Three Kids!

Here's part of the conversation we had at our apartment in Krasnoyarsk, Russia after our court hearing on August 3rd in which the judge approved our petition to adopt Nadia & Eliana:

Linda: I have something to tell you about the kids we're going to raise.

Andy: Okay.

Linda: There are going to be at least three.

Andy: (blank look)

Linda: I just took a pregnancy test, and it's positive!

The look on Andy's face was priceless - a combination of shock, delight, and amusement!

I first began to suspect I might be pregnant on our first day in Russia on our trip to adopt our girls. I might have noticed symptoms earlier if I hadn't been so preoccupied getting ready for our big trip. But having a day to rest in Moscow, I began to reflect on a few symptoms and wonder...I decided to wait a few days before taking a pregnancy test, partly to confirm and partly to not let us get too distracted from the joy of being reunited with our girls and the business of preparing for court.

I knew I couldn't tell anyone my suspicions. Well, I could have told Andy, but I didn't want to get his hopes up until I knew for sure. I knew it would be best not to tell anyone we were working with in Russia who was helping us with our adoption process, because if they knew, it might be harder for us to adopt. We have friends who adopted a boy from Russia when she was 8 months pregnant, and the judge questioned them all the harder, with questions like, "Will you love this boy you're adopting as much as the baby you will give birth to?" Their answer was and continues to be a definite yes, but it wasn't easy to convince the judge of that. Knowing their experience, I just figured we'd save ourselves trouble by keeping this a secret.

After experiencing the joy of being reunited with our girls and after the pressure of court was over, I decided it was time to take a pregnancy test. I really wanted to know and could hardly wait anymore! The next challenge would be obtaining a pregnancy test in Russia without asking anyone I knew for help and not knowing the Russian word for pregnancy. I walked to the drugstore a half block from our apartment and looked around. Of course, all the labels were in Russian. There were three young women working there, all near the front of the store, wondering how they could help me. So I said in Russian, "I want to know if I'm...", then made a gesture for a pregnant belly. Immediately, all three of them responded, "Test!" I smiled, "Da!" One quickly handed me a pregnancy test. I smiled, paid for it, thanked her, and walked back to our apartment.

I immediately took the test, which confirmed what I had suspected. I looked at it in disbelief. I had taken pregnancy tests before, hopeful, but it had always been negative. Quite some time ago I stopped hoping I would ever become pregnant. So you can imagine my surprise when, now, at the age of 41, on our trip to adopt two girls, I had my first positive pregnancy test in my life!

In our earlier years, Andy & I had hoped to both have children biologically and to adopt. As years passed and I hadn't become pregnant, we assumed we would adopt children only. Upon learning of my pregnancy, we were both amused by God's timing. Clearly He led us to adopt. If I would have gotten pregnant earlier in our adoption process, our adoption agency would have told us to wait a year after giving birth before moving forward. But because we didn't know I was pregnant until we were already in Russia to adopt our girls, it didn't slow down our adoption process. Andy & I also reflected on how difficult it would have been for us to go through this whole adoption process, including being gone for a month, if we already had a child. And once we had done everything we needed to do for the adoption process, God wasted no time in then providing for us a biological pregnancy as well.

So after the initial shock wore off, we went out to dinner to celebrate our impending parenthood - of Nadia, Eliana, and the baby inside me. I think both of us were too excited to sleep well that night.

The next morning:

Linda: How did you sleep?

Andy: Not so well.

Linda: That's not surprising. You had a big day yesterday. You became a father of three!

Andy smiled.