9 Months and Counting
So much has happened in our lives the past month and a half. First we will talk about adoption stuff, then I will fill you in quickly about the other craziness. Stick with me and I promise there will be pictures of one of the top items I have been waiting years to get. No it's not a baby!
So the end of August came our yearly home study update. What does that mean?
So every year that we are waiting we will have to update the home study. Back in May we received the official letter requesting us to go get finger printed, update our medical approval, and have the state back ground check done. So Jeff, Vickie, and I were back to work getting paperwork filled out, finger prints done, and visiting the doctors. Once the back ground forms were returned to the agency we have to wait for them to submit to the state and get the results. In the past this process normally took a month, now you are looking at two months at the least. What are they looking into? If any of us have been arrested, have restraining orders, or any history against children. Of course everything came back clean and we moved onto the home visit.
The home visit was very uneventful. Our social worker came up to our home and met with Jeff, Vickie, and myself. She asked how we are handling the roller coaster that adoption is, if we had any concerns, and of course if anything had changed. She checked in with Vickie to see if I had become a basket case, and I'm sure some other questions. It wasn't a very long visit, and I totally forgot to offer her a piece of the amazing pie I had picked up. Oh well I'm sure she knew we would be nervous.
September became crazy very fast-- On September 5th I had elective surgery to help make me healthier. After years of battling weight issues and feet issues I decided I need to do something to get the weight off so I can lose the weight. Of course with knowing we could be placed at any moment it was a hard choice to do it now. What if we have everything set up and I get a call that there is a baby? Will having the surgery cause them to put our profile on hold? How long after the surgery will it take for me to be cleared? Would admitting I need to have the surgery make the agency question my health? I don't have high blood pressure, I'm not pre or diabetic, my cholesterol levels are fine, but will they assume differently. It took many long discussions and research before I said lets do it. I had to notify the agency and got their full support. I spoke to my surgeon and he said I would be fine to lift anything under 25 pounds. So on the 5th Jeff and I headed to the hospital and I took the step to change my life. The next day we headed down south to my parents so I could recover at the Jersey Shore. Well really down the road from the shore.
So much has happened in our lives the past month and a half. First we will talk about adoption stuff, then I will fill you in quickly about the other craziness. Stick with me and I promise there will be pictures of one of the top items I have been waiting years to get. No it's not a baby!
So the end of August came our yearly home study update. What does that mean?
So every year that we are waiting we will have to update the home study. Back in May we received the official letter requesting us to go get finger printed, update our medical approval, and have the state back ground check done. So Jeff, Vickie, and I were back to work getting paperwork filled out, finger prints done, and visiting the doctors. Once the back ground forms were returned to the agency we have to wait for them to submit to the state and get the results. In the past this process normally took a month, now you are looking at two months at the least. What are they looking into? If any of us have been arrested, have restraining orders, or any history against children. Of course everything came back clean and we moved onto the home visit.
The home visit was very uneventful. Our social worker came up to our home and met with Jeff, Vickie, and myself. She asked how we are handling the roller coaster that adoption is, if we had any concerns, and of course if anything had changed. She checked in with Vickie to see if I had become a basket case, and I'm sure some other questions. It wasn't a very long visit, and I totally forgot to offer her a piece of the amazing pie I had picked up. Oh well I'm sure she knew we would be nervous.
September became crazy very fast-- On September 5th I had elective surgery to help make me healthier. After years of battling weight issues and feet issues I decided I need to do something to get the weight off so I can lose the weight. Of course with knowing we could be placed at any moment it was a hard choice to do it now. What if we have everything set up and I get a call that there is a baby? Will having the surgery cause them to put our profile on hold? How long after the surgery will it take for me to be cleared? Would admitting I need to have the surgery make the agency question my health? I don't have high blood pressure, I'm not pre or diabetic, my cholesterol levels are fine, but will they assume differently. It took many long discussions and research before I said lets do it. I had to notify the agency and got their full support. I spoke to my surgeon and he said I would be fine to lift anything under 25 pounds. So on the 5th Jeff and I headed to the hospital and I took the step to change my life. The next day we headed down south to my parents so I could recover at the Jersey Shore. Well really down the road from the shore.
Finally!!! Yup the one item I have been longing to purchase is the stroller. When Jeff and I started the fertility treatment I started to research strollers, car seats, and cribs. Why because these are the items I have heard so many different opinions on. I wanted a stroller that would lay flat, and I could remove the bassinet feature if I needed to use it while visiting someone. I also wanted to make sure I could lift it easily, and put a diaper bag in the bottom. I was shocked on how small the storage space is on many of them. Then trying to open and close others required a masters in engineering. Then I found Bliss. I promise it the name of the stroller, I didn't make it up. Then when I was healing from my surgery I found out the manufacture was discontinuing the stroller after my six year love affair with it. So I refused not to end up with it and started looking to see who had it for the best sale price. I did try to order one from Amazon and was so excited about the price just to get an email from them that they sold out! Finally I got one through Bed Bath and Beyond on sale and I used a coupon! Yup I was taught well.
So where are we at now? Well we are still waiting to be picked. I'm working on different things for when we bring home the baby. I am excited that my sowing machine is at the repair shop waiting to be pickup. We are currently staying at my parents house again due to plumbing issues at home. We both miss being up in our little condo surrounded by woods, but I think Winnie is having fun!
