Step It Up

We received an update today that our post-referral, pre-travel paperwork is on Step 6 of the steps I outlined here.  This is great news; sometimes people linger in Steps 2-6 for months, and we're just six weeks out from Noelle's referral.  So:  woo!  Go, paperwork, go! 

A couple of the steps yet to come are longer; Step 8 can take 30-45 business days and Step 12 (getting visa pre-approval from the US) can last (gulp) 60 business days.  But!  Progress has been made, and progress is always good.  It's still within the realm of possibility that we could meet Noelle before her first birthday, which would be just incredible -- pretty much all day, every day and often much of the night, I am praying that we can be with her for her birthday.  So far, so good.

We also just completed one of our pre-adoption education requirements, an infant/child CPR and safety class.  It was exactly the sort of thing to tap into every anxiety you might have about becoming a parent:  drowning!  severe burns!  choking!  carbon monoxide poisoning!  and a little something called "taxi face", which is apparently what can happen (to adults, too, mind you) if you're in an accident in a cab and you're not wearing your seatbelt.  You know those plexiglass dividers between you and the driver?  Yeah, apparently it's not so enjoyable to slam into that with your face.   

Anyway, we're now masters at the Heimlich maneuver and age-appropriate variations on CPR.  The most awkward part of the class was having to tap the doll's feet and shout, "Baby!  Wake up!  Wake up baby!" at the lifeless plastic form in front of us before starting the breaths and chest compressions.  I'm all for learning life-saving skills and all, but it was just the two of us and the instructor, so I felt a hair self-conscious getting all urgent and everything. 

I'm only slightly more terrified about parenthood now than before (REALLY A LOT MORE TERRIFIED), because of all the DANGER lurking in our home and out in the world, all those things that could potentially threaten our preshus babeh.  As far as I'm concerned, we're going to ban grapes, carrots, hot dogs, nuts, balloons, knives, medications, cleaning products, corners, and hot liquids of any kind from our household until Noelle is, oh, 25.  Even the thought of baby-proofing makes me sweat, because what if we miss something or do something wrong?  WHAT IF?  Panic in the nursery!  But then I think of how we've all managed to stay alive all this time, so surely it can't be that hard.  Right?  (DANGER!)

Speaking of being in a sweat, last night on the way home from work, I was on the subway and all of a sudden I felt The Faint coming on.  I felt all hot and dizzy and started seeing static before my eyes.  I put my head between my knees and tried to tense all my muscles (after I fainted at work last year, my doctor told me that tensing up could stave off one of my famed vaso-vagal episodes), and then stumbled off the train at the next stop so I could get up to street level and breathe some fresh air (I did not want to be the "sick passenger" who delays the train and pisses off passengers all up and down the line).  As I walked uptown, I had to stop a couple of times to crouch down and get my head low again (I looked super cool, let me tell you).  And then I was pretty much ok and made it home without incident.

In addition, I'm not sure if it's allergies or what, but I have this sort of malaise right now, with all-over body/muscle/joint aches and occasional sweats and vague headaches and fatigue, which may or may not have been related to the near-fainting incident (as I've mentioned, those can come on at any time, for any reason or no reason at all -- it's a great party trick).  I remember feeling this way at the beginning of last spring and in the early fall, so maybe it's a weird seasonal disturbance of my bodily rhythms.  I am ready for it to be over, regardless.

Although, really, I can't complain about that or anything else, because:  Step 6!  Holla! 

Comments

[Shelly]

I'm sort of opposed to the comparison of horror stories....surgeries, labors, and the like, but I must tell you that my boys were....oh....probably TWELVE before they ate a piece of hard candy without me breaking it up. And even then, when I found out, it put me into a panic. I cut their hot dogs into 4 strips, then into cubes and back into the bun until they were RIDICULOUSLY old........It's easy to laugh NOW, but it made SO MUCH SENSE to me then.

[pseudostoops]

I had a similar episode on the El a few weeks back and barely made it off the car and up the first flight of stairs before I sort of buckled at the knees and had to LIE DOWN on the FLOOR OF THE EL STATION EW EW EW and not one single person stopped to see if I was okay, which left me feeling kind of miffed. Will have to try the muscle-tensing thing in the future.

[Kelly]

Yeah for your moving up in Steps, boo for your malaise, btw that's one of my fav words. There's nothing worse than feeling ill on the subway (unless it's on the Tube in London and you are stuck for 45 minutes without any info about when it will start moving again, ooh, bad memory). I'm so excited that you are moving quickly toward Noelle. Hopefully things will move as quickly the rest of the way (for both of our families.)

Kelly

[nonsoccermom]

Yay! Glad things are moving smoothly toward bringing Noelle home, I can't even imagine your excitement.

[Lawyerish]

Shelly -- OMG, hard candy. Definitely banned from our house. THE PANIC.

Pseudo -- Lying down IN THE STATION. Thank God I did not get to that point, but I could totally see that happening to me. Totally.

Kelly -- I hope you get your approval ASAP! I want to see you on a plane to VN!!

NSM -- Thank you! It's starting to feel very real now...

[Paula]

You found one of my phobias - throwing up (or just getting sick) on the train. Or needing to throw up while you're stuck in traffic on the expressway. Horrid.

I was so afraid of hot dogs and grapes that Will never got any until he was about three. Now...he runs about the backyard hot dog in hand in the summer. Oh, and runs around the whole house for a solid month at Christmas with a candy cane - one of the big hard-candy whoppers! :)

[Lara]

I really like the idea of banning corners from your home. Heh.