Home … Part Five

Five Years Ago Today … an Abby’s Road anniversary

            October 12, 2009.  

            Starting at page 180:

            “(late) On Sunday, October 11th, 2009 we were home after 23 long days away. Our life had changed irreversibly. One chapter closed and another started – as it had on our wedding day.

            We put Abigail in her bassinette and went to bed. I awoke hours later thinking the baby was choking, but it was only Mau the cat sitting on our comforter giving us a welcome-home hairball.

            The next day Esther was on the couch with cats Fizzy and Mau jockeying for position on her lap. Abigail snuggled on my chest, Warlock the cat on my right side and Nebula the cat on my left. I sat in my comfy green chair with my feet propped high. My chair, my home, my family. Life is … zzzzzzzzzzzzz …”

***

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

On our way home … Part Four

Five Years Ago Today … an Abby’s Road anniversary

            October 11, 2009. A train ride from Washington to Chicago to St. Louis … breakfasting with British cousins and putting up with the Australian Octomom and Captain Dig Me. Then finally … finally ….

            Starting at page 176:

            “Fond and familiar cities rumbled past: Springfield, Alton…

            By six that evening we pulled into the St. Louis station.  My father was there to meet us.

            Two days before, late that frantic Friday afternoon, we called him to give him the news.  “So you’ll be home Sunday night,” was the first thing he said.             

            “How did you know that?”

            “Your sister called me. She saw it on the computer.” He volunteered his time working for the city clerk, and the clerk and his secretary kept a Facebook watch to give Dad all the news.

            And now here is my father waiting for us at the station. I have never been happier to see his face in my adult life.

            “Hi, Dad.”

            “Did you have a nice trip?  Where’s that bad mandolin music coming from?”

            “I’d rather not talk about it. I’d like to introduce you to your new granddaughter.”

            He said he finally has a brown-haired brown-eyed girl; he has always wanted a brown-haired brown-eyed girl.

            He drove our car to the train station.  We had a baby seat installed for free that summer by the fire department during one of those baby-seat safety seminars they give a few times a year. When we got south of Mascoutah, Abigail cried. Esther asked us to pull over so she could feed the baby – Dad and I rode in front.

            We told her to take her out of the seat and feed her.

            “We’re not supposed to do that.”

            “No jury in the world will convict us. All we need is one mother on it…” It’s good to be a lawyer again.

            We went to my sister’s house in Coulterville. She took plenty of pictures and plenty of children looked at their new cousin. My sister held Abigail the entire time.

            We found out later that she was pregnant at that time – she just found out – but kept quiet for a few months to let Abigail be the only baby for a while.

            The plan was to stay in Coulterville at Dad’s house overnight. But we wanted to go home. We’ve wanted to go home for the past 23 days. Now that we were an hour away only extreme fatigue would stop us.

            We said our goodbyes, loaded up on caffeine at the convenience store and headed home.

            Our other babies, the cats, stayed in the basement this entire time. Relax, our basement was bigger than my first apartment. We asked our house-sitter to let them up from their basement home the day before.

            When I walked in with our luggage, two of them sat by the dining room table and watched who came in. I called their names. When Warlock saw me, he stalked toward me. I petted his head as Esther came in with the baby.

            By the time I moved the car to the garage and came back inside; Esther sat on the floor as the cats rubbed against her and the baby seat. Warlock sniffed at Abigail. Abigail stared back. I snapped a quick photo. The caption: “What the hell are you,” each asked the other.

***

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

On our way home … Part Three

Five Years Ago Today … an Abby’s Road anniversary

            October 10, 2009. We received permission from New York AND Illinois to go home. We got our train tickets and headed to Penn Station. From there to the nation’s capital.

            Starting at page 171:

            “Among the many nice things about babies is there is no need for an alarm clock. Among the many horrible things about babies is there is no need for an alarm clock. By the time the alarm rang at four that Saturday morning we had already fed and changed Abigail, showered and packed our last bits of belongings. I paid our bill (actually Capital One did and I paid them – still paying them for that matter) and pushed our luggage carrier to the motel shuttle.

