Baby!
I'm currently sitting in a hotel room with a precious bundle snuggled against my chest. Let me tell you some of how I got here.
On Saturday, December 29, we heard that our birth mom was in the e.r. with heavy contractions. We waited to hear a definite word on whether or not we should head to Kansas, but were pretty sure we'd be on the road that day.
To our surprise and chagrin, though, they sent her home again, and we settled in to wait some more.
Monday morning, we heard again that our birth mom was going in to the e.r. with contractions and that the social worker would call when she had some news, which probably wouldn't be for another few hours.
Half an hour later, she called and said, "You'd better head my way. We're having a baby today!"
So, we sprang into action!
Let me tell you, lest you have a mistaken impression, that getting six people out the door for an indefinite period of time is not a simple or quick task!
As we raced around making last-minute arrangements and packing bags, the social worker kept us informed of progress.
And then...
"She is here. 12:59 5 lbs 1 oz 17 inches."
As with this whole adoption journey, this moment was wonderful and really strange. Wonderful that our daughter was born. Really strange that we weren't even there!
At looong last, we got the kids to their places and got onto the road about 4 p.m. We hoped to drive straight through until we got there. We estimated arriving about 3 a.m.
But then...
(Seems to be a common phrase in our lives right now!)
But then, weather. By the time we got to Missouri, we knew that roads in Missouri and Kansas, particularly roads south of Kansas City, were ice covered. Add to that the possibility of New Year's Eve revelers on the road and we decided to hole up for the night in Kearney, MO.
That was a hard decision. We wanted so badly to be with our daughter, but knew that to go any farther that night was courting disaster.
And so, we finally reached the hospital about noon on January 1st.
After some last minute instructions from our social worker, we took a deep breath and went in.
When we reached the right floor, we were directed to a nurse who was working at a computer with a bassinet right beside her. The baby in there was our baby Evie! We got to pick her up and hold her right away.
She was so tiny, with dark eyes and a full head of dark hair. And completely healthy. (She's had a little bit of jaundice, but is already looking better.)
We are not sure we can identify all of the emotions we felt and are feeling now, let alone express them in writing. If we were speaking in person, we'd probably say something like, "Well, it's like...you know, it's kind of...well, you know that feeling..., etc."
The emotion most easily identified, the dominant emotion, I think, would be gratitude. Family, friends, strangers, adoption professionals, hospital staff: the Lord has provided the right people at the right time in the right place throughout this process. And, of course, we are grateful to the birth mom for her sacrifice in continuing her pregnancy and making the difficult decision to place her baby for adoption. She has given two of the greatest gifts a person can give: life to Evie and Evie to us.
I'll write more later, but this is a start on this latest and most exciting phase of our adoption.
On Saturday, December 29, we heard that our birth mom was in the e.r. with heavy contractions. We waited to hear a definite word on whether or not we should head to Kansas, but were pretty sure we'd be on the road that day.
To our surprise and chagrin, though, they sent her home again, and we settled in to wait some more.
Monday morning, we heard again that our birth mom was going in to the e.r. with contractions and that the social worker would call when she had some news, which probably wouldn't be for another few hours.
Half an hour later, she called and said, "You'd better head my way. We're having a baby today!"
So, we sprang into action!
Let me tell you, lest you have a mistaken impression, that getting six people out the door for an indefinite period of time is not a simple or quick task!
As we raced around making last-minute arrangements and packing bags, the social worker kept us informed of progress.
And then...
"She is here. 12:59 5 lbs 1 oz 17 inches."
As with this whole adoption journey, this moment was wonderful and really strange. Wonderful that our daughter was born. Really strange that we weren't even there!
At looong last, we got the kids to their places and got onto the road about 4 p.m. We hoped to drive straight through until we got there. We estimated arriving about 3 a.m.
But then...
(Seems to be a common phrase in our lives right now!)
But then, weather. By the time we got to Missouri, we knew that roads in Missouri and Kansas, particularly roads south of Kansas City, were ice covered. Add to that the possibility of New Year's Eve revelers on the road and we decided to hole up for the night in Kearney, MO.
That was a hard decision. We wanted so badly to be with our daughter, but knew that to go any farther that night was courting disaster.
And so, we finally reached the hospital about noon on January 1st.
After some last minute instructions from our social worker, we took a deep breath and went in.
When we reached the right floor, we were directed to a nurse who was working at a computer with a bassinet right beside her. The baby in there was our baby Evie! We got to pick her up and hold her right away.
She was so tiny, with dark eyes and a full head of dark hair. And completely healthy. (She's had a little bit of jaundice, but is already looking better.)
We are not sure we can identify all of the emotions we felt and are feeling now, let alone express them in writing. If we were speaking in person, we'd probably say something like, "Well, it's like...you know, it's kind of...well, you know that feeling..., etc."
The emotion most easily identified, the dominant emotion, I think, would be gratitude. Family, friends, strangers, adoption professionals, hospital staff: the Lord has provided the right people at the right time in the right place throughout this process. And, of course, we are grateful to the birth mom for her sacrifice in continuing her pregnancy and making the difficult decision to place her baby for adoption. She has given two of the greatest gifts a person can give: life to Evie and Evie to us.
I'll write more later, but this is a start on this latest and most exciting phase of our adoption.
Evangeline Mary: born 12/31/12
how precious
ReplyDeleteand sweet
that you have your new little one
safely ensconced in your arms now
blessings to her and to you!
{alison}
:)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I mentioned it yet, but I love her name! Tell me how you came to it!
ReplyDeleteChristina