Closer to Expansion

Almost six weeks after receiving the call that we had been matched with a potential birth mother, I finally cried. The month prior had been a little hectic and surreal, so much so that I really had no way of connecting emotionally to the idea that we'd be (hopefully) bringing home a baby in just 5-ish months. Those weeks, and even the weeks and months to come, have been and will be spent building a relationship with our potential birth mother. There have been a number of high stress moments which I will not elaborate on in a public forum, but there have also been some really great connections between us and her.

We are fortunate in that she is only about an hour's drive away in good traffic. This has allowed us to meet with her on a number of occasions. She most recently invited us to her 20 week ultrasound. Jamie was unable to attend, but was eager for me to go along with her. I thought that maybe she had really just wanted a bit of moral support and a ride to the doctor, but when I texted her to see if she'd be comfortable with me being in the room for the ultrasound, she reassured me that that was the whole reason she had invited us. My heart warmed at this response.

I followed her into the dim room and parked myself in the Dad Chair, craning my neck a bit to watch the ultrasound on the just-slightly-too-high flat screen television hanging up in the corner of the room. The heart, the head, that's an arm, the spine looks so weird. A spin move and a profile view.

I cried.

It finally felt real.

Also, it's a girl.

She's not our girl until she's born and the papers are signed, but we are so in love with that ghostly ultrasound image.

Jamie and I are so thrilled to share this news with our friends and family. So many of you have provided us with an incredible amount of moral and emotional support over the years as we've endured this long journey in trying to get our family started, and for that we are so grateful.

Many of you, once it was announced that we had chosen to pursue adoption, mentioned wanting to contribute toward the cost. We really thought we could cover this ourselves, but now that we are in the thick of things, we fully realize that we were way wrong. In addition to planning a silent auction party in the coming months, we've decided to apply for a fundraising page on AdoptTogether.org.

So, humbly, we ask that if you feel so inclined to pitch in, please visit our fundraising page at the link below. Your donation is tax deductible! (Read the FAQs here.)