Part 5: The Good Part

On November 3, 2009 as I was reading my bible a scripture stood out, actually it more like jumped off the page and screamed at me:

Heb 10:36 “You need to persevere, so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised”

Despite 3 years and 3 failed adoptions, I felt my faith soar on that day.

This was my verse. Afterward, I took our dog for a walk, praying as I went along. I felt very strongly that God was saying to me that it was time to set up the nursery. There was No Doubt in my heart that this is what God was telling me to do. I hoped it meant that a baby was coming soon, but I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was just another step of faith. I came home from my walk and told Russ what God had told me. I wasn’t exactly sure what his response would be, but he said OK.

So the next day we pulled our crib out of storage and put it together. We dug out all the carefully saved bins, and sorted through the baby stuff. It was not easy. What if I was being silly? What if we were disappointed again? But the more I worked on the nursery the more I felt my faith rise. I called my mom, Donna Hawkins and AnnJanetteToth and told them what we were doing. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Jessica that weekend to tell her.

That Sunday at church was the week that the Detweilers dedicated their adopted sons. When babies were dedicated at church, it was often hard for me to watch. I will admit to taking a bathroom break occasionally so I didn’t have to sit through them. This dedication was so special though, it was so awesome to see how God worked in their lives through adoption. Also our friend Justine Foster was visiting us that weekend. She too was in the process of waiting to adopt a child. I felt so encouraged.

November 10, 2009 was a Tuesday. I was on ER call. That means that if a patient comes in that doesn’t have a doctor at our hospital they would be assigned to my care. I get assigned to this call about once a month. Shortly before lunch I got a call from one of the ER doctors. There’s a patient here in labor, she not from around here, and by the way she didn’t know she was pregnant.

After getting the patient admitted, I stepped out to do some paperwork. Later,as I came back to the room to check on her, nurses look at me and one said in a very slow, deliberate voice, “Dr. Rupe, the patient wants to give her baby for adoption.” The entire room turned to see my response. The unit had watched us go through our loss, they knew what we had been through and how much we wanted a child.

At this moment I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest. “Would you consider my family, we have been waiting a long time to adopt a baby?”

“Yes” she simply said.

I then turned over her medical care to one of my partners and stepped into my office to hyperventilate. I called Russ and told him about the possibility. I then picked up the phone to call Jessica to ask her to pray (remember I hadn’t told her about setting up the nursery), and I noticed that I had a voice mail from her. Her voice mail said, “Heather, I had a dream last night that you had a baby. You have been on my heart and I‘ve been praying for you all morning.” Wow. I was shaking as I put down the phone, tears began to flow.

After the baby was born that night, our profile was given to the birth mom by the social workers. We prayed hard. The next morning, we met with the birth mom and she told us that she wanted us to have her son. I wept. We talked for awhile and I asked her why she came to our hospital since she lived several hours away. “I don’t know,” she said, "I really had no reason to come here. I just got in my car and started driving… I drove several hours up 65 until I saw this hospital.”

Later that day we got to meet Carson. We brought Ryan to the hospital and we all held him. He was so perfect and perfect for our family. There were so many happy tears on the unit that night.

It was a life group night and we got there a little late. When we walked in, Ryan told everyone the news, “For a long time there has only been 3 people in our family, but we prayed for a baby, and now we have 4 in our family.”

Let’s just say there was great rejoicing that night.

The next day we brought him home. As we left the hospital the nurses put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me out to the portico like a “real mom.” It was so special. I could feel all the love and support. He has been our son since that day and always will be.

A few weeks after Carson was born we were at a Christmas party and I overheard someone ask Russ, "What was the biggest surprise after you got him home?"

His answer warms my heart even now, "How quickly we fell in love with him. I thought it would take some time, but it was immediate."

So that’s my adoption story: After 3 years of waiting, a women drives for hours in pain, not even realizing that she is pregnant, to a hospital where I happen to be on call, a week after God told me to set up our nursery and a day after Jessica has a dream that I have a baby.

PS. Oh, and 3 days later we got this book deal and I find out I have 4 months to write a book.