We've all experienced a moment like that. A moment long expected. A moment dreamt of for days, weeks, even years. A moment envisaged not only by yourself but by the ones closest to you. 343 Days ago my husband & I had a moment like that. One seemingly average 'normal' day we got a phone call from a lady, whom we hadn't known until 9 months previously, saying that we could come fetch the new addition to our family in a week's time.
You see, our baby girl didn't come in the traditional way. There were no pee-sticks with little pink lines for us. No first scan where we both cried when we saw our little blob. No suitcase packed for a middle-of-the-night dash to the hospital.
Our path to growing our family was challenging. Filled with doctor's rooms, injections, charting cycles & most often just downright painful. Even when we changed direction & focus, our path was filled with interviews, psych evaluations & even written marriage tests..
Ultimately however, our path lead to our baby girl & that phone call was the start of it all. The social worker phoned Paulo, my husband. He in turn phoned me after receiving a picture on e-mail of what she looked like. He called & said : "She looks like B" (A friend's little girl). I was stunned! Didn't know how to react or what to say. Nothing really prepares you for those moments - even if you had envisaged them a thousand times!
I remember walking into a friends office & telling her the news a couple of minutes later. She started crying & I just stood there looking at her still too stunned to have 'the expected' response. That was the start of a frantic week trying to prepare our home for a little baba. It was also the start of our journey to being the family we are today.
We both printed that photo of hers out & we must have looked at it a million times in that week. One was displayed in a frame in our lounge that same night & we showed all our friends what our baby girl looks like. Friends started arranging an Emergency Baby shower of note & there was excitement all around.
It was an unforgettable day, such a special week but we were just being prepared for what was to come when that baby girl was placed in our arms.
