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Bringing Home Baby

Markus and Lilly always knew they wanted to adopt even though they could conceive naturally; it was a conversation that just kept moving forward. They began the process with a domestic agency in Austin.

“We’re like the 1 percent,” Lilly says of couples who adopt by choice. “They were surprised we continued to show up.”

Most couples wait 18 months or longer to receive a lead on an available adoption. For Markus and Lilly, it took just three months.

On Christmas Day in 2013, Lilly became uncharacteristically emotional, crying for strange reasons and pacing around the house. She didn’t know that her baby was being born that night.

“I just had this gut feeling,” she says, and then, “They called and said, ‘There’s a baby in Austin that’s ready for you.’ ”

Two days later, they brought their new daughter, Heidi, home to an unfinished nursery scattered with boxes. The floors throughout the house were lined with drop cloths after a fresh painting project. While the baby slept in a bassinet, Lilly and Markus spent their waking hours completing the nursery.

Lilly says that if they hadn’t already experienced the ups and downs of DIY projects, “We would have sat around in shock. The team was back together.”

Markus admits that the first six weeks were a blur, but the unconventional way of becoming parents certainly had its advantages.

“All of a sudden, it’s there,” he says. “We don’t have time to overthink it.”

Heidi’s nursery came together. Painted a dreamy sea-glass green, it features images of elephants a species known for adopting babies without biological parents.