So Much Has Happened......

  Just realized that this blog has not been updated since early December when we knew that we had been chosen by a birth mother.  Well, a lot has happened since then.  And if you haven't following us on Facebook, you might not be up to date.
  The last post mentioned that we were going to have our second meeting on December 6th.  The meeting went well, we talked about the hospital stay, how many times we will meet minimum each year, how often to send photos and other items relating to the adoption.  The baby was expected in about a week, so we all figured that we would stay in contact over the weekend and be prepared for next week.
  Except it didn't go as planned.  It never does.
  The next day at 3:45 pm I get a phone call from the birth mother that her water broke.  We were going to try and take her to the hospital, so I immediately left work.  Chris called the birth mother back to keep her calm and got one of the adoption agency councilors on the phone to help.  It was decided that the best course of action was to call 911 and take an ambulance to the hospital.  Turns out this was the best decision.
  Besides us getting stuck in traffic trying to drive to Portland, and any of you who live out here know what we mean, we got to the hospital at 5:30 pm.  We get to the maternity area and find out that our daughter was born twenty two minutes earlier at six pounds and eight ounces.  She was breach and had a foot coming out when she arrived at the hospital.  A cesarean was performed and the birth mother lost a lot of blood.  While she was recovering we got to see our little angel who was then taken to NICU because her breathing was a bit off.
  I will be honest to admit that I did get pains in my chest.  Breathing issues?  Neonatal intensive care?  All of the staff reassured me that this is normal and she is doing well.  Because she was born breach there is usually an issue with breathing which they monitor and will clear they say.  I trust them, but still I am afraid.
  Randall's Children Hospital, next to Legacy Emanuel in North Portland, has done probably the smartest thing I have ever seen.  The walls in the hallways of NICU are covered with pictures of babies with tubes sticking out of them, and above a picture of them grown up.  You see a photo of a baby that couldn't weigh more than two pounds struggling to breathe, and then a picture of that same child when they are sixteen, weighing three hundred pounds and playing offensive lineman for their high school football team.  And all the photos are the same, a small frail child and them healthy years later.
  We go and see our daughter, whom we have finally confirmed her name, Edith Frances Jordyn Mayer.  Edith was my paternal grandmother, Frances is a variation of my wife's grandfather Francis, and Jordyn is the name that the birth mother gave to the child.  We felt it would be a sign of respect to add that as a middle name for our daughter.  Edith is sleeping soundly and we are told she is doing fine.  So we head back to check on the birth mother to make sure she is recovering.
  After about an hour we are finally updated by a nurse who explains that she is still sedated from surgery and lost a lot of blood.  Otherwise, she is fine and no other complications.  We tell the nurse to let her know that we were here, we will be back tomorrow and for her to call us as soon as she wakes up.
  We go back to NICU and are told that Edith is fine and she no longer needs to be in NICU.  This is reassuring, but since Randall's doesn't have a standard maternity ward, they place the newborns with the parents in a room to take care of them the first day.  We explain to the nurses that we are not the parents yet since we will be adopting her, but mostly the hospital stay is for the birth mother.  We didn't feel right to move her before the birth mother even got the chance to hold her.  We are doing an open adoption, and part of that is making sure you are respectful of the birth mother.  Thankfully we are told that Edith can stay overnight.
  After a number of phone calls updating family, and being unable to get any sleep, we head back out the next morning to visit.  First stop is to pick up a donated car seat.  Then I stopped in at work to get my medical coverage updated for our new child.  Then another stop for a pack and play, and other generous donations before we head back to the hospital.
  I do want to take a moment and thank everyone who has been so kind and generous with all of the gifts, donations, and essential items given to us.  It has warmed our heart and all of us, Edith, Chris and myself and so very grateful.
  Before we walked into the hospital, the wife and I were talking about how long we would stay, making sure that the birth mother and baby are doing well, and get out of their hair until Saturday.  We were planning on meeting up with some friends as we had been doing every Friday night for a while, knowing that this would be the last time for a long time.  But when we arrived to check in, we were presented a possibility neither one of us expected.
  We were told to go to the new child ward and speak with the Social Worker immediately.  When we go into the ward the hospital Social Worker greeted us with "Thank goodness you're here!"  Since the birth mother was still sedated and receiving another transfusion of blood, they got a room for us next to her, and we were going to have to take care of the baby.
  First we checked on the birth mother and found out she was doing fine.  Chris stayed behind and waited for Edith to be brought up, I headed back out to get food, clothing, and take care of things since we were not going to be home for a while.  I race home, feed the cats, get a change of clothing for us, hit the supermarket, and drive back to the hospital.
  When I got back, Edith had made her way into the room, and our hearts.  I had the opportunity to hold my daughter the first time.  The picture is rather funny, I look like I am holding a Ming vase.  But the hospital was wonderful with nurses who showed us how to change her diapers, how to feed her, how to burp her, how to hold her, how to swaddle her, how to put her to sleep.  Basically everything that you need to know they are there to show you.  And trust me, both of us needed to be shown and needed lots of practice.
  Saturday I ran home to prepare Edith's room and pick up more supplies.  Sunday we signed all the paperwork and left the hospital with our baby daughter.  She will be ours legally in a few months once the paperwork goes through the courts, but until then she gets to live with us.  The first night we put her pack and play in our room, and I will admit I got up a number of times to check on her.  I take comfort in knowing that I'm not the first parent to do this.
  As I write this post, Edith is now ten weeks old.  She is eating like a champion, sleeping very well, in fact better than most other babies, and is healthy.  While our journey to adoption may have ended, our time as a family has just started and we are so excited for the future.  That is until she wants to borrow the car keys........