Part 4

The rest of the birth story -



It's kind of a sleepless blur. At no time we were worried that MC would change her mind. I was surprised by that. At 11 am we fed the baby for the first time. 24 hours after that he would have a test (PKU i think)(I'm still not sure what that is) after which he and we would be released.



Mr H and I took turns having a shower. We fed and changed him. The nurses said to feed him every 3 hours. We took and made phone calls, we stared at him in wonder, and we tried to catch some Z's. We took him over to see MC and left him there for half an hour or so. C brought him back. Mr H took C home to get a change of clothes and to run some errands. We must have had some supper. I don't remember.



Around 9 pm MC and C came over to kiss the baby good night. MC kept telling him how much she loved him and giving him little kisses. We said "Good night Mama" and she went back to her room to bed. After more feedings and diapers I finally got some good sleep going when I woke up with a start. It was a nurse looming over me at 3 am telling me it was time to feed the baby.



The three of us made it through our first night just fine.



We had to switch rooms because so many babies were being born and the hospital needed our 2 bedded room. We ended up in a triage type room for few hours.



The lawyer emailed telling us what the procedure for the day would be. She'd visit MC and have her sign some papers (appointing the adoption agency as guardian - I think). Then she'd some and see us and have us sign a bunch of paper. A social worker came and spoke to MC about the adoption.



Just after 11 the nurse came to take Baby H for his 24 hour test and for the pictures the hospital takes. MC had asked that we help her get those pictures so we made sure to have him looking his best! He passed the test, they managed to sort of get him to open his eyes for the pictures, and they told us we could stay as long as we needed.



Around 1 the lawyer arrived. We signed lots of paperwork. Then MC, C and the Auntie came over to tell the baby good-bye. It was sweet and tearful. I even got C to hug me. Auntie was shocked! We told them we'd come back to visit after court and before we headed home - which would probably be in a week.



The lawyer made plans to run errands with MC and to give them all rides home. We strapped Baby Love into the car seat and THEY LET US WALK OUT OF THE HOSPITAL WITH HIM!!



That may have been the most unbelievable part of this entire thing!



We headed a couple of hours down the road to wait for our court date. We camped out in a Residenc.e Inn. We had 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. It was perfect for our little family!

Part 3

So. There sat Mr H and myself with a baby. our baby. a real, live baby. OMG. It was really weird. We wrapped the little guy up like a burrito and sat there. Mr H went down to the cafeteria to get some food. All through the pregnancy MC had been raving about the food at this hospital. How great it is. How happy she was to be giving birth there because of the great food.

IT was awful! LOL. I went down later and got something else. I ran into the anesthesiologist who delivered Little H. He had on a lightning McQueen scrub cap (the only reason I recognized him). He asked how the little guy was doing. Said he was beautiful and congratulated me again. "That was fun!" he said, "I don't often get to deliver babies!"

I got back upstairs. I showered. Mr H called some family. I felt sooo much more human after that shower. Mr H took a shower. I poked Little H to make sure he was still alive. I texted my best momma friend saying I just poked him! She laughed at me and said, "there's nothing like holding your heart in your hands is there Mama?"

I love her! Her comments and her congratulatory Voicemail is what finally made me cry. I mean I got teary and misty when Little H was born but it was just too much, too surreal. I couldn't fathom it. Yet, now, here i was...holding my child. Who was and is and will be totally dependant on me for a long long time.

Mr H and I tried to get some rest. They told us we'd need to feed him every 3 hours. Those beds are dang uncomfortable.

We wheeled him back over to see the birth parents. We got MC a necklace. It's a key and symbolizes Little H being the key to our hearts and hopefully the key to their future. She loved it. She wears it constantly. I see it in pics of her. The visit didn't last too long. She was still in pain and very tired.

Later she texted and said her sister wanted to see him. Her sister came to our room. We tried to make small talk. We agreed it was "weird".

She said "ya'll were always the ones. She looked at all those books. She looked at yours first and said it was you. She kept looking at other books but said 'nope it's the first ones'. It was always ya'll."

I thanked her for being supportive of MC. The baby started fussing. I said, "What'd you think Baby Love? Do you need changed? Do you want Aunt MC to do it?"

Tears instantly sprang to her eyes, "You'll let him call me Aunt MC?" she asked in disbelief.

Of course! Y0u're his Aunt MC after all! We're family now." I smiled at her.

Then the two of us gazed at Baby Love in wonder.

I'm in Love!

With my sweet little son :-)



Everything (well, most everything) is fantastic! Baby H...sleeps, eats, and poops...all in a very calm manner. He is so very mellow!



The un-fantastic part is that on Friday we got a call from the lawyer. Her husband was being rushed to the ER with chest pain so she wouldn't be able to get our affidavits filed and get our court date. We completely understand but it would be nice to know when court will be and when we get to go home!



So back to the birth story.



Baby H came shooting out of there like I mentioned. In fact, MC had just gotten her epidural which is why Mr H and the birthfather were out of the room. The staff didn't even have time to get the bed converted. She gave birth in the bed! There was blood and goosh everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, everywhere!



The doc grabbed Baby H got him in the warmer, started the APGAR (he got a 9) and prints. I cut the cut cord. It was so frantic in there. I wasn't sure what they were asking me! It was a ceremonial cutting to be sure (since we were on the other side of the room for MC) but I did it! It was like cutting through rubber tubing.



The old lady I'd gotten in the scuffle with had left with the bassinet so no one knew what to do with the baby. Dr anaesthesiologist got frustrated finally. He said "we aren't supposed to do this", wrapped him in a blanket, scooped him up and sprinted out into and down the hall across the birthing center to Mr H and my room.



We got in there and the lovely blonde nurse started further assessments on him. She was great. She started trying to scrub the gunk off him. She was scrubbing the hell out of him! No need to worry about hurting the baby apparently! He did great on all his assessments and got another 9.



Mr H was standing behind me with his hands on my shoulders. We just watched in amazement and wonder. Then we noticed Baby H's chest was heaving a little and he seemed to be gasping. She called for some other nurses. She said he was having a little trouble that she just wanted to get checked. It never amounted to anything and he was fine in a bit. It's just that it took our assessments a while longer than usual.