6:19 PM – The baby is born. It’s a BOY!!! Just at 6 lbs and 19 inches long. . . he’s little but he’s healthy. Birth mom had to undergo a c-section. Obviously, she’s tired, but we’ve been assured that both birth mom and baby are fine. As far as where we go from here . . . legally, she and the birth father are not allowed to sign TPR papers until 6:19 on Monday night. So we really don’t expect to do anything tomorrow (we probably won’t even get a phone call until sometime on Monday). So at this point, we wait. It’s going to be a long 48 hours.

10:30 AM – The agency called to tell us that the birth mother’s water broke this morning. As of Noon today, she is at the hospital in labor. We still don’t know the sex of the baby but we are frantically trying to get things ready. If all goes well, we will probably bring the baby home on Monday.

Very exciting developments this week!!! Don’t get your hopes up too much just yet, but it looks like we could have a baby in about a week. We got a call from the agency on Tuesday, Jan. 15. They said that there was a birth mother very interested in us and that she wants to set up a meeting to talk to us in person. They scheduled the meeting for Friday so we went to the LFCS office in St. Louis and met with the birth mother today. She is a very sweet young lady named Whitney. She was an adopted child, herself. Which, in part, led her to our profile (Since Tyson, too is adopted). We like her very much. She is due within the week and she has definitely decided that she wants Rachel and I to be the adoptive family. So as of now, the only concerns are whether the baby is born healthy and whether she falls so in love at first sight that she decides to keep the baby at the last minute. This is a very real possibility and we we are trying to stay grounded and not get too overly excited so as not to set ourselves up for major disappointment. If the adoption does go through however, there are several positives in this scenario that we have not had in some of our previous close calls:

#1. She wants us to take the baby from the hospital (like 48 hours old). She does not want the baby passed through lots of hands before we receive him/her (by the way, we don’t yet know the sex of the baby . . . nor does she). But we will definitely be getting an infant. Which is what we had hoped for.

#2. She and the birth father are both involved. Often times, it is very difficult to find the birth father. Much less, to have one willing to cooperate. He is planning to drive to Missouri when the baby is born and sign the Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) papers along with the mother. This is VERY VERY good news for us. Not only legally, but also because we will have background information on both birth parents.

#3. They’re smart. Both of the birth parents are seniors in college with degrees in Chemical Engineering. Good genes . . . yeah!!!

#4. They are open to providing information to us through the agency if we ever need to know anything, but they are not wanting to be so open that we are uncomfortable. They do not want to know where we live. They don’t want to know our last names. Neither of them are interested in visiting with us or the baby after the placement. A yearly letter and a few pictures (not sent directly, but through the agency) will probably be the extent of our post-placement correspondence.

Keep the birth mother, the baby and us in your prayers.

We had a really close call through our agency. LFCS called about a month ago and explained that there was a birth mother who was married and already had 2 children. Financially, she and her husband could not support a third child so they were going to choose an adoptive family through the agency. Our social worker asked if she could include our profile in the mix, and of course, we said “YES!!” Several weeks passed and we never heard anything so we assumed that we had not been chosen. Finally, we got a call back yesterday. It was one of those good news/bad news calls. The good news was that the birth mother had selected Rachel and I to adopt her baby. The bad news was that the baby was born with multiple birth defects and so the agency decided not to give us the placement. We were disapointed of course, but the fact that we were at least selected gives us hope. Honestly, we are very content and patient right now (certainly more patient than our parents). We are confident that it will happen in God’s timing, and that we’ll get the baby that is meant for our family.

Our pastor called a few weeks ago and told us that a young girl in our church was having a baby at the beginning of December. She was interested in finding a family and doing a private adoption. At first, we were very excited, but after examining the risks a bit more closely we decided that it was probably not wise to pursue this particular course. #1 – She lives in the same town as us, not to mention, she attends the same church. #2 – She was not insured so we would have to cover the entire cost of the birth. #3 – We are already invested financially through our agency, LFCS. Anyway . . . lots of risk for potential disaster. Thus, we declined.

Everything on our end is finished. We are now completely approved and now in the adoptive families pool. Now we just wait to be selected. It could be anywhere from one month to two years before we are selected by a birth mom and receive a placement.

We completed our profile and turned it in to the agency. (The profile is a series of documents and pictures that help the birth mother to choose an adoptive family for her baby). They should be placing our profile on the agency’s website soon. Click here to see all the profiles on the LFCS website.

Our home study was finished and we were officially approved through LFCS to adopt a domestic infant.