The seven year miracle.

Baby #1 arrived approximately 9 months and 4 hours after I told the Canuck, "I want a baby." Baby #2 arrived about 10 months and 3 minutes after I told the Canuck, "I want another baby." Baby #3 didn't make her appearance until 7 years after I told the Canuck, "I really think we need another baby."

Those 7 years were loooonnnnnggggggg.... It didn't take 7 years by choice, it took 7 years because it did. The end. During that time, 596 babies were born in my neighborhood and I went from being the crazy-baby-loving-lady to the crazy-babies-make-me-sad-lady. I hated being that lady. She's a downer.

Finally, after the heartache from failed fertility treatments ebbed a bit, the Canuck and I decided we'd better pursue the adoption route. We didn't know if it would work for us, but we never ever wanted to say, "We should have at least tried."

We went for it. I could fill up an entire disertation on the adoption process, however I will sum it up in three parts- Paperwork, Paperwork, and Paperwork. oh and money. (our baby bills should be paid off in 2024. and I'm not joking.)

Let's fast forward to the month our PAPERWORK was complete- December 2008. We attended the temple with our ward and at the end of our session we found out about Bun. Kinda. Sorta. Not really, but in a way we did. Follow that?

A dear friend of ours hugged me in the temple that night, looked me in the eye and said, "February is going to be a very good month for you. It's going to work out for you." (To this day, she says she doesn't know why she was prompted to say this to me. She just felt it and said it.)

Let's fast forward to January. January came and went with all our usual birthday grandeur (this year it was curling at the Olypmic Oval and snow shoeing in Heber). That was January.

Next comes February, THE MONTH. On Friday the 13th of February, our caseworker called to say that a birthmum wanted to meet our family on Monday. Our caseworker wanted us to know that this birthmum wasn't due for a while- middle of March. This birthmum isn't sure she wants to place her baby. She's not sure you're the family if she does. etc. etc. etc. To say that we felt like we were on a crazy emotional roller coaster that weekend would be a lie. We felt like we were on the Witches Wheel of emotions. That's the ride that spins you around and goes upside down and you don't know where you are but you think you might throw up at any second. That was the ride we were on! And here's a secret for you- I couldn't help but think, "I thought February was our month, this mum isn't due until March." (I was still holding on to that little temple experience from December.)

And then came Monday. And the phone call that I THOUGHT was going to go something like this:

Caseworker: "Oh hi, I'm sorry but birthmum has decided she can't meet with you. She's got some issues to work out. These things happen. O.K.? bah bye."

Acutally it went more like this:

me: (expecting the worst), "Hello?"

Caseworker: "Hi. I just wanted to let you know that the birthmum meeting is still on, but we had to change the location."

me: (still thinking the worst), "Oh, o.k."

Caseworker: "The baby just didn't want to wait any longer. She was born about 3 hours ago. You're going to meet at the hospital, is that alright?"

At this point I stopped breathing while she told me about the baby and deep down inside I thought, "IT'S FEBRUARY! FEBRUARY IS OUR MONTH!"

I spent the next couple hours pacing, getting ready, and trying to find flowers to give to the birthmum. (someday I'll tell the flower story) Those hours made the weekend's Witches Wheel ride feel like the carousel in front of K-Mart. I tried hard to be calm and casual and optimistic. That is very hard to do when you feel like you're bungee jumping off a moving train over the Grand Canyon filled with alligators. Somehow I managed to get the kids and meet the Canuck at the hospital without being eaten by the alligators.

We met our caseworker, we met birthmum's caseworker, and then... And then we met Bun. Bun was just a little itty bitty thing (she came early- had to make it here in February I guess) and had a face only a birthmum and mommy could love. Bun's birth was what they nicely call "precipitous." Or in other words, "that baby shot out so fast she would've landed in the next room if the nurse hadn't caught her!" And when you're born like that, your face takes a beating. She was purple from forehead to chin, her eyeballs were even bruised, and her nose... oh my... it didn't turn the right color for a couple weeks! SHE WAS PERFECT!

We all took turns holding Bun and falling in love with her. The next day her birthmum signed the papers that said Bun would be ours. After that, we ate snacks and played games. It was our very first family night with Bun. In that moment, all the craziness, the tears, and the disappointment of waiting seven years to get baby #3 completely disappeared. Now we know why it took 7 years, we were just waiting for Bun to get here. That's all. Life is like that sometimes and you just have to wait it out.