One More Step Accomplished

What a week! I had a trip to Anaheim to speak at the Alliance 2009 conference (Oracle Higher Education). Great trip, but a little nerve racking to leave knowing that the baby is due soon.
Britnei had an appointment on Thursday, things went very well. They had some tests to do (cultures, etc.) so she had a "full" exam. The doctor told her she is 2 cm dilated. Certainly not a sign that the baby will be here tomorrow, but a sign that things have started to move along and that we are certainly in the home stretch.

Thursday afternoon Todd and I had our meeting with Shannon, our adoption case worker. She was wonderful, and made us both feel very comfortable with the process. She asked a lot of questions, had a lot of forms to complete, and after 4 hours we both feel like we did a great job expressing to her why we want to be parents. I found some of the questions very hard to answer, but there was no real 'right' answer... Hopefully she found us suitable candidates and will quickly turn around our paperwork. She meets with Britnei next. Once that is done and the baby is born Shannon will continue to monitor us monthly and make a final report to the Court after 6 months. At that time the adoption will be finalized.

Though baby being born is the BIG event, our work does not stop there, but it is the #1 priority on our minds right now. Todd did an amazing job getting the nursery ready while I was gone. We sold the full size bed we had in there (thanks Craigslist!) and he put the bassinette into the room for now. We are still having a little challenge with the crib/changing table situation. Babies R Us discontinued our collection, but will not sell us the dresser we wanted. They are telling us it was due to quality (lead) issues, but the manufacturer is telling us something else. I am a little fed up, and not having great success finding something else we like of course. Small problems to have in the grand scheme of things I realize, but annoying none the less.

The next 2 weeks are insane for me at work, hopefully this little guy doesn't decide to come out early. Time will tell!

Fingerprints & Fire Inspection

We both appeared at the Franklin county Probate Court on 3/16/09 to be fingerprinted, which is routine in adoption situations. On Thursday, 3/19/09, our home was inspected for fire safety by the Columbus Division of Fire. In preparation, escape plans had to be created and posted on each floor, additional smoke detectors were installed, a fire extinguisher was purchased and mounted in the kitchen, cabinets containing chemicals & cleaning agents were locked, incandescent light bulbs were replaced with cooler flourescent lighting, etc. Thankfully, we passed the inspection!

The Reality of Adoption

We finally got a call from the county assessor, Shannon. She seems very friendly and I think she will help make this process go as easily as possible. That being said, it won't be a cake walk by any means. We are just 6 weeks from the due date, and there is a lot to get done in a short amount of time. Right now we need the following:

• Fire safety inspection
• Medical reference from my doctor
• 5 letters of reference from friends
• Background check/fingerprinting

Once these are in place, Shannon will come and meet with Todd and me. The good news is she is aware of the nature of our relationship and is very OK with it. I was worried it could go the other way. Once she meets with us we will have a better idea of what is next.

We have finished up getting most of the big things we need to be prepared for his arrival. We need most of this when the assessor comes since we are already "selected" and she will want to be sure we have the essentials.

Britnei was at Grant yet again today. She had some pains and her mother took her to L&D. They sent her back home... again. I swear when she DOES go into labor no one is going to believe her!

Next OBGYN appointment is on March 26 (Todd's Birthday) and after that we go weekly until the baby is born. That's all for now!

Childbirth Class

We had our childbirth class on Saturday, February 28. The class was scheduled from 12:30- 9:00 PM, talk about a long day. The room was pretty uncomfortable but we managed.
There was nothing too surprising or alarming in the class, but it was good to hear about the clear steps of labor and some of the interventions that might be necessary. Taking a tour of the hospital was good as well, we have a better idea of where we will be spending time when the baby finally arrives.
The staff at Grant was great, and we even got to peek at a few newborns in the nursery. They are SO cute!