[Mieyasmommy]

Hi there,

Well, we thought we were going to have a stress-free week as Monday our 'guardian angels' told us we were OUT of PGN!!!!!!! FOR REAL THIS TIME, LOL. So, now we find ourselves more nervous then ever! I worry about everything - 'will the birthmom change her mind?' 'will some family member/friend step up and want to adopt Mieya?' 'will they drag their feet AGAIN and delay and delay our case from completing?'...etc., etc., etc. CALGON - TAKE ME AWAY, lol

Is this normal to feel this nervous now? Have any of you had the same fears? When can we 'breathe out'...when the BC is in our name? When we get PINK? When Mieya is on US soil?

Thank You.

Mieyasmommy

[cr653]

i felt initial relief, happiness, then like you, instant..."what's next?"

i felt relief in stages...first when i HAD mira in my arms at the westin, then on the walk back after the embassy meeting, then again after i had that visa in hand.
but,
the real relief was when my plane came to a stop at my final
destination and passengers began getting their carryons down.
for them it was just another flight ending.
for me...
...i did it! i brought our baby home!
she was here,
and
she is ours!

i will remember each of these "moments" forever, but the last i can remember so clearly i can almost touch it!

blessings to you in these final waiting days!

love,
cris

[brinawynne]

cris, are expieriences sound similar. We celebrated EVERY step, from completing our HS to bringing Alex home. Every step was a sign of relief followed by...what do I wait for now? But my last sign of relief, it's all over, it FINALLY happened, was when we walked through the terminal gate in our hometown with Alex in my arms. We were finally home!!

[Amykk]

I think the first time I actually breathed a sigh of relief was when we had his visa in hand - I was nervous right up until the end, but mostly that was because our agency was having trouble with our attorney finishing up her final cases with them.
Of course, seeing him asleep in his crib here in our home was the absolute best!

[kahart]

I still remember all of those feelings, and for us, when the airplane took off in Guatemala and we had our little one sitting between us, I knew that I could breathe, we had really made it and she was coming home forever!

What an amazing feeling and now each morning as I wake to see her sweet face, I am so blessed and feel so proud to be Mom to three great kids!

I hope that your soon lifting off the ground in Guatemala with your little one right beside you and heading home!

[AddisonsMommy]

Well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20, you know? A lot of us shared the same type of "waves" of relief at different points in the process where a hurdle was overcome....DNA is a match, out of PGN, birth certificate and passport done in our last name, etc etc....But there are always cases of the unknown, and for that reason, here is my advice.

NEVER never rest. I'm telling you this not as a negative thing, but from personal, heartbreaking experience. On my pickup trip, as the legal mother to my daughter....still I was captured in Guatemala for 24 days last winter with a sick infant, and a US Embassy who treated me like dirt.

DO NOT breathe out...till you walk through the front door of your home, with your beloved child, safe in your loving arms.

Jen
still haunted by it all, sometimes

[GabrielsDad]

Didn't feel it until we stepped into our house as a full family.

[BEBE]

When we took off from the GC airport headed back home with our DD in my arms!!! And then when we landed in our home state and saw my other DD with my mom and dad waiting for us. I was so relieved by that point (that it was all over with and she was finally home with us, and we were with both of our girls, a complete family) that I burst into tears. Such a happy, happy day

[lisam951]

My sigh of relief came when we touched down in Atlanta with our dd in our arms. We weren't to our final destination, but we were HOME in the good ol' USA with our daughter. It was a great feeling.

[RLK913]

It is exciting and scary, but I didn't relax until Nathan was home in his room, in his own crib! He had been so fussy and difficult to soothe while in Guatemala, but as soon as we got home, he seemed content, almost as if he was meant to be there and knew instinctively that it was home and he was safe and never had to leave! What a wonderful and magical night that was!

[JohnnaMJH]

For me, I breathed the sigh of relief when the wheels of the plane touched down at home. I also had some major tears when they called our name for pink, but that is partly because we had a snag w/the Embassy losing our prints and denying pink at first. They promised it for the next day, but I didn't believe it until they called our name.

Good luck!

[readytobeamommy]

I did not believe it was real until we landed on US soil.......I felt good after we exited PGN (for a few days) and then it all began again......worry, worry and more worry.......

It all felt ok after we went through Immigration and it was surreal.......

Good luck!

[Opus36]

When the tires hit the tarmac in Houston.

[rdority]

I'm with you, Jen . . . I didn't feel total relief until we got home. I was so happy to be reunited with Lia, it was a wonderful feeling to be done with the embassy and it was great to land on US soil. But then we had to deal with all the crazy Miami drivers! So for me, the journey wasn't over until we walked in our house. Ahhhh! Home forever.

[BebitosMama]

I breathed the sigh of relief when we exited the Dallas Immigration office with Bebito, after the nice fellow there gave Bebito a high five and said

"Welcome to America, little guy!"

That's when I knew that nothing else -- no more idiotic previos, delays, missing forms, changes to the Guatemalan Constitution, signature differences, the evil Sr. Merida, the "We Delay, You Pray, and Then Please Go Away" Adoption Agency, attorney Sr. Speedy, PGN, the crazy lady in the civil registry, Unicef, the US Embassy -- NOTHING ELSE was going to keep our baby and us apart anymore!!!!!!

I seriously remember walking out of that Dallas Immigration office, and looking at DH, and saying, "this is really it. he's really our boy now."

Mary