the phone call
When we began the adoption process, our adoption specialist told us that once we match, the timeline for when the child is born can vary. Sometimes it’s a few months and sometimes it’s a few weeks, though she said there is typically some notice.
Knowing this, we had both told our bosses that an opportunity might come and that we would let them know when that was the case. In the meantime, we continued to look ahead to summer. We decided to go away for a quick Memorial Day weekend trip with some friends and family, so off we went to Las Vegas for some fun in the sun! Little did we know, that would be the last vacation we took before becoming parents.
The Wednesday after Memorial Day we both went off to work like normal. Then shortly before lunch, my phone was ringing, and it was from American Adoptions. I immediately knew this was different because all of the updates each month came in the form of email, so I quickly stepped outside of my office building to answer the call. It was our adoption specialist asking if she could speak to both me and my husband. Unfortunately, he was completely heads down at work and missed all of our attempts to call, so she proceeded with sharing with me that we had been matched for an adoption opportunity!
It was a flurry of information that I was writing down – and then came the kicker – the birth mom was due that Saturday! The birth parents were in Texas, and she was due in three days. Holy shit. So, I took down all of the information and kept texting and calling my husband until we were able to connect. Our adoption specialist told us they would be sending us a slew of information and if we wanted to accept the adoption opportunity, we would have to get everything done in the next 48 hours.
When I got home from work that evening, we spent hours talking—reviewing every detail, trying to make sense of the whirlwind we’d been thrown into. It was overwhelming. We had always assumed there would be more time to think things through when an opportunity came our way, so facing a life-changing decision with a deadline of the next morning felt incredibly daunting.
By Thursday morning, we knew—despite how fast everything was moving—that we needed to take the leap. So off to work we went, sharing the news with our teams and diving headfirst into preparation. From gathering the required paperwork, to scheduling an early morning meeting with a notary (who, luckily, was also a coworker and friend), to booking last-minute flights—everything was a blur.
In less than 48 hours, I pulled together a full maternity leave plan, operating on the belief that I’d be coming home with a baby in a matter of weeks and wouldn’t be returning to work right away. As the director of my team, there was a lot to manage in a short time. I was incredibly grateful to my colleagues, who rallied with me to hand off projects and shift responsibilities. Given the tight timeline, there were still a few things I committed to seeing through while on leave, but otherwise, I made sure everything was tied up by Friday night.
Birth mom was due Saturday, but we were told it was her first pregnancy and knowing that often first pregnancies go past their due date, we decided to book our flight for Sunday so that we could handle a few last minute things on Saturday. We were also told that birth mom had an appointment on Monday, so we knew we wanted to at least get to town before that appointment.
As I mentioned in my last post, we never bought or prepared anything for a baby, so Saturday, we decided to go buy a handful of things including a baby wrap and co-sleeper that we could fit in our suitcases and then ordered a car seat that we had shipped to Texas for pickup once we arrived. Then we went to lunch, packed our bags and anxiously awaited our flight the next morning. It was a little surreal. We had no idea what the next few days, let alone weeks would look like or how long we would be gone.
We flew into Houston on that Sunday, picked up the car seat and then went to the hotel. Since we knew we’d be there for at least a few weeks, we were able to get a suite with a kitchen so we could make ourselves at home as much as possible. Then, not really knowing what to do with ourselves, we went shopping at HEB (IYKYK) to have some things at our hotel and then decided to head to a movie. It wasn’t like we were there on vacation, so we didn’t really have things planned out. We knew about the appointment the next morning, so we anticipated we would hear more from our adoption specialist after the appointment – until then, we anxiously waited.
Monday morning, we were sleeping in when my husband frantically woke me and told me to get ready. He said that our adoption specialist had just called and said she had spoken to the birth mom and birth mom asked if we wanted to meet her at her doctor’s appointment that was in just a little while. ABSOLUTELY. We rushed to get dressed and raced to the doctor’s office that was connected to the hospital. We had no idea what to expect as we parked the car and started walking toward the front doors. All we had was a name. When we walked through the doors, there she was, the woman who would change my life forever.
No book, article, or adoption class could have prepared us for what came next. But that day—every single moment of it—was filled with love, raw emotion, and the kind of human connection that leaves a permanent mark on your soul. It’s a day I’ll never forget, and it deserves its own post. That’s what I’ll be writing next, and I hope you’ll stick around to read it.
Honestly,
Theresa