There are a lot of things that you must do when preparing to adopt a child. I won’t even begin to list it all here. However, there are also other things that are helpful and can make the journey easier with a little planning.
When I found out that our daughter’s birth mom was considered a high risk pregnancy and had previously delivered at just 28 weeks, I began packing over a month before her due date. People thought I was crazy. I had a car seat, outfit, diapers, and other small baby essentials before we even had a baby shower. The nursery was ready. My bags were packed and sitting by the front door. (I did add to them once we had the shower though. It was basically just tons of baby clothes.) Even though people thought I was “over preparing” it turned out to be a blessing. When my daughter’s birth mother called and said, “I’m in labor they are doing an emergency c-section now”, I didn’t have to run around the house like a mad woman trying to get everything ready for an extended stay in another state. I did carry a very heavy suitcase down the steps to my car with super-human speed though! My baby was going to be born and although I knew I’d never make it there for her birth, I wanted to be there as soon as possible. We had a 16 hour drive. I’m happy to say we made it there with everything we needed (and following the speed limit) when our little girl was just 15 hours old.
Another thing we did that helped was having all our bills together. We had those by the door too. We paid as many of them as early as possible. We also had my mom get our mail while we were gone to check to make sure if any other bills needed paid too (we actually ended up needing her to pay one because it was due before we would arrive home). Of course a lot of this is online now making things easier, but 6 years ago we were just starting to pay online.
My husband also took his computer both times we adopted. Once it was a laptop, once it was an entire desktop. He had to because he has his own business and he needed to still be able to work. However, I loved having it because we were able to put all the professional pictures we took of our kids on a website and e-mail to family and friends (this was before I started using Facebook). However, some people have family and friends who do not use Facebook or who do not want to put kids’ pictures out there, so a computer is helpful for that. We used the computer to e-mail pictures to our son’s birth mom too.
Researching the area where you will be staying is also helpful. We knew what hotel we would stay at over a month before our daughter’s birth. The hospital staff was great at telling us the hotel we picked was in a good neighborhood and had a list of other hotels in case we couldn’t find a room.
With adoption there is A LOT you cannot plan for. For me, planning for the things I could control made life a whole lot easier. I didn’t have to worry that I didn’t pack something as I flew out the door. So, if you are a planner like me, or at least want to be organized before your little one arrives, I recommend being as prepared as you can. I wish you the best in your journey!