Monday, September 24, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Welcome to the blog world....yikes
Lets see if I can keep up with this along with everything else in our lives...Since several of my friends have told me I need to share our adoption story here it goes...sorry for the long post but I promise it will not be like this in the future.
Where do I start. Chris and I were married almost 9 years ago!! Wow how crazy is that? We have a 2 almost 3 year old daughter named Tessa, a 9 yr old cat Tobey, a 8 yr old Chocolate lab Harley, and 7 yr old mix Jake.
Let me first start with the story of Tessa (since this blog will pretty much be all about her, just like she likes)
A few years after Chris & I got married I got pregnant and soon found out that I miscarried. And then followed several more...to many to count at this point. I was at the point that I didn't have a choice except to have my fallopian tubes removed(June 2003). So we decided that we could try IVF(In-vitro fertilization). Of course knowing that we only have about a 35% chance of conceiving...needless to say it didn't work. At that point Chris & I really just faced the facts that we probably will never have a child. The thought of going thru an adoption..$$$$..very expensive and there really is no guarantee. So months had gone by and I get a phone call from my dad. And he says "Your cousins, friends, sister (yes its one of those) is pregnant and she is looking to put the baby up for adoption." WOW was all I could say. I think I was so stunned I couldn't think. Chris & I didn't even really think about what this meant...we just said YES!!! Of course we would adopt the baby. We just happen to be in Iowa for the week celebrating my moms 50th birthday. So I called my cousin and she gave me the phone # of Ann. I called her shaking from my mom's bedroom. I still remember that phone call...all of our dreams were going to come true or come to a screeching halt once again. At that point you get so excited you don't care what the outcome is.
We arranged a meeting with Ann in Maquoketa, Iowa for the following afternoon. We went and met with her and asked ALOT of questions. She asked lots of questions too... It really was just a meeting to get to know each other. At this point no attorney's or social workers were involved.
We left Ann that afternoon with a ultrasound picture of a baby GIRL. Ann was almost 5 months pregnant. Yes that means we only have 4 months to get FBI check, have a home study done, hire 2 lawyers (one for Ann in Iowa and one for us in Texas). Those 4 months couldn't have come any sooner. And on November 11th, I came home from work did the norm and was heading off to bed at about 9pm...and the phone rings its Ann on my caller ID. I thought she was just calling to talk because she wasn't due for another 2 weeks and the Dr's didn't think that she was going to go early, but I was wrong. She was heading to the hospital. Wouldn't you have liked to watch Chris and I throw all our stuff in a suitcase, all the baby stuff we were going to need for the next few weeks. Oh to have had a video camera in house when we were packing would have been funny to watch today!! Needless to say we were packed and on the road by 9:30pm. Yes we were driving because we didn't want to have a new born on a 5 hour flight back to Austin, Texas. We drove the 15 hours back to Iowa(let me just make a note that its normally a 18 hour drive). I was speeding...they don't call me lead foot for nothing:)
Oh and what a trip this was...so let me give you a time line...
9pm - Going to bed - but got the phone call
9:30 - Walked out the door - heading to Iowa from Austin, Texas
9:30 - 11pm - Talked to every family member that we have!!! And Ann of course.
11:05p - Ann calls me back. "I'm going to have the baby any moment."
11:09p - Talking to Ann's sister who is in the room with Ann and tells us that we have a baby girl. 6lbs. 4oz. 19inches. Ahhhhh....I didn't know what to say or do at that point.
We spoke to Ann several times during the night. Baby was doing great. Ann kept Tessa in her room so she could keep a close eye on her.
At about 2am, I was exhausted. You would have thought I just had a baby(sorry Ann I know you did all the work). So I pulled over and asked Chris to drive for a little bit. All of a sudden we realized that Chris forgot his contacts!!!! OMG How am I going to drive 18 hours straight thru? It was terrible! I was so tired but I couldn't stop we had a baby waiting for us. I bought every kind of energy drink to stay awake.
Well I made it with the help of family members calling to talk to me all night. My dad, Chris dad, my mom(who couldn't sleep), my aunts...
After we hit Kansas City it was almost day time so Chris could drive when the sun came up so he took over in the morning. Of course I crawled in the back of our SUV to lay down...NO I couldn't sleep, everyone kept calling. We had to name the baby while we were driving outside of Kansas!! Her name was Tessa Ann Prilipp
Long story short we got to the hospital and I had only had 45 mins of sleep in the past 40 plus hours!
Walking into the hospital room was so SCARY! You don't know if you should be excited or is this all going to be for nothing, because legally Ann has several days to make a decision. But to be honest with you Ann was so great and so set on her decision that I never thought for a minute that she would change her mind...even though family, friends, social workers, lawyers constantly remind you that it can happen. You just don't want to think about it.
We were able to meet several of Ann's & the birthfathers family members(mom, dad, sisters, aunts, & uncles). It was really emotional for everyone. If you ever watch the adoption stories on TLC, it pretty much just like that. Ann is a wonderful person with a big heart and we couldn't thank her enough for the gift she has given us.
