Semicolon Stories

January 16 – Becoming Acquainted | Mae’s Adoption Journey

January 16, 2012 at 9:41 pm Danielle B 1 comment

By the next day, it felt as though we finally had a chance to take one big exhale.

We’d been through some of the strangest up & down moments of our life in a matter of a week. We’d never expected this journey in a million years. But we were thankful for it. Especially since there was no waiting for a “I’m in labor” phone call to arrive. The baby was already here and living just minutes away.

It seemed like much of the drama and unknowns had suddenly subsided. Now we could focus on getting to know this new little girl.

First Family Time

We were so thankful for such an “open door” from Uncle Nick. He made sure we knew we could come over to his house as often as we’d like, when we’d like, to get to know the baby and begin the bonding process. His number one priority was to get her attached to us ASAP, so we started in right away without any objections.

We spent the evening holding and feeding her. Nick gave me the scoop on what she already had, and some baby items she might need. It was the first time I could actually wrap my head around what was happening. She wears size 2 diapers – check. She likes to be swaddled before bed – check. Finally – we were in my element.

As Nick slipped away to hang with his daughter, the three of us were left to sit, watch TV and figure out what this new family of three would look like. As we were hanging on the couch, I realized that Nick had a dog. And my eyes nearly popped out of my head when she came up the stairs and sat by us. “No way,” I thought. This is just unreal.

The Big Black Dog Confirmation

Around the very same time we had submitted our application papers and begun the process in September, I’d received a text from my good friend Rene. She’d had a strange dream the previous night that a baby was on the way for us. She’d been staying at our house while we were out-of-town and awoke in our guest room with the feeling that she was sleeping in a “to-be” baby’s room. In her dream she saw me in the room, rocking a baby girl and a big black dog sitting by my feet. When she awoke, she began texting me.

“Do you have something you need to tell me?”

I got the text and quickly showed Mike. Nobody knew that we’d begun the process to adopt, yet something told me she was on to us. Luckily, she followed up her text with,

“Are you pregnant?”

I took a sigh of relief and quickly told her, NO – I wasn’t pregnant. Then I got the scoop on her dream and why she was asking. She was just certain that it had meant something, and a baby was on the way for us.

I didn’t think a lot about the dream after she told us. For one, I figured it just meant that she was right – we had begun the process and a baby was on the way. But, I deep down thought we’d be getting a boy. And I figured the dog in the dream represented one of our two dogs and their protection or something like that.

So – we were spending time at Nick’s house when his dog appeared from the basement. She was quiet and didn’t even seem to notice two strangers were in the house. I took one glance at her and then thought to myself, “Hmm, I didn’t realize Nick had a dog.” I went back to watching TV and then stopped dead in my tracks when it suddenly hit me. The dream. The baby. The dog.

Never in my life had I experienced anything like this but as soon as I saw the dog I got goosebumps all over. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God had sent that dream, and that it would be confirmation for us on this very night that we were on the right path. We’d had a crazy week with ups and downs. Even with the email from the birth mom, we still felt shaky. Everything was happening so fast. The week had been ridden with ups & downs. Yet one glance at that big black dog and my heart found peace as I held my baby girl. We were absolutely in the right place. And this little baby was 100% meant to be ours.

Eager To Get Her Home

We snapped a few pics before bedtime. And then we headed out to see what the news would be in the morning. We were eager to let our adoption agency know about the weekend and the finality of the birth mom’s decision to move forward with us. Rumors were that we could even be in court by the end of the week. And while just a few days ago that had freaked us out, after spending time with our precious baby, all we wanted was to get her home.

Entry filed under: Biracial Adoption, Burgess Adoption, Maeby, Memoir. Tags: adoption, adoption journey, black dog, meeting baby, open adoption adoption story, quick adoption.