We decided to go through our local social services for the adoption but there are several organisations you can approach for adopting a child. So, in order to better understand, I also contacted the adoption charity recommended by my husband’s colleague.

The charity explained that you can only register for adoption with one organisation and obviously, we as a couple need to decide which one.

One of my husband’s colleagues with whom he shared the fact that we are going through the adoption process, told him that there’s another work colleague doing the same. So, they had a conversation and shared experiences and they are using a local catholic charity. Apparently, they have been going through the approval process for 1,5 years and they have now been told that their case will go to the board for approval in September. We wish them all the best.

As part of the initial conversations with our local social services team, questions were asked about the age range for our future adoptive child. This is such a difficult and emotional question.

I suppose that it won't be the last form to be completed as there will be many to come.

The most recent forms which we received and which need to be completed are a health questionnaire which will allow the council to assess our health and contact our GP but also a consent form so that they can do some checks on us to know whether we are trustworthy people.

Although we are still very early days, we told our close friends and family that we initiated the adoption process. In this way, the closest know all at the same time which will also support us through the process. As there also some we read the blog, no doubt, they will be aware as well.

We got some fantastic reactions and others which were very bizarre but as usual, that's to be expected.

July triggered a lot of emotions related to our "getting pregnant journey". The bizarre thing is that the type of events which took place never bothered me much in the past but this time, I suffered massively. It was all to do with our friend's children who had her birthday, learned to cylce their child or their yearly family holiday, etc.

This time it was all very different ...

The first set of adoption papers have been completed online and the next day, we received already a phone call from our local council.

I was not sure which timing to expect but it was definitely much quicker as we anticipated. The council asked a lot of extra questions to identify whether we were clear about the process, and to clarify some of our feedback so that things could be taken forward if we still wanted too.

We did it and it feels so good as it gives a very positive feeling.

This is an important milestone for us - we just completed the adoption enquiry forms provided by our local council team.

So, this is the start of a new journey but at last, we took control of the situation again instead of living in a world of uncertainty which in itself created a lot of stress for us. We are ever so excited about it.

On Saturday, our neighbours invited us to their BBQ. Some of their family, more of their friends and us, it was a really nice summer evening with a lot of food and wine.

One of their friends, who we never met before as they live in Scotland, just got married and when we started chatting, obviously, the subject of the conversation went automatically into children.

My last periods came through on the 6th of June which is exactly 5 weeks ago.

Surprise, surprise, today which I could hardly believe. 

Would this be the start of a more regular cycle? This would be absolutely fantastic news but I suppose it's too early to cry victory on this front as we have been there and done it.

Maybe, the reason is because my weight is dropping big time! I now have lost 15 kg which is +/- 2,5 stone since March - not a bad result in my view.

Does anybody have a positive result with a pregnancy after having lost weigth?