April

Time to focus on baby... for a while

On April 6th, my birthday, we had our ultrasound. I was amazed when the tech pointed out our baby actually moving and thriving. Morbid though it may be, I was completely prepared for them to tell me that the baby wasn't alive, or that there hadn't actually been a baby at all. "Maybe you just ate some bad pork." But there was no denying that little creature inside me. Even better, it seemed to be in perfect shape. Good weight, perfect heartbeat, all the pieces in the right spots. We chose not to find out the gender. (Though we waffled just a bit the night before the ultrasound.)

I spent the next two weeks catching up on sleep, getting my stamina built back up, and having fun just Fritz and me again.

We just need to stop making plans, I think

On April 15th, we got a call early in the morning. Though they usually put a few months between foster placements, the agency had some more for us: an 8-year old boy and his 5-year old sister. We agreed to it almost immediately (because, as previously mentioned, we. are. insane). They asked how soon they could bring the kids over. We were still in our pajamas and the house was a wreck, so we told them we'd need at least an hour. They whined a bit, so we bumped it up to 45 minutes. A half hour later, there the kids were on our doorstep.

It was a conflicting day. Once they were there, I panicked and suddenly decided I didn't want to do this. Thanks anyway, take them back now. I begged Fritz to stay home from work, but he couldn't get off on such short notice. So it was just me and two little strangers in my house for the night. Suddenly everything I had ever known about children went flying right out the window.

Fortunately, they were wonderful kids. Incredibly obedient and eager to please, with fun happy personalities.

I wish I could summarize those last two weeks of April, but I honestly walked through them in a fog. It took a while for me to adjust to such an abrupt change. I know, I know, "You're the ones who signed up to be foster parents. Did you think it'd be easy from the get-go?" But you honestly just don't know how weird it's going to be until you're finally in that situation.

I did eventually get a grip on things, but that's a story for May.