So now...here we are almost 3 years to the day that we received the best gift anyone could have ever given Chris & I.
Where do I start. Chris and I were married almost 9 years ago!! Wow how crazy is that? We have a 2 almost 3 year old daughter named Tessa, a 9 yr old cat Tobey, a 8 yr old Chocolate lab Harley, and 7 yr old mix Jake.
Let me first start with the story of Tessa (since this blog will pretty much be all about her, just like she likes)
A few years after Chris & I got married I got pregnant and soon found out that I miscarried. And then followed several more...to many to count at this point. I was at the point that I didn't have a choice except to have my fallopian tubes removed(June 2003). So we decided that we could try IVF(In-vitro fertilization). Of course knowing that we only have about a 35% chance of conceiving...needless to say it didn't work. At that point Chris & I really just faced the facts that we probably will never have a child. The thought of going thru an adoption..$$$$..very expensive and there really is no guarantee. So months had gone by and I get a phone call from my dad. And he says "Your cousins, friends, sister (yes its one of those) is pregnant and she is looking to put the baby up for adoption." WOW was all I could say. I think I was so stunned I couldn't think. Chris & I didn't even really think about what this meant...we just said YES!!! Of course we would adopt the baby. We just happen to be in Iowa for the week celebrating my moms 50th birthday. So I called my cousin and she gave me the phone # of Ann. I called her shaking from my mom's bedroom. I still remember that phone call...all of our dreams were going to come true or come to a screeching halt once again. At that point you get so excited you don't care what the outcome is.
We arranged a meeting with Ann in Maquoketa, Iowa for the following afternoon. We went and met with her and asked ALOT of questions. She asked lots of questions too... It really was just a meeting to get to know each other. At this point no attorney's or social workers were involved.
We left Ann that afternoon with a ultrasound picture of a baby GIRL. Ann was almost 5 months pregnant. Yes that means we only have 4 months to get FBI check, have a home study done, hire 2 lawyers (one for Ann in Iowa and one for us in Texas). Those 4 months couldn't have come any sooner. And on November 11th, I came home from work did the norm and was heading off to bed at about 9pm...and the phone rings its Ann on my caller ID. I thought she was just calling to talk because she wasn't due for another 2 weeks and the Dr's didn't think that she was going to go early, but I was wrong. She was heading to the hospital. Wouldn't you have liked to watch Chris and I throw all our stuff in a suitcase, all the baby stuff we were going to need for the next few weeks. Oh to have had a video camera in house when we were packing would have been funny to watch today!! Needless to say we were packed and on the road by 9:30pm. Yes we were driving because we didn't want to have a new born on a 5 hour flight back to Austin, Texas. We drove the 15 hours back to Iowa(let me just make a note that its normally a 18 hour drive). I was speeding...they don't call me lead foot for nothing:)
Oh and what a trip this was...so let me give you a time line...
9pm - Going to bed - but got the phone call
9:30 - Walked out the door - heading to Iowa from Austin, Texas
9:30 - 11pm - Talked to every family member that we have!!! And Ann of course.
11:05p - Ann calls me back. "I'm going to have the baby any moment."
11:09p - Talking to Ann's sister who is in the room with Ann and tells us that we have a baby girl. 6lbs. 4oz. 19inches. Ahhhhh....I didn't know what to say or do at that point.
We spoke to Ann several times during the night. Baby was doing great. Ann kept Tessa in her room so she could keep a close eye on her.
At about 2am, I was exhausted. You would have thought I just had a baby(sorry Ann I know you did all the work). So I pulled over and asked Chris to drive for a little bit. All of a sudden we realized that Chris forgot his contacts!!!! OMG How am I going to drive 18 hours straight thru? It was terrible! I was so tired but I couldn't stop we had a baby waiting for us. I bought every kind of energy drink to stay awake.
Well I made it with the help of family members calling to talk to me all night. My dad, Chris dad, my mom(who couldn't sleep), my aunts...
After we hit Kansas City it was almost day time so Chris could drive when the sun came up so he took over in the morning. Of course I crawled in the back of our SUV to lay down...NO I couldn't sleep, everyone kept calling. We had to name the baby while we were driving outside of Kansas!! Her name was Tessa Ann Prilipp
Long story short we got to the hospital and I had only had 45 mins of sleep in the past 40 plus hours!
Walking into the hospital room was so SCARY! You don't know if you should be excited or is this all going to be for nothing, because legally Ann has several days to make a decision. But to be honest with you Ann was so great and so set on her decision that I never thought for a minute that she would change her mind...even though family, friends, social workers, lawyers constantly remind you that it can happen. You just don't want to think about it.
We were able to meet several of Ann's & the birthfathers family members(mom, dad, sisters, aunts, & uncles). It was really emotional for everyone. If you ever watch the adoption stories on TLC, it pretty much just like that. Ann is a wonderful person with a big heart and we couldn't thank her enough for the gift she has given us.
So now...here we are almost 3 years to the day that we received the best gift anyone could have ever given Chris & I.
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