Happy Monday!

I was pretty bummed coming into the office today because I was thinking about the email that I had to send H's social worker L. Plus today is my first day on a pager shift for work and I have it until Friday morning - YUCK! I was not the happiest camper rolling into the parking lot today.

I sent social worker L an email that I had yet to talk to H recently and that I had left H another message on Friday afternoon. I knew she was having problems with cell phone minutes and I'm sure it is resolving itself but I was pretty disappointed that I hadn't been able to talk to her myself in a week and a half. I was wanting to get in some more "getting to know you" conversations before everything goes down, but if we don't, we don't. We will have plenty of time for that later. I just want H to know that we are thinking about her.

My phone rang shortly after getting into the office and it was H's lawyer's office. I have been working with "N" in that office and she does a great job of keeping everyone informed on what is going on. She was calling this morning to tell me two big things that have happened recently. The first being that H was able to meet with them last week and she signed some of the preliminary papers that would allow the lawyer to file the TPR (Termination of Parental Rights) petition with the court. Obviously H cannot officially sign the "real" TPR until the baby actually arrives, but this allows her lawyer to get on the books with the courthouse. The hearing that the state requires to make the TPR permanent will be scheduled faster. This one surprised me! I had no idea they could do this but it is very good because things are moving in a great direction!

The second big item is that the birth father was served with papers last week that said he was going to be named as the father to H's baby and that there was an adoption plan in the works. It said that he could contest if he wanted. The law firm received a letter from him this morning that said that he didn't believe that he was the father (not a surprise), but that if the lawyer could attest that the adoptive family was "good", that he would sign away his parental rights and not hold the process up. The only thing that he asked was that he be called after the birth to let him know what the gender of the baby is. So this was also very welcome news to us as well! The next time I will talk to N will be after the baby is here! She said things are looking very very good from her standpoint. Every bit of encouraging news helps!

L sent me an email that she had talked to H and her cell phone issue was resolved yesterday. Then L proceeded to say that H was expecting my call this afternoon! She is afraid about bothering me at work so asked that I call her when I had a free minute. So I called H and we had a great conversation!

Her back is still very bad... and she is soooo bored that she is sleeping to pass the time. I'm glad she is able to get some rest! Her doctor has not even mentioned an induction because she might just take him up on it! She also cannot get an appointment with a chiro because they said she is too close to delivering and they are afraid of putting her in labor. Like that is a bad thing! LOL She gave me a few reviews of movies she has rented lately. H gives "Knocked Up" two thumbs up! I haven't seen it yet although I have heard great things about it. Her next doctor's appointment is tomorrow at 11am and she said she was going to call me if she is dialated any more. Last week she was at 1cm so we are HOPING for some good progress tomorrow! Otherwise I said I would call her later in the week to check in on her.

She sounds in very good spirits and said hopefully she will be calling within the next few days to tell me she is in labor. I told her how excited we are to come see her. The preliminary plan is to call me when she thinks she might be in labor. Then after she gets checked out at the hospital, she will call again to let us know for sure that they are either keeping her or sending her back home. So at least we can start getting ready to travel but wait for the final word to make sure. We're hoping for sooner rather than later! I think an October baby will be great but she will get here when she wants to get here.

So Little Roo... where are you??!!