious you would be. what do you do to occupy your mind. my heart skips a beat when i hear the phone ring. then i don't want to get the nursery ready because i am afraid i will be staring at it for months on in. do any of you check the available situations often? how is that for being a little kukoo? how does that work anyway? have they already shown the profiles of the active people?
| | Lisa | Posted: May 11, 2007 10:25:00 AM
Good Morning Ladies,
Jenn, Your story is truly inspiring! You give me hope that everything will work out. I am so happy for you! You deserved all of the happiness that you have now found. Hailey is beautiful! I know that you are enjoying every minute of her. You deserve it! Thank you for keeping all of us posted. You have been in our thoughts and prayers. Happy 1st Mother's Day!
Adrienne, Welcome! The women that I have met on this forum are wonderful. The waiting is hard. We have been waiting a little over 8 months and I was doing pretty good but now I am starting to get anxious. Take it one day at a time and know that we are here to support you through your tough days. Which program are you in? We are in the T2. Your profile looks great. Hang in there.
Trish, I hope that today is the day that you become a mother. Good Luck! You are in our thoughts and prayers.
Angel, Congratulations! I am sure that you are overwhelmed, but I am also sure that everything will come naturally to you. Enjoy & Happy Mother's Day.
Whitney, Happy Mother's Day!
Have a great weekend!
| | Whitney | Posted: May 11, 2007 08:28:24 AM
Jenn - I am so happy for you all! I have been meaning to email you and Carol, but I know you have been busy. I can't wait to see pictures. I agree with you in that I would not change any aspect of our first adoption, wait and all, or we would not have Kaitlin. I did enjoy the 2 weeks with her, but we were so ready to get home! We drove 15 hours straight without stopping to sleep. Angel, hang in there. It is scary the first few days, but we had a book and we called the hospital and family with any questions we had. I was so nervous, my dad was ready to fly my mom out, but we decided we would see how the first night went, and we made it just fine. We are pretty much settled in our new house and just waiting for the next big adventure, which we hope is soon! The nursery is ready to be occupied! Again, Happy Mother's Day to all the new mommies! God has blessed you all! Lisa, Adrienne, and Michelle - God has something great in store for us too, in His time!
| | michelle | Posted: May 11, 2007 08:16:56 AM
angel- congrats thats how it worked with us on our first adoption, our homestudy was not even typed, it was completed but not finished being typed.
i am on day 3 of being activated and am wondering why the phone hasn't rung! ha ha ha!!! we are in the assisted agency program. waiting for a little girl. i know the right baby/match will come along. my husband and i can't agree on names. i like isabel or isabella he thinks that sounds like thumbelina! the fairy princess! he ask why don't you like normal names jennifer, sue, etc. those are nice names but not what i pictured for our little girl.
well, back to the agony of waiting. when you have tried to get pregnant for 15 years or a year (doesn ' t matter) then you start the adoption process... each day that drags on is like an eternity. do they have all my phone numbers? do they have my email? beepers? fax? smoke signals? i thought that getting matched was going to be the hard part. when we got matched the first time that is when the emotional roller coaster began. then it was on a daily basis is she going to change her mind? there is no sanity here!!!! i guess thats why we are so exhausted too! it is our labor!
warmest regards and best of luck,
Michelle
| | Whitney | Posted: May 11, 2007 06:11:41 AM
Welcome Adrienne! The wait being easy comes and goes for me. If I don't think about it too much, then I am not so anxious. The last year went by pretty fast, maybe because we did not mind to wait a while till I had been at my job a year. The wait for Kaitlin was a little harder mainly because we were so ready to be parents and have a baby. Now that we have her, it makes this wait easier. She is a cutie - thanks! I would not change any aspect of our first adoption! We waited about 3 motnhs with a sister agency (9 months adoption) of AA and then 7 months with AA once we switched to them. I hope your wait is not long! Hope all have a great weekend knowing you will be a mommy this time next year!
| | angel | Posted: May 11, 2007 12:34:33 AM
hi every one it is thur. my fist day with our baby boy anthoney. the birthmom did not pick us the agency did. and what profile did you see on use we never got to sent one in things happed too fast. :) so we now sit here in Maryland they say it will be next wen-fri before we can go home to FL. tyyping with one hand is fun. man our baby has the hicup all day. he is a night baby im told and likes to help and awake at night and so fare so true. did you know baby poop is yellow. we meet our birthmom today also she is very nice. it to bad she wants a complet closed adoption. we enyoyed our 2 hr visit. befor we went to pick up our baby from foster care. the only thing I can say is now that i have him Im not to shure what to do with him since i dint have any wait time to read the 4 books I got. so im hoping othr thab eating sleep , changing him is all we did and holding he dose not like to be put dowen hehe, like that is a problem :) good luck to you all im going to see if this littel guy will let me put him down so I might get 30 min of sleep befor he wants to eat agine. I still feel like im dreaming i cant belive im a mom and to such a perfict baby.
