We've been matched!

Exciting News! Almost three weeks after Abby's One True Gift received our application, our agent called us yesterday (1/4/11) about a possible "birth mother situation." We are in complete shock. When Katie and I started the process, we fully anticipated we would be in this for the long haul. Certainly not three weeks later. Tonight (1/5/11) Katie and I participated in our match call with our birth mother. Tomorrow based on the birth mother's and our agent's feedback we will send in the letter of intent to the agency. Once they receive that and our initial fees, the match will become final and we will move forward to finalize all the details. Our birth mother currently lives in Las Vegas. She is due 5/13/11. Both Katie and I know the time will fly by so fast.

The call went really well. We both can't imagine what this woman must be going through. It is obviously a hard decision, but the birth mother appeared to know she was making this decision out of the best interest of the child. As the call started, we could tell we were all nervous. Katie started off by thanking the birth mother for her time and for considering us to adopt her baby. From there, we reiterated a little information about ourselves. A highlight for me is when I mentioned I grew up on a farm, the birth mother said she had a farm connection in Joplin, MO. We spent a few minutes talking about our experiences there. I think that bit of conversation really lightened up the mood. She then started to tell us a little about herself, which for privacy reasons, we won't share on here. After a little while, our agent cut into the call and asked that the birth mother share a little about her pregnancy so far. Our birth mother indicated she had been pretty sick the first trimester, but now was past that, but was experiencing major heartburn.

The birth mother had an appointment and had to cut our call off at about 35 minutes. It ended positively. The birth mother told our agent, "You can give them our phone number." That seems like a good sign to us! Brenda called us back privately about 10 minutes later just to debrief after the call. Brenda said we handled the call really well. From there, we talked for a bit about how quickly it happened and what are the major next steps for us. We told her we were "kind of planners," and she responded by saying, "This will be the most unplanned event of your life." Ha Ha. Lots to do, and lots to think about, but this is a huge step forward!