Journey To A Family: January 2011

Drew turned two weeks old on Sunday, January 23. Our two week appointment was on Monday the 24th. He weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. The doctor was very happy with his progress. We still are feeding him the high calorie formula and will continue to do so until he is 2 months old. The doctor has set a goal of 10 pounds by 2 months old -- we'll see. Here are some things about Drew:

He is really an easy baby so far, really laid back and doesn't cry unless he is hungry or mad (usually only when his hat gets over his eyes).

He sleeps a lot (a lot more than Addy) but the doctor said that was normal since he was early.

He is really strong -- he rolled from tummy to back on a hard surface (when he was 2 1/2 weeks old).

He hates his baths -- screams the entire time.

He is still wearing preemie cloths (although I think he is almost out) and wearing a newborn diaper.

He eats 1 1/2 ounces every 2 hours during the day and 3 hours at night.

He is really interested in Addy's voice. Opens his eyes and looks around every time he hears her.

On October 18, 2010 (just three months after going active with our adoption agency) I got a call from our agency telling us that a young married couple had chosen us to adopt their unborn baby boy due to be born February 9, 2011. We were excited but also very scared because of our previous adoption failure. We decided to say yes to the situation and trust that God would carry us through no matter what happened.

It was a pretty eventful few months of waiting. Shortly before Christmas I received an email from the birthmother saying that she had just been released from the hospital due to pre-term labor. She assured us that everything was okay and that it would be a while before the baby was born. We decided to go ahead and start getting prepared though because I just knew he would not make it to February 9. We made it through Christmas and started getting comfortable and settled again and then on December 28 we received a call from the agency saying that the birthmother had once again been hospitalized due to pre-term labor, but this time they weren't positive they would be able to keep the baby from coming and said it could be a couple of days. Scott and I (with help from my parents and Mindy) hurriedly cleaned the house, tried to get a little bit more done on our new room (another post on this in the future), packed and headed to NE Oklahoma to stay with my grandmother and wait for the baby to come (Addy stayed in Houston with my parents). We were really thinking he would be born this week, but God had other plans. After several days of no progress we had a decision to make. We had a family trip to Colorado planned and really struggled with whether to go or not. We decided to go ahead and go to Colorado, so on Friday December 31, we drove home and repacked our bags for Colorado.

On Saturday we flew to Colorado knowing that any minute we could get "the call", joking that we would probably get there and have to leave right away. Thankfully, we were able to spend the entire week and enjoyed every minute.

We flew back to Houston on Saturday, January 8, 2011. That night we completely unpacked our bags and did a little bit of laundry, but I really felt no rush to get everything done (in fact I talked Scott out of working on our new room to finish unpacking). The next morning, we received a call at 5:30 a.m. that our Drew had been born at 1:30 that morning weighing 5 pounds 8 ounces and 18 inches long. I rushed to get packed and ready while Scott spent the morning on the phone with Continental trying to set up flights using our air miles (very complicated evidently because the OnePass office was closed). (We decided not to drive because of the 12 hr trip and because of the winter storm that was effecting Dallas, Oklahoma and Kansas). Our flight to Kansas City was awful, the worst flight I have ever had. You know it is going to be bad when the pilot states before you even leave that the first third of the flight is going to be "exceptionally rough" -- you know when the pilot says that it is going to bad -- and it was. I was so thankful to land in Kansas City. Anyway, we rented a car and headed straight for the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, we made our way to the birthmother's room. It was probably one of the more stressful walks I have ever made. We were on our way to visit with people we didn't know and they were going to decide whether they liked us enough to give us their baby. Because Drew was in the NICU for the first 36 hours we weren't able to visit with him without having the birthmother with us. Also, due to hospital policy, we weren't able to hold him while he was in the NICU (the birthmother had to hold him to let us get a good look at him.) After he was released from the NICU, we were able to hold him and feed him, but only while in the birthmother's hospital room. It was definately awkward and we spent a lot more time with the birthparents than I ever anticipated (in Addy's adoption we had our own room at the hospital and Addy roomed in with us), but it really ended up being a blessing. We have so much to tell Drew about his birthparents when he gets older.

Drew was released from the hospital on January 11. We were so thrilled he was able to go home so quickly considering he was 4 1/2 weeks early and had spent the first 36 hrs in the NICU. We were escorted out of the hospital along with the birthparents and they watched as we put Drew in our car and drove away. I can't even imagine how they felt. We drove to our hotel and Scott packed up our bags while I fed Drew and then we started off on what was supposed to be only a 3 1/2 drive to Rolla, MO. We had to go to Rolla, because we were due in court the next morning to terminate the birthparents rights. The drive ended up being 6 hrs because of the weather and because we had to stop every 90 minutes to let Drew out of his car seat (that is what the hospital told us).

The next morning we met our attorney in the courthouse and had a 10-15 minute court session to terminate the rights of the birthparents and appoint us as legal guardians until the adoption is finalized in 6 months.

Then on Thursday, January 12, we made our way to Joplin, MO to wait out ICPC (this is the paperwork process where Missouri has to say it is okay for the baby to leave the state and then Texas has to say it is okay for the baby to come to Texas). While in Joplin we set up a dr appointment for Drew to be seen. What was to be just a routine checkup ended up being a hospitalization because Drew's temperature was too low. The dr ran just about every test known (including multiple blood draws, urine sample and two catheterizations to get a "clean sample") only to conclude after 3 days in the hospital that he was fine and that he just needed to gain some weight and get some meat on his bones.

So after Drew was released from the hospital on Sunday, January 15, we headed home the next day. Addy had gotten the stomach bug while we were in the hospital and thankfully Andrea (Scott's mom) was able to come all the way back to Houston with us and keep Addy in her car. It was really a good thing because Addy was sick in the car on the way home.

So, we have been home for two weeks now and are settling in and getting used to having another infant again. We have been blessed to have two wonderful adoption stories and are so thankful to both Addy's and Drew's birthfamilies for making us a family.