| | Jenn | Posted: May 10, 2007 11:13:40 PM
Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the well wishes and prayers!! They definitely paid off! Our BEAUTIFUL daughter Hailey was born at 5:18pm on 4/26. She was 20 1/8" long and 7lbs 9.5oz. She's two weeks old today and is already 8lbs. She's quite the healthy eater. In fact, she's incredibly healthy all the way around. We're finally home. While staying in Maine was a nice little 2 week baby honeymoon, it's definitely nice to get home. I could gush and gush about Hailey of course ... besides being adorable, she's also really amazing. She's been holding her head up since day 1! She can push up with her arms, hold her head up and turn it side to side, grab the bottle or pacifier, and turn onto her side. We are just amazed by her strength! Both her birth parents were very athletic so we expect she will be too. We had an AMAZING adoption experience -- better than we could have ever hoped for. We absolutely fell in love with our BM. We arrived in Maine late on the 24th and our BM was supposed to be induced the afternoon of the 25th. We were planning to pick her up, take her to lunch, then head to the hospital. We took our time getting ready in the morning, and while I was in the shower we got a call from Jennifer at AA saying her water broke! Needless to say, lunch didn't happen and we had to meet her at the hospital because we were too far away from her small town to pick her up fast enough. It turned out to be a false alarm -- the tests showed her water didn't break, but since she was there, they started the induction a little early on the 25th. We spent all of our time at the hospital with our BM, both before and after delivery. After delivery, she only held Hailey twice and was completely okay with us being with Hailey in her room the whole time. She's 18 years old but mature beyond her years. We just fell in love with her. We all hit it off instantly and will always feel a special bond with her. Although she initially told AA that she didn't want future contact (and we initially hoped for the same when we started the adoption process), we all changed our minds and decided to keep in touch via email. We've already sent her several pics of Hailey. Adoption truly is an amazing life-changing experience like nothing else -- for everyone involved. Trish, hang in there -- it's so worth the wait! Lisa, I've got my fingers crossed for you that your time is getting closer. Just remember that all things happen for a reason and at the right time. In hindsight, I'm so glad we didn't get a quick match b/c we would've missed out on Hailey and we swear she's absolutely perfect. ;) Whitney, I hope your move went well -- let us know. Carol and Wendy, wow how time flies! I know you guys must be reveling in every moment and new milestone. Welcome to the newcomers too -- you're in for an amazing journey. Do your best to be patient and have faith, and everything else will fall into place. We'll send our adoption story in to AA once everything is officially finalized. We're still waiting for the BF's rights to be terminated by the court at this point.
| | Adrienne | Posted: May 10, 2007 10:48:12 AM
Hi everyone!
I feel like I know all of you by reading these posts over the past few months. It's been great to see how everyone's live have progressed and some have had matches and then babies. Whitney, your little girl is adorable and you seem like a great family! I do have a question. Does it gett any easier to wait? We've been waiting only 3 weeks and at times it feels like forever. I was so anxious to be activated and have it out of our hands, but now I just keep stressing over when it's going to be. I know some of you have waited for many months so I'm prepared for the wait, but I'm hoping it gets easier.
Thanks!
| | Lisa | Posted: May 10, 2007 10:47:22 AM
Good Morning Ladies,
Whitney & Trish, Thank you for all of the information regarding updating our homestudy. It's going to be a lot of work, but for a good cause. Hopefully it will be the last time that we have to update it.
Trish, you and Jim must be climbing the walls waiting for your BM to deliver. I hope that she delivers before Mother's Day and you can enjoy your 1st Mother's Day as a family. Good Luck and please keep us posted. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
Angel, Congratulations on your match.
Michelle, Congratulations on becoming activated. Hopefully your wait will not be long. Your profile looks great! Your son is adorable!!!
Have a great day everyone!
| | Whitney | Posted: May 10, 2007 09:45:26 AM
Trish - how exciting your baby is almost here. Hope all goes well this week and you are a mom by Mother's Day! Angel - that is exciting news - congratulations! I am curious as to how your profile was shown when your home study is not complete. Welcome Michelle and Good Luck - I enjoyed your profile.
| | Trish | Posted: May 10, 2007 07:41:13 AM
Hi everyone! Jim and I are still waiting for our birth mom to deliver. She was induced on Tuesday, but it didn't work and the doctor sent her home. They will try again on Friday. We were invited to join her today (Thursday) for a walk around the zoo, in hopes that she can make something happen on her own. Lisa, in addition to the updated clearances, you will also need an updated home study, including updated physician reports and financial statements. AA will also want their own physician update filled out, and a copy of your newest federal tax form. AA has someone in charge of keeping all those things updated, so you should receive an email from them roughly 60 days before each item expires. I would not update too early, as that will make next years update that much sooner. While I'm sure that everyone here will have a baby by then, I think you have to keep everything updated until finalization as well.
| | michelle | Posted: May 08, 2007 11:42:26 AM
well we are activated!!! i am so excited!! off and waiting..... we are gary and michelle we are in the assited agency program. we were very happy with our first adoption process , we did have a disruption but aa was on it pronto! i am sorry to here that some of you have waited what seems like forever. its hard to get through a day much less the months that you guys have put in. i know there are little souls out there for you!!! for all of us!!
michelle
| | Whitney | Posted: May 08, 2007 09:59:20 AM
Lisa, we had to update everything, which is not fun! I would start by June since some checks can take up to 6 weeks. We started towards the end of January partially because our home study lady is quite slow! Our home study had to be updated so our agent had to visit our home again and make sure things were still good. We had to update her on our savings, jobs, debt, etc. We had to update reference letters and doctors forms and do the fingerprints again. We also had to do the child abuse checks again. AA sent us an email reminding us about the updates too which helped us remember.
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