The Referral Call

Since this blog was started well after I received the referral for Annie, I thought for posterity that I would back track a bit and write about my recollection of "the call".

Before I do this I need to give a little history (and it's a bit complicated so bear with me). On September 1, 2008 the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and Vietnam expired and until a new MOU is signed, there will not be any new referrals. About two months prior to September 1, the US government came out with a statement that unless Vietnam's Department of Intercountry Adoption issued a letter stating essentially that "Child A has been referred to Family X" prior to September 1, a referral would not be allowed to proceed to completion. While this letter has always been part of the process it was normally just part of the documents that are gathered at some point along the line, it's never been required to go from first base to second base. This new kink obviously pushed the "drop dead" date from September 1 to a month to several weeks to a month earlier since "the letter" was now a very important piece of paper.

Now without further ado, the call. It's Thursday July 24th, mid morning, I'm at my Fair Oaks office (yes I work out of two locations) and the phone rings. Of course there's no caller I.D. so I have no idea who is on the other line. I answer with my usual "what!" (kidding) and it's Pam from the agency asking me if I have a minute. And I of course I know exactly what this phone call means. It means that the agency is calling everyone near the top of the list to let them know that they will not be receiving a referral. So as my stomach drops toward the floor, I hear Pam mention something about a baby girl and would I like to hear more? Did you know that it's almost impossible to think or listen when your stomach is hovering around your knees? Somehow I manage to say "okay". Pam then continues to tell me the following (I'll also note what I actually wrote in a very shaky hand):

Birth date 10/11/07 (via C sec seation)

Arrived at the orphanage after a month long stay at the hospital on 11/12/07 (I wrote 11/12/08)

Birth weight - 5.95 lbs

Weight on 10/30 - 8.31 (okay I'm only guessing what this scribble means)

Tested negative for a punch of diseases (noted by a bunch of minus signs on the paper)

She's very cute (noted by a somewhat off kilter smiley face)

Then there are a bunch more scribbles that I have no idea what they mean. I don't know if she was telling me more or I was doodling because of nerves. In addition, I also recall saying "okay" a lot. Pam also told me she had some medical information for me to review and pictures to see if I was interested. I said yes to the medical and no to the pictures since I knew that until I knew that we had "the letter" nothing was official . So for 4 long weeks, I told only two people and waited and waited. Not sure if it was real, not sure if the referral would fall through, just plain not sure and eating a lot of peppermint patties to boot.

Then on Thursday August 21st, I found out that everything had fallen into place and these are a couple of the first pictures I ever saw of my adorable little girl. And yes I was in love immediately. Can you blame me?