Our Adoption Story - Part 3: The Call
It was a Wednesday. I was working on bi-annual reviews for my team members, and my phone rang. My husband was calling me... he never calls me, and definitely never calls me in the middle of a work day. He asked me if I'd checked my phone (since when does Dale check his phone more than me?) When I looked at my text messages, my heart dropped. Our caseworker, Sheryl, had texted us that she had a birth mother who wanted to talk to us. I had imagined this moment for so long - My heart was literally racing out of my chest, and I immediately started crying and kind of freaking out! (I'm sure the people around me were wondering what the heck was wrong with me!)
I had dreamed of this day forever, and it was finally here! I ran to the closest phone room (thank you Petra for designing phone rooms in our new office), and Dale and I conference called Sheryl. (For the record, my heart is racing now as I write this remembering that day.)
Honestly, I don't really remember exactly how the conversation went - all I remember was her saying she had the birth mother there with her, and then the birth mother said she had a question for us and then proceeded to say, "What do y'all think about twin girls?" Yes, she said TWIN girls. TWIN GIRLS! Two of them! My husband and I both sat there on the other end of the line - speechless. I can't even remember what we said, but there was probably some blubbering and somewhere in there something like "that sounds amazing!" Our dreams were unfolding right before us - no, actually it was beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of.
Once I heard twin girls, my mind was racing - of all the things we had only one of - carseat, crib, coming home outfit, a single stroller, the list goes on. We were going to have some serious preparation to do! Then she said, "they were born 3 weeks ago." Y'all - there was NO time to prepare - the babies were already here! I thought, "Oh maybe she's 7 or 8 months pregnant, and we'll have some time to get ready - no, the babies were here and they were getting discharged tomorrow!
Before we got off the phone, Sheryl told us to go home, pack our bags, and head to the hospital. My husband and I stayed on the line still in shock. Our entire world had flipped upside down in a 2 minute phone call.
I was still shaking and crying as I ran around my office frantically trying to find my boss and my team to share with them that I was leaving for the day and might not be back for 16 weeks. They had been there with me through the whole journey and every day I came to work, they knew it was another day we were still waiting, so when I told my team about the call, they started crying and clapping and hugging and causing quite the scene! After a round of hugs and gathering some necessities in case my maternity leave started that day, I headed home.
On the way, Sheryl called to let me know there were some possible challenges with the situation that we needed to be prepared for, but that we should still pack our bags and head to the hospital that night. There are always risks in adoption, but you always hope for as smooth of a process as possible. As you can imagine, my mind alternated (what seemed like every other second) between a hopeful excitement, and a guarded anxiousness. This could be one of the best days or one of the hardest days of my life.
Next up, I'll be sharing about the crazy few hours that followed that life-changing phone call!
