Mia's Story, Part 1

Part 1: The Wait

What a lot of people don't know is that Mia's birth mom chose us when she was 17 weeks pregnant. We had the honor of supporting her and going through the pregnancy with her. We also had the ability to prepare as much as we could for Mia's arrival. When Russell and I met Mia's birth mom in January, she asked if I would want to be in the room when she delivered and we were overjoyed! We really walked into this adoption journey without many expectations and I never even imagined having the honor of witnessing the birth! Of course, I said yes!

Anyway, fast forward to April 21st. That was my last day of work. Our original plan was to drive to Utah that weekend to wait out Mia's arrival. But, due to the uncertainty of when she would be born and knowing Russell could only get a certain amount of days off, that plan quickly changed. Due date of April 29th rolls around and Mia has yet to make her debut. At this point, we still had no clue when we would head to Utah and whether we would be flying or driving. The doctor scheduled her induction for May 5th on the due date but we still had a tough decision because what if Mia was born before the induction date?! Finally, we decided we would just fly to Utah May 1st. That way we would be there in the small chance she would come before the induction date and for sure we would be there for the induction if Mia decided not to budge.

May 5th rolled around and Mia's birth mom was induced at 8pm. She texted us when she got to the hospital and we all agreed that Russell and I would just wait at our friends' home while she labored in the hospital and that she would tell us to head to the hospital when she was around 7cm dilated. We obviously didn't know if we were going to meet Mia later that night or the next morning or the next night or what! So we waited and tried our best to keep our eyes off the clock. It was challenging so we decided to head to bed early and hope that we would get a call in the middle of the night. Obviously we tossed and turned. Around 5am, I texted birth mom's mom and asked for an update. We were told that her cervix was at 80 percent and that they were expecting it to be a long process. So we prayed for her and continued waiting. The next morning around 9:30, she texted us an update that she had received an epidural at 7am and that they broke her water a bit before she texted us. She told us that her doctor said that it would probably happen around dinner time and that Mia was still doing great. Around 4pm, it began to hail outside and we got an update that she was fully effaced and Mia was moving lower. At 6pm, she was 6cm and dilating a centimeter every 2 hours. Then around 9pm, as I was getting up to get a snack, Mia's birth mom called and said that she was 10cm dilated! WHATTTTTTTTT!!!!!! She said that the doctor wanted her to rest for an hour then start pushing but we should start heading to Salt Lake since we were over half an hour away. WHATTTTTT THIS IS HAPPENING!!!! Russell stopped eating the ice cream he was eating, I forgot about the snack I was on my way to get, and we quickly grabbed our bags that were already packed and ready to go. My best friend snapped a quick photo of us on the way out and then we were out the door! The drive felt like an eternity. Russell didn't say a word but I could tell he was excited/freaking out/trying not to speed so we wouldn't get pulled over. We quickly found the parking garage, left our bags, and rushed into the hospital. Birth mom's dad was waiting for us at the elevator and as we approached her hospital room, birth mom's mom ran out the room. "Claire, come on! She's ready to push!"

The photo snapped right before we took off to the hospital. 1. Yes, I take really attractive pictures. 2. That dang sweater. Man, don't I have a story to share about that sweater. 3. WE WERE FREAKING OUTTTTT