343 Days & Counting ...

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.