Mother-To-Be?

Ryan's Grandparents gave me this card on Mother's Day. How sweet!

It had not even crossed my mind that Mother's Day had anything to do with me. But I suppose it does! I guess it is like we are pregnant. Although, instead of morning sickness I get papercuts. Instead of being tired and having a sore back, I get documents notarized and suffer pains in understanding all of the requirements we must follow. Instead of frequent doctor visits, I have trips to the bank to get documents notarized and visits with a social worker.

But it is all good! One day (soon, I'm sure) I'll allow myself to indulge in the fun stuff like thinking of names, clothes, furniture, hugs, car seats, pediatricians, day care, play dates and being called mom.

Medical Exam

This week we had our medical examination. I use the singular form of "examination" on purpose. Ryan and I literally had our doctor visits together! I don't think I've had someone else attend a medical exam with me for quite some time, perhaps almost 20 years. I'm sure my mom came with me to exams as a pre-teen and teenager, but that was almost 20 years ago now!

But, it all went just fine. In fact, like most parts of this adoption that I thought would be challenging, it wasn't anything to really worry about.

We went to Ryan's old family doctor. This doctor delivered Ryan's sister, and has been treating Ryan's family for 25 years or so. Ryan had good memories of him and the doctor treats all ages, so we figured he would be a good one to go to for these general physicals. And, so far so good.

At the visit we first saw the nurse. She took all our vitals and got our files in order. Then the doctor came in and spent about 30 minutes chatting with us and doing a solid basic examination. The best part was that we didn't have to do any bloodwork! We already had all the necessary tests taken at another doctor not too long ago, and this doctor was happy to use those results. Ryan lucked out there - he was dreading the needle!

Basically, we need to give the doctor a week or so to complete the forms, then I will follow up and see if there is anything else we need to do. Barring that, we should be able to get the forms and check that one off the list.

So, it is all going well. I'm still not ready to seriously believe I will be a mom though. It still feels like we are just applying for something...like a mortgage, or a general background check like for the bar exam. I've pretty much told myself I can start feeling things when our dossier is sent in. And again, I picture that being August. I did get a super "mother-to-be" card from Ryan's Grandmother on Mother's Day. That was the sweetest thing, and it is the closest I've come to realizing this might really happen.

Happenings this week

A couple of happenings this week. Most importantly, we made our doctor appointment. We will both go in at the same time for our appointments and hopefully get all our tests and the exam done in one visit. Our doctor has a notary in the office and will fill out the forms and send them back to us within days. Glad we will soon be able to check that one off our list.

We've been working on other items for our dossier as well. We need notarized letters of child abuse and criminal clearance. I've sent in letters to the appropriate agencies along with return envelopes. Hopefully we will get those soon. After that, we need to take some pictures of us and the house and finalize our references.

I still think we are on track to have the dossier on its way by August 1!

Other than our adoption, there are lots of happenings in our lives right now. Most importantly is Ryan's sister, Jessica. She is having a difficult time right now. We love her so very much and know she will be better soon.