            Other people were on the shuttle for the Long Island Railroad station that morning too. That surprised me – it was 4:30 for gosh sakes! It took a long time to get to the station, and the train pulled up just as we paid for our tickets to Penn Station. We found a nice niche to ourselves and settled back for the next hour or so.

            The ticket-taker walked past a few times. We laughed as men bolted the train during stops as the ticket-taker approached. They had no ticket and were riding for free. Thieves!

            Soon we were at famous Penn Station. I thought about looking around, but decided against it. It was a long walk to the Amtrak station, but the way was clearly marked. There were a few homeless people sleeping in the hallways as we passed. We don’t have much of that in our small town so it was hard for me to ignore them. I thought about the hundreds of people that pass by without as much as a glance. Are they cold for doing so? No, not really; but that in itself is also a problem, isn’t it?

            A friendly Amtrak lady checked us in and told us that since we had a sleeper car for the trip from DC to Chicago, we could stay in the VIP lounge at all three stations. We were prepared to lay on benches and wait, but instead spent our layovers on comfy couches with clean bathrooms and complementary sodas, tea, coffee and snacks.

            I kept Abigail snuggled on my chest while in the lounge at Penn Station. The train to Washington DC was delayed in Boston for several hours. I wasn’t worried about missing our connection – it wasn’t for another twelve hours.

            Esther took some photos of Abigail and me trying to snooze. The VIP lounge was the perfect tonic. We got to relax. It reminded me of going to Long Island – this was happening. Really happening. We are forty-eight hours from home.“

***

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

On our way home … Part Two

Five Years Ago Today … an Abby’s Road anniversary

            October 9, 2009. John Lennon’s birthday. I hoped that would be a good omen …

            When we last left our adventurers, we waited for one of the most bureaucratically-ensnarled states of the union to approve the interstate compact so we could go home. It was the Friday before a three-day weekend. Oy …

            Starting at page 169:

            “Illinois is an hour behind New York, so the offices there would not open until 10:00 a.m. our time. We weren’t expecting any news from Ronnie until noon. … I also posted (on Facebook) “(t)hanks for all the prayers for us getting to go home today. No luck though. Anyone want to join me for prayers to Wotan? Baal? Any deity that will listen?”

            Noon passed. So did 1:00. Then 2:00. Then 3:00. Esther lay down in bed and cried.  A few minutes later she fell asleep. The baby was fed and she slept as well. I stayed up and played World of Warcraft and waited for the baby to wake up.

            Soon it was four o’clock our time; three o’clock in Illinois.

            Three o’clock the Friday before a three-day weekend at a government office. By now people were sneaking between the partitions and cubicles, jumping through the bathroom windows and pushing their cars out of the parking lots.  Once out of earshot they’ll start the engine and get the hell out of there. The smart ones took that Friday off months before – those left were the bitter employees who were too late to get their vacation requests approved in time.

            Ties are loosened; wine and beer bottles are opened. The radio plays. “Two more hours and we’re outta here,” someone shouts from across the room. Is someone smoking? That’s doesn’t smell like tobacco…

            I took my frustrations out on my fellow WOW gamers. When I had finished at four o’clock I started a Facebook post; I took my previous post to its inevitable conclusion:

            “Oh Mighty Baal, please strike dead those who decided we should not be allowed to go home this weekend and curse their spawn to the third generation.”

            I was ready to hit “Send” when Esther’s cell phone rang. She woke up and said hello in a groggy voice.

            It was Ronnie.

            We were approved to take the baby home.

            I told Esther to shut off the phone in case he calls back and said it was a mistake. We would crinkle some foil in front of the phone. “Sorry, bad signal – we’re already in Pennsylvania – what? What?”

            I could not have made the timing up. If I wrote it as part of a story the editors, critics and the reading masses would tear it to pieces. “What kind of melodramatic shit is this?”

            I added to my Facebook post: “ – hold on! As I type this we got our call! We’re going home!!! Jesus came through at the last minute! Hurrah for Jesus (but you cut it pretty close there, Godboy! Watch it!!)!!”

