Part 2: The Hospital

This little beauty was hard to take in! She was so tiny and covered in all sorts of wires and gadgets.  She looked so alone and so uncomfortable, although I have to say that our hospital was the best! Seriously, each baby in the NICU had their own room and was so well cared for.  Each evening Papa would come down and spend it with our little girl.  Honestly, he was attached from the first second he held her.  He would hold her and pray over her each evening and patiently feed her and change her diapers all night.  

That next day she got her first bath, and didn't exactly enjoy being stripped and then sponged bathed.  But, oh that hair!!! It was so sweet and downy! As each hour went by and she improved they would be able to remove wires and began slowly increasing her feedings.  

She reacted so well to each feeding that they were quickly able to increase it.  She went from getting only 5oz a feeding to 20oz a feeding. 

Each day was a new experience. Well, honestly each hour was a new experience. We were juggling the delicate balance of being "semi" parents and caring for our birth mama who was all alone.  I tried my best to love her in tangible ways and be there to talk through each step with her.  Although it was challenging to figure out how to do that, when at the end of the day we were the ones wanting to take this little girl home.  Because of her major surgery, she couldn't really get out and about.  She struggled with even walking down the hallway for the first few days.  

By the grace of God, our birth mama was very open to us spending as much time as we could with sweet little Olive.  She even gave us the ability to visit the NICU on our own.  She desperately didn't want our little girl to be alone. 

On Friday, July 10, I started to hear a lot of concern and longing in our birth mama's heart as she spent time with little Olive.  She kept saying that she wasn't going to change her mind, but I knew she was struggling.  Baby was supposed to be discharged on Saturday, and the agency was signing paperwork with her that same day.  She hated the idea of having to stay at the hospital an additional day without baby.  So on Saturday, she called me into her room and stated that she was not going to sign that day.  

I was sick to my stomach.

She said that it was just to hard not to get to have that one night with the baby in the room. 

Needless to say, our hearts were broken. It was such a delicate dance.  I loved that our birth mama wanted to spend every second with our little girl and struggled with giving her up, because what an amazing testimony to tell our little girl, and yet how very difficult to endure.  

Well, some final paper work had not come through yet on baby girl, so the NICU was unable to discharge her, and therefore one more night was spent in the NICU with daddy.  Birth mama was heart broken but understood.  

Sunday morning we were able to bath little one and spend some time with birth mama. Then the agency showed up and we sat for what seemed like an eternity waiting to hear the final news.

Then they walked in! "I have some good news! You guys are parents!" These magic words! What a flood of emotions!!!!

Ok, so random fact: our baby girl was born with 12 fingers. YES 12 fingers! Apparently this is a hereditary trait in her family.  You can see in the picture below that it was attached to her pinky finger, but there wasn't any bone however there was a finger nail. It was rather peculiar.  Once discharged we were able to have it removed. Her grandmother, mother, and sisters all had them.  

T-Shirts here we go!!

Our precious little Olive is here! To commemorate her special entrance into our family in such a surprising way, we've created a t-shirt stamped with our slogan. This will continue to go towards our fundraising.

We have a love for maps and globes (just check out her nursery), and the the slogan goes back to our original announcement. We STILL ARE on a journey.  Each step of the way has been a new adventure.  

The Facts:

• Price - Each shirt costs $25 
• Sizes - Small to XL
• Ordering - T-Shirt Form

Part 1: The Departure

Ok, so this story is crazy long...so I thought I would break it up.

What a crazy week it has been! As we sit here bonding with our little girl, it seem remarkable that this has all happened. 

She is here. 

She is safe. 

She is ours. 

We received the official phone call from our birth mama last Wednesday (July 8), but I was unable to answer the phone call before it ended. The voice message was super cryptic and essentially stated that she was at the hospital about to go in for an emergency c-section in 30 minutes. 

We were shocked.  

We had nothing packed. 

We had no flight plans ready.

She wasn't "supposed" to be born for another 3 weeks...We instantly began packing like crazy. Jeremy was so cute and ran around like a chicken with his head cut off.  I was all calm and cool...until we couldn't find a flight until the next morning.  I was devastated. The earliest flight we seemed to be able to find was at 5:15 the next morning.  I was so discouraged. It did however give us more time to pack and get ready. We headed to the airport at 3:00 in the morning, but unfortunately they wouldn't even let us check in until 4:00.  We nervously waited (my stomach in knots).  Finally we boarded and had a layover in North Carolina. I hated having the layover and we even tried to get on a flight that was leaving earlier, but because we had luggage on the other flight, they wouldn't let us.  

