Blog readers, it's been too long. There has been little movement on the adoption and not much to report. As of the time of this message, we have about 4 months left on our initial 2 year contract and while we see statistics monthly from the agency that indicate that potential birthmothers are considering us, we have not received a formal request to make a connection. The process has been a study in patience and wondering, and we have done our best to wait for whatever is coming our direction.
Meanwhile...
Around Easter, Brandi felt some pain in her side. This is the same pain that Brandi has felt since adolescence during ovulation. When it happened, we talked about it briefly and decided there was little harm in taking an ovulation test.
It was positive, so Brandi and I watched the Lion King, knitted a blanket, and hoped for the best.
About 3 weeks passed and Brandi mentioned cramping off and on (which sounds like blahblahblah to us guys), and we didn't think much of it. Then came one Tuesday night:
<Scene>
Chad arrives home from a long day at work, parks his vehicle in the garage and proceeds into the house. He places his backpack in the extra bedroom, mutters a curse to himself about having to work that night, and heads into the master bedroom.
The bathroom doors are shut, and bright light bleeds from beneath them, suggesting that someone (likely Brandi) is in there doing something. Chad sits down on the bed and begins fumbling with his iPad - after all, it was necessary to check his village in Clash of Clans for any new work his builders could do and he wanted to do something that wasn't work related for a moment or two that night. Ah, he thought, this is nice...
Suddenly, the bathroom doors fly open and light fills the room! Temporarily blinded until his eyes adjust, he raises his hand in front of his face to shield himself.
A female voice says, "What are you doing?!". It was Brandi, looking a but flustered but brimming with confidence. What did this mean?
"Playing with my iPad?", he says curiously.
"Well, I need your help in the bathroom," she says.
He stands and enters the bathroom wondering just what in the hell is going on. And then he saw it.
There was a pregnancy test on the counter.
He picked it up and held it up to the light. There, in the indicator, was the solid line that that is always present in the test - Chad, not having seen many of these, had to look at another test on the counter to figure this out. No one said he was smart.
Then, there was the other line - faint, and running from left to right on the test, making a 'plus' sign. It was faded and fuzzy, but it was there.
He closed his eyes and saw this: "+". And then he opened them and saw the same thing! A positive pregnancy test!! WTF, seriously??? He held it up to the light, moving it from side to side, trying to make it more real.
What was happening? And then she said it:
"Chad, that thing is covered in pee you know." She's so smart.
<Scene>
So now, many blood tests and a couple of sonograms later, it is clear to modern science and the average uneducated man that Brandi is pregnant. 9 weeks 2 days along to be exact - due 12/22/2013.
To wrap your head around this: we have endured 4 failed IUI treatments, 1 failed IVF, briefly considered a donor egg procedure (bleh), initiated an adoption contract, and are now PREGNANT via natural means. Somewhere in this story is a wonderful lesson, a bit of inspiration, talk of struggle and perserverance, and lots of different ways to interpret a chain of events. Despite all of that, we can't get away from thinking like this: "Is this really happening?". YES, it IS. Really.
We're going to be PARENTS.
