Women get pregnant spontaneously all the time. I will always think that was an odd statement, but that's what she said as I was sitting in her office explaining through the tears that we were weeks away from getting an invitation to travel to Russia to adopt two children and that we were desperate to know about the health of the pregnancy.
Now we're almost at the end of the first trimester, we've had three ultrasounds...visual proof that I am pregnant but even with that we're still in shock by it all. It's not that the doctors ever said we couldn't get pregnant on our own; it's just that we didn't think it was likely after all the infertility treatments and trouble we've had in the past. That's what we get for thinking. So, if all goes well we will welcome the newest Freeman in November. We will truly be giving thanks this year.
The adoption is on hold. It was heartbreaking to come to that decision, especially after we were so close to traveling. But one day it dawned on me that the adopted child could possibly get the short end of the stick. There's a reality that people seldom think about unless they are adopting internationally and that's that many of the children have health problems, attachment and bonding issues and trouble transitioning from institutional care into a family. That concerned us most of all. Ryan would fine. He never seems to miss a beat. And you know babies...they cry, they scream and they get what they want. We were worried that we couldn't give an adopted child the time they deserved and we'd end up handing them a cookie and telling them to go watch Blues Clues with their brother. That's not to say that we will never go to Russia, but right now we are just going to have to wait and see.
Ryan is doing great. He had tubes in his ears back in February and his speech has started to take off. This morning we were watching the news and he started saying "chicken." Since I was trying to get his shoes on him, I wasn't paying that much attention to the tv, but he kept saying "chicken" "chicken" and I looked up and there was a story about the bird flu and the camera was scanning a chicken coop. It's easy to take speech for granted, but this association is huge for a child with Down Syndrome. He was able to make the leap from looking at a picture of an animated chicken in one of his story books, to the chicken on the screen. He's doing this kind of thing all the time now and it's so exciting.
Rourk stays busy at the office and most days I stay busy at the office too. (I play hookie from time to time to do things with Ryan at school.) We are quickly approaching the one year anniversary of his practice and I don't think we could have asked for more. The schedule is full and we're seeing new patients all the time and best of all--we're paying the bills. Hey, you worry about that when you decide to go into business for yourself. Our goal is for the practice to have the feel of a "family owned business" and I think we've achieved that. Especially on the days that Ryan comes up to the office and runs down the hall and into the lab looking for his Daddy.
I am glad to know that so many of you keep up with our lives through this site. I hope that you will take a brief moment to celebrate our news and thank God for this precious gift. More to come and I'll try not to be so hormonal in the future. Sniff, sniff.
Oh, and be sure to scroll down and check Ryan's Easter pictures.
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