I Got Thumped

Have you ever found yourself going through life on auto pilot or rushing through every minute of the day or just plain crabby and then something happens to make you realize how good you've got it? Or how amazing this world truly is?

My co-worker calls that "getting thumped." God sees you taking everything for granted or throwing yourself a pity party and gives you a big ol' "thump." Hey, open your eyes! SLOW DOWN! Maybe even smile a little bit.

Well I've been getting thumped a lot lately. It's a particular kind of thump. The kind that reminds me how GOOD people are.

This whole adoption thing has made me interact with people I never would have met otherwise and in ways I never would have dreamed (like discussing my infertility with the Fed-Ex man, for example.) Over and over I find myself touched by how perfect strangers are willing to go the extra mile to help us find our baby.

Just a few examples:

• A college student at St.Olaf offered to make extra copies of our flier, consult with his boss, and hang them every possible place he could think of. On his own time.
• An acquaintance of mine from high school owns a store and offered to put a pile of fliers by his cash register. We haven't talked for 10 years, and rarely crossed paths even before then.
• Several people have posted our information in their personal blogs. Some of these people I have never met and probably never will.
• A waitress at Fitgers in Duluth saw Jonathan hang up our flier and came to our aid. She said he had put it at "hip level" and it would be destroyed by the many servers walking in and out of the kitchen. So she took a new one, dug up some industrial strength packing tape and completely laminated it to the wall. It might peel off the paint when it's time to take it down.

And those are just people we don't know! I can't even BEGIN to list all the ways our friends and family continue to love and support us. I feel like I go through every day wrapped in a giant bubble of prayers, love, and positive thoughts.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Who doesn't like Pop Rocks?

This was the same reaction I had when I first tasted Pop Rocks.

Have I Ever Told You How Much I Love My Husband?

I got a good one, you guys. A really good one. He can make me laugh even when I don't want to.

Remember how I mentioned in the last post that a pregnant girl said to me, "Oh my God! YOU are pregnant? You look fantastic!" I figured this would happen, but I still didn't respond in a very intelligent way when it did. I said "Yeah, I'm not. We're adopting." And then I mumbled something really witty like "Well I'm glad I don't look pregnant... since I'm not..." and then walked away really fast.

Jonathan could tell I was a bit rattled. When I went into the bathroom, I passed the baby off to Jonathan so he could watch him while I was peeing*

(*What? I forgot to explain this part? We were given baby dolls at the beginning of class and told to treat them as we would a real baby. Specifically, "You wouldn't leave your babies lying on a table, would you? Pick them up!" She said if we needed to go to the bathroom, we had to bring them with us or find a sitter)

So, back to the bathroom. Me, going over the encounter with the pregnant girl in my head; Jonathan, watching our plastic child.

When I was done using the bathroom, I opened the door and hit something. Something small. Something low to the ground. Something... swaddled? There, lying on the commercial grade blue/green/brown flecked carpet was our little wide-eyed baby. Waiting for me to hit him in the head with the bathroom door.

I burst out laughing and couldn't stop until we got back into the room.

That, right there, is why I love my husband.

Baby Class

If you ask a woman dealing with infertility whether she would rather spend three hours in:

A. A room full of glowing pregnant women or
B. A pirhana infested bathtub,

... she would probably help you draw the bath.

Okay, now that I've shocked you with my bitterness, we can continue on with the story. =)

Our adoption agency recommended that we attend some sort of "Caring For Your Newborn" class through a hospital or clinic. So, that's what we did. We specifically chose the after-the-baby-is-born class since the labor and delivery part obviously does not pertain to us.

I started to become nervous a few hours before the class started, which surprised me. Up until that point, I had been looking forward to the class as a way to learn some baby basics. But as the class grew closer, I really considered the fact that I would be the only non-pregnant female in the room. Awesome. I briefly fantasized about stuffing a pillow in my shirt. (I even decided which pillow I would use, people.)

Well, my fears were only half-confirmed. I was the only non-pregnant, non-male person in the room. But, I only got one comment ("YOU are pregnant?! You look fantastic!") and they didn't make me wear a t-shirt saying "INFERTILE" and sit on a stool in front of the class. Whew!

All jokes aside, it was surprisingly hard for me but very valuable for both of us (we got to practice swaddling, diapering to avoid the umbilical cord, and the "football hold"). Not that we'll remember any of it when there's an actual baby involved! I suppose that's where the "trial by fire" and "learning on the job" thing comes in.... =)

Adoption Brain

Pregnancy brain. Wisegeek.com defines the phenomenon in the following way:

"Pregnancy brain is a condition that affects expectant mothers, usually during the first and third trimesters. Sometimes known as placenta brain or baby brain drain, the condition is usually characterized by short-term memory loss or forgetfulness."

I'd like to propose the existence of Adoption Brain. Symptoms present in a similar manner to pregnancy brain; forgetful, absent-minded, distracted, flaky. You may suffer from a serious case of Adoption Brain if you have done any or all of the following within a one week period:

* Poured orange juice on your cereal
* Stood in the shower, unable to remember for the life of you if you've washed your hair yet
* Left the wrong phone number in a voicemail to a colleague because you've suddenly blanked on the number you've had for the past 600+ days.
* Said "Good boy!" to your computer when it booted up with no problems

I'm sure I've never done any of these things, but if I had, I would definitely blame it on Adoption Brain.