March 8th - Day 2

Thursday morning we woke up early, neither of us sleeping very well the night before. We were anxious to get to our son, and find out if we would be discharged that day.

We were told the day before that our physicals had expired (because we were on the list for awhile) and that we would need to have new ones completed before we could take placement. Thankfully, the agency called several clinics and found one that accepted walk ins. So we quickly got dressed found the clinic and after about an hour and $120 later, we had to updated physicals. When I say physical there really was nothing to it but about 10 questions, "are you on drugs" "do you have a history of mental illness" etc. But anyway, we were updated, headed to the agency, and one step closer to Caleb.

When we got to the agency we were greeted at the door by the Director, and the two social workers that we had been working with on this short case. They were all very excited and thankful for the miracle that had taken place. We then went to a small conference room and proceeded to go over all of the birth mother and birth father information (we had received via email on the way to the airport so we knew some things), and then we started signing! And signing, and signing, and more signing. And it was W O N D E R F U L

I should also note that on Day One we were very excited, but I had not cried yet, probably because it was such a whirlwind. But in the office, it started building. I held it in because I knew that if I opened the valve, there would be no stopping the flood. And there simply wasn't time for that yet! After we finished signing, we took a few pics with our social worker (yes, I will post once I find the member card reader), and then we were off to the hospital!!!!!!!

We arrived at the hospital as quickly as we could (I am convinced that every single thing in SA is 30 minutes apart) and we walked in with the diaper bag, car seat and stroller, hoping we would be able to bring him home soon.

We made our way to the nursery and little boy was waiting for us wide awake! I finally got to see those beautiful dark pools for eyes! I could stare into them for days. And then it happened. The nurse said we could hold him. And I lost it. When I snuggled him close to me and whispered sweet promises in his ear I thought my heart would burst. But at the same time I felt complete. This was the moment, the culmination of a lifelong dream, a decade of dreaming of holding my baby, and nearly 18 months of adoption process. As my heart was bursting with joy and thankfulness it was also being rebuilt. All of the nasty seeds of disappointment, failure, and frustration fled from my body as I held on to 7lb7oz of redemption. God is so very good. So so good. And Caleb Alexander will know of his goodness and grace, he will know that his heavenly father loved him so much that he gave him a birth mommy that would make the most difficult decision to place him with us. We were able to hold him for quite a while and even feed him. He is such a good eater, he sucks down 2oz like it's nothing, and usually takes just a bit more. And he burps as soon as he sits up, such a good good baby! The nurse said they all enjoyed taking care of him cause he was so easy! I'm a lucky girl!

After a bit they needed to take him for his little boy surgery, :( He took it like a champ though, cried for a minute, but then calmed right down. Such a big strong boy!

After his procedure they needed to monitor him for a couple of hours to make sure he urinated and all was ok. Well, that two hours turned into nearly 5 hours cause of shift change and no discharges are done during that time. So we took that time to head to the nearest Walmart and stock up on the same kind of formula and diapers they were using. Finally, at 8pm we could head back to the hospital and an hour later we were being discharged! The hospital has a policy that all new moms, regardless of whether I birthed the child or not, I had to ride in a wheel chair holding Caleb to the front door where Jeff was waiting with the car! Haha Jeff thought that was the funniest thing and of course had to take pictures. I felt a bit foolish, but oh well! So we loaded into the car and headed to the hotel. I think we both said several times "Is this happening??" "Is this really happening?" "Are they really letting us take him home??" I bet all new parents feel the same way.

He did great riding in his car seat. At this point he is such a good baby, so calm, and honestly doesn't even cry that much, only when it's meal time and we aren't fast enough for his liking!

A few friends have asked me about his race. Caleb is a beautiful mix of Caucasian and Hispanic. S. is blonde hair, blue eyed, and E. is full Hispanic. Caleb has a perfect shaped head, compliments of only being in labor TEN MINUTES!!! Well, this pretty much sums up Day 2. Next post I will share some of what we know about the birth parents and an update on what happens now.

Until then, thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, love, excitement, and friendship! Caleb is very excited to meet his family and friends!

PS - I knew that I was madly in love with my husband and that he is an amazing father to Amber, but I had no idea how wonderful he would be with our newborn. We make a perfect team, he jumps right in there with diapers, feeding, etc. and thankfully he handles the cord cleaning, cause I get a little queasy about that. Give me poop, spit up, or pee, but leave the umbilical cord cleaning to Jeff!