            Esther was a little more pleasant. She always is… “Praise God!!! We are cleared to take Abigail home. Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers. We’ll be offline a couple of days. Facebook by cell phone for now. Please ignore Mike’s post.”

            Harrumph!

***

The cover of Abby’s Road

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

On our way home … Part One

Five Years Ago Today … an Abby’s Road anniversary

            We spent the week after Abby was born moving to a new motel, feeding, changing and caring for our little daughter. But we were still a thousand miles away from family and friends. She had reflux, but by switching formula and giving her some medication she felt better. I wish we felt better…

            Starting at page 168:

            “Ronnie called us on Thursday, October 8^th. The state of New York cleared us for interstate travel.

            “Woo-hoo!” I said, “We can take the train outta here tomorrow!”

            Nope. Illinois has to approve it, too. The paperwork is scheduled to arrive in Springfield tomorrow at 9:00 am.

            Um, wasn’t that supposed to have been done Monday?

             The timing could not have been worse. If the Department of Children and Family Services – or whoever would be in charge of such things – verbally approves our taking Abigail to Illinois Friday, we can go home.

            That Monday was Columbus Day. If they didn’t approve it on Friday, it will be Tuesday. Or later.

            One of my very best friends from law school works in Springfield for the Illinois senate. “Maybe we can call him and see if he can help,” Esther said. I said I doubted that he could. We didn’t call him.

            Esther got on Facebook and asked friends to pray the paperwork was on the top of the anonymous bureaucrat’s pile.

            I was more direct: “Everyone pray that we get verbal approval tomorrow. Pray! I SAID PRAY DAMN YOU!!!! Er, rather, we appreciate your prayers at this juncture…”

            I was desperate and angry. “Let’s go home.  Who’s going to know?”

            “We’re not doing anything that will get us in trouble,” Esther said.  She was right of course. And if it came to it I would have stayed.  I just felt like saying it out loud.

            That evening we ate at a 1950s-style diner. The waitress oohed and aahed over Abigail. An older couple came over to see her, as did a small child (Abby does that now – she’s done that ever since she’s been able to walk – babies love to look at babies).

            It was a wonderful meal. It was a wonderful diner filled with wonderful people.

            It gave us no joy.”

***

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

Happy … um … day after your Birthday!

Five Years Ago Today … an Abby’s Road anniversary

            October 2, 2009. The baby was born the evening before and we were able to go see her that evening.

            Starting at page 145:

            “A plastic baby bed was wheeled into the room. Abigail was lying on it with her head poking out of a white blanket with sea-green, pink and white stripes. She had a thin spread of hair on the top and sides of her head. She had acne on her cheek.

            To me babies either look like Churchill or Gandhi. Abby was firmly in the Churchill camp. She had full lips – puffy lips – and thick cheeks and jowls. She had a round button nose and long eyelashes. Her ears were flat against her head.  Everything looked proportioned – the ears, eyes (or at least her eyelids), mouth and nose were neither too small nor too large for her head. She looked like a baby doll.

            She was so beautiful.

            The baby bed had clear plastic walls on each side. A pink slip of paper was taped near the top of one wall. It read “Abigail (Valerie’s last name)”. Valerie agreed to call her Abigail from the start. When Abby starts to rebel as a teen and gives us the “You’re not my real parents! Curry isn’t my real last name” treatment, we can at least say her name was always Abigail.

            Esther snuck a photo from her cell phone. I asked the nurse at the station if we could take pictures. I had brought my camera hoping we could. The nurse said, “We usually don’t allow it, but you can take a few. That will be okay.”

            I was a good boy and only took four pictures. The first photo looked like she had snot all over her top lip, but there was a lot of grime and slime on the glass/mesh walls of the nursery as well as the plastic walls of the baby bed. What looked like copious boogers was just goo on the clear plastic wall – a strange experiment in forced perspective. The entire time she slept on her right side. She didn’t move or cry while we were there.

