The call that forever changed us.

One week ago today our lives were forever changed. In an instant we saw a face that literally took our breath away. We are still walking on cloud nine and having a lot of trouble concentrating on anything but our sweet Maya. Our house is surrounded with her picture and neither one us of can go for more than a minute without looking at her face.

John got the call at home and called me on my way to work. When I left the house he was on his way upstairs to give medicine to our cat Jet. When John called he asked me to pull over. He sounded really weird. My immediate thought was the cat was dead. I asked him if Jet was ok and he replied he was fine. He again asked me if I was pulled over. I then thought it must be our dog Skeeter. He is 12.5 years old.. My heart sank. "is it Skeet?" He again replied no and begged me to stop where I was. I told him he was scaring me. Were my parents ok? In a matter of 10 seconds I had about a million horrible scenarios swirling around in my head. I finally just told him that if he had bad news I needed to know that so I could prepare myself. He then said the words I couldn't believe. "IT'S REALLY GOOD!" My heart sank as I pulled over and asked if the agency called. He then told me "YES, WE HAVE A BABY!"

I really thought I was having a coronary at this point. Instantly I was sobbing beyond control. John told me that the agency was e-mailing a photo. We didn't have any information other then that we had a girl. John stopped them from telling us more until we were together, a decision that we had decided a long time ago when playing out "the call" scenario in our minds. I had to go to work and clear my patient schedule so that I could get back home to see the photo and then we had to go to the agency to sign our acceptance papers. Unfortunately, I was unable to clear my first two patient's from my schedule so I had to clean teeth for 2 hours before heading home. I was sobbing through the appointments. Thank God I wear a mask as I know that I had snot running down my nose. I'm sure neither of these patients will forget these particular appointments.

I raced home and John and I just hugged and cried for about a minute before sitting down to the computer. He video taped us opening our e-mail. I can't explain how overwhelmed with emotion we were when her face appeared on our screen. We couldn't believe how beautiful she was. We had been warned that we might not fall in love with the referral picture from others who had gone through this process before us. We tried to prepare for this possibility. I know that some people have a hard time understanding how you can't fall in love with a picture that you have waited so long to see. But if you think about it, for those who can get pregnant you have nine months of a physical connection with your child. For those in this process your just praying to have a connection when you see that picture. For us this wasn't a problem. It was love at first sight. So now we have memorized every detail of her face. It has to get us through the next few weeks until we can kiss her and then forever change her life.

Yesterday we received an update on our Maya. She now weighs 14.3 lbs, she is 26.4 inches long and she has 6 teeth. Wow that floored me. Being a dental hygienist I know it is possible, but because she is small for her age I wasn't expecting her to be advanced in the tooth department. I better take my hygiene supplies so I can keep those pearly whites clean. I can't wait to see what she looks like smiling. We hope to travel in September. WE'RE COMING MAYA AND WE LOVE YOU!