The Phone Call

In my pursuit of BabyBoy's birth parents, I contacted their last known places of employment. BirthMom's places of employment really as BirthDad doesn't really work. Sure, he's going to go back to work as soon as _____ fill in the blank. So this one place I went into and left a picture of BabyBoy along with my cell phone number. The people there said they had "no idea how to contact" BirthMom as she had quit "months ago". The way they looked and acted let me know otherwise, but when more time passed I began to wonder if maybe they weren't telling the truth afterall. Then one afternoon during possibly the busiest week of the holiday season I got a phone call. BirthMom had been meaning to go by and pick up the picture of BabyBoy that THEY HAD CALLED AND TOLD HER ABOUT and she had just got it and called me right away. See, she was getting ready to head to the hospital in order to be induced the following day.

I think I may have held my breath too long as I didn't know what to say to that.

The baby wasn't due until January. BirthMom continues to have her babies weeks early, all by induction, and they come out tiny and struggling. But I knew she didn't want a lecture on leaving her buns in the oven until proper baking time. Instead I said congratulations.

Somehow we moved on to talking about the adoptive mom and how they knew her and how that whole thing was going. I admit to being sad when BirthMom told me they had already "done the adoption" but felt better when she assured me that the adoptive mom wanted the new baby and BabyBoy to know one another. Selfishly I asked if they had considered me and they both replied that they had but didn't know how to contact me. They claimed to have asked the SW for my information, but the SW said they did not. I understood why they chose who they did once more information was revealed. They were staying with this woman and her family most of the time as they didn't have electricity, water, heat, a stove or refrigerator, nor a washer and dryer at their own place. They didn't have income or transportation and didn't get signed up for WIC or any other assistance. They expected to get to see the baby on a near daily basis. So, sitting there on the side of the road at the edge of the Staples parking lot, I made my peace with it.

Before we hung up, BirthMom invited me to bring BabyBoy to the birth of his sibling. I jumped at the chance to be there. I could already envision pictures of BabyBoy with his new baby sister and their Birth Parents. Is it a normal family portrait? No, but it was a picture I wanted for his baby book nonetheless.

But before we could go to the hospital, there was one call I had to make for I knew something that the birth parents did not.