Finally we arrived, and sweet friends had arranged for someone to pick us up at the airport. There she stood with "Houghton" written on a large piece of paper.  We were so excited! She sweetly drove us to get our car and then we darted to the hospital.  Our birth mama asked us to grab her a drink at McDonalds and then we headed up to her room. What a surreal moment.  We didn't know of anything at this point, but couldn't wait.  

We arrived at birth mama's room and she told us that baby was in the NICU. She was having tummy troubles.  Apparently she hadn't been able to go to the bathroom after being born, so they had taken her to radiology to have a scan of her bowels taken.  We waited anxiously in the NICU for the arrival of our daughter. Our hearts were racing.  Then in she rolled.

She was born on July 9, 2015 at 1:37A.M. and weighed 7lb at 19.5 in.

More coming soon...

Florida Trip #1

What an incredibly crazy trip this has been! It is hard to believe how the Lord orchestrated everything so perfectly..

Here is a general break down of our trip:

June 19, 2015 - We left to head down to Jeremy's Grandfather's funeral.

June 20, 2015 - We went to the funeral and spent time with family.

June 21, 2015 - We said goodbye to Jeremy's sweet Nana, and started our drive.

We drove as long as we could and around Midnight we pulled off to a hotel for some much needed rest.

June 22, 2015 - We finally hit Florida!! What a crazy long drive.  I mean you cross 3 states just to get there...When we finally arrived it was close to 7:00 P.M. and my sweet cousin and his wife created an incredible meal for us! Our first "real" meal in two days.  Nothing like loads of fast food options...

June 23, 2015 - We woke up early and drove the hour and half drive to meet our birth mama. We got there rather early, so we did some sightseeing.

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say...we tried to sightsee and keep our minds off this crazy meeting we were headed to. Finally we couldn't wait any longer and decided to head to our rendezvous  - "Olive Garden". We got there still to early to sit and wait, so we tried shopping.  We were so nervous! My cousin put it best: It is like showing up on your first date with the engagement ring in hand...you pray they are just as into it as you are. 

We got to the restaurant and waited for a few minutes for our agent to show up.  She was so sweet and made us feel more at ease! We now just were waiting for our birth mama and her mother to show up.  Then I saw her pull up (I knew her based on a picture we had recieved). My heart was racing. 

When she walked in, she gave us a big hug.  She was so sweet!!! Honestly, it felt so natural (as natural as such a situation can be).  We sat down and started trying to get to know each other. Although se was completely easy to talk to it is still a bit hard to figure out where to begin. The hardest part is keeping things focused on the right subjects.  You are discouraged from discussing "personal" stuff or talking about the baby constantly.   She was so easy to talk with and we tried to make sure both she and her mother felt at peace. During this meeting she asked what our plans were for the next few days. Since we didn't have any "plans" she asked if we could meet for lunch the next day and meet her children. We of course agreed.

June 24, 2015 - We drove back in and had a meeting with our agency and finished up all the final paper work! It is so crazy!! We also found out that once we are dismissed from the hospital, our only job was to cuddle with our baby girl!  They will handle all the paperwork from there. 

After finishing up we headed to meet our birth mama. Unfortunately we were unable to meet her kiddos, but we were able to go have lunch with her. It was such an amazing time! She was so honest with us about what her life had been like and asked us a number of questions as well.  It was wonderful to hear her heart.  She said, "It is time for me not to be selfish." What a beautiful image we have to share with our daughter of her birth mama's selflessness and bravery! At this meeting she asked to see if we could come early before the doctor's appointment to have breakfast at her mother's house and meet her three children.  We excitedly agreed!

June 25 & 26, 2015 - We spent both these days with family. It was fun to hang out with family that we rarely get to see! We also went to meet the family that we will be staying with during the delivery and waiting period. This was an arrangement created by my aunt (and the Lord), and is so amazing! Seriously, this family is a gift form the Lord! They were so helpful! They have their pray group praying for us and some of them have volunteered to bring us meals during our stay, plus they have a car we can use as well.

June 27, 2015 - We showed up at our birth mama's mother's house for breakfast.  We were rather nervous and excited. We were finally able to meet her children, and they were precious! We felt so at home with them and they were so loving towards us!  After breakfast we headed to the doctor's appointment.  It was here that we finally were able to hear our baby's heartbeat!  What a crazy experience. Our sweet birth mama even told us we were welcome to video the whole thing!  What an amazing woman she is!

That day we started driving home. We were exhausted but so grateful for this amazing experience! It was so hard to say goodbye to her after our quick but deep friendship began over the past week.

June 28, 2015 - We stopped off in New Orleans for a little baby moon. This was our first moment just the two of us (well, except for the dozens of hours in the car...).  It was great to eat good food and walk around such an "interesting" city.

Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers and support! They were felt and greatly appreciated. Please continue to pray for our birth mama as she gears up for such a difficult experience.