            Esther leaned in front of the window the entire time. She wore her blue cape and stood as still as stone for twenty minutes watching her daughter. I took advantage of the zoom lens to take photos around her. She smiled the entire time. Esther was as beautiful as her baby. Still is.

            It was time to go. We smiled at Abigail one last time and went through the vault door, into the elevator and out into the cold dark. We went home and posted our photos on Facebook.  Valerie’s attorney called us – at 5:00 the next evening we could take her home…”

***

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

The Waiting is the Hardest Part – well, I’m pretty sure actually giving birth is harder than waiting, but …

Five Years Ago Today … an Abby’s Road anniversary

            October 1, 2009. The baby is due today. We’ve been told that before …

Starting at page 145:

“… Today Valerie will be induced and the baby born. She was scheduled to go into the hospital at 7:00 am.  Except for drive-through in the nearby McDonalds we spent the day in our motel room.

…

            She will share a birthday with actors Walter Matthau, James Whitmore, Tom Bosley, George Peppard, Julie Andrews, Richard Harris, Rod Carew and St. Louis Cardinal’s Mark McGwire.  It is also the birthday of Randy Quaid, with whom I share a bond. At the time he made news for also running up a $10,000.00 motel bill.

            “What are you mumbling about?” Esther said.

            “I was just thinking, today is Thursday. How does that go?  Monday’s child is full of grace, Tuesday’s child is in your face, Wednesday’s Child had roast beef, Thursday’s child had none, Destiny’s Child sang ‘Bootilicious’… “

            “Sweetie, I think you need to take a nap…”  And so I did.

…

            Esther posted on Facebook – today was the day. She asked for prayers for an easy and safe delivery. “And fast,” I added, “Don’t forget fast or it will be a three-month delivery! Don’t give God any wiggle room here!”

            “Sweetie, nap.”

            “Yes, my dearest love. Zzzzzz…”

            Esther’s cell phone rang at 11:30. It was Jonathan! Here it is! This is it!

            “There’s been some progress, but the baby hasn’t been born yet.”

            Facebook post at noon: Birthmother still “in labor” – this kid will be born with a driver’s license.

            Facebook post, 1:00 pm: The baby better be born soon: the only thing left to do is a Howard Jones concert this weekend. And I’ll go! GOD HELP ME, I’LL GO!!!

            Facebook post, 2:00 pm: C’mon Abigail, I’m starting to take this personally. I think she’s grabbed hold of an intestine and refuses to come out. {Yank, yank} “No, you can’t make me!!!”

            Esther’s cell phone rang again at 3:00 pm. It was Jonathan! Here it is! This is it!

            Facebook Post, 3:30 pm: Nothing yet! Doctor had a C-section to do (read: tough par three) and will “check in” on birth mother. She’s been given pain meds. Me? None. Esther has been sedated.

            Esther’s Facebook Post, 4:00 pm: At 3:30 the Doctor had not been back in to check – off doing a c-section on another patient. Pains were getting stronger at that time. No word yet. Still waiting…

            And that was the last we heard that day. I got McDonald’s drive-through for dinner and Esther and I waited for news.

            Facebook Post, 10:00 pm: good grief.

            I remembered Mark Twain: “All good things arrive unto them that wait – and don’t die in the meantime.”

            Esther’s Facebook Post, 10:10 pm: No news. Will update when we know more.

            By 10:30 I was ready to go to bed.

            And the evening and the morning were the 13^th day…”

***

            (SPOILERS AHEAD)

            I slept through the night; that surprised me. I expected to wake at any noise thinking it was the phone. Esther woke shortly after I did – around eight or so. We were both still lying in bed reading when her cell phone rang at ten.

            It was Jonathan. Here we go again. Valerie was sent home. False alarms, maybe next week.

            Abigail was born on October 1, 2009 at 11:10 pm, seven pounds, fourteen ounces. Twenty and three-fourths inches.

            Our daughter is here!

            My little baby girl is here!

            …

            …

            …

            So now what?

***

The cover of Abby’s Road

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry