Adoption Bump

As we wait for news from our adoption agency (and read too many People magazines), I suddenly realized that I want a "bump." And with adoption, you don't get a bump. There are no outward--or even psychologically meaningful inward--signs of movement. Gestation implies development and thus charts progress toward the day of delivery. We're on "the list," of course, and that's certainly an affirmation, a movement forward that seemed far off when we first began this process, but I want more. The next big notice will be our referral, when we are matched to a child and we receive a photo and the news. But that's some time off and in the meantime, bubkes.

In talking with a friend who adopted last year, she noted how uncertain the whole adoption process can be and that sometimes some information is too much information. Not infrequently adoptive parents will receive a referral and be given a time frame for completing local adoption procedures, only to find that local developments dramatically alter this schedule. So perhaps knowing less in uncertain conditions is the better way to go. It certainly prepares you for parenthood.

Still, I may just have to make a t-shirt that says, "I'm extraterritorially pregnant."

16 September 2006; 0 comments