AHC - The first time I saw your face...

We checked in and then scrubbed in at the entrance to the Neonatal ICU.  The sign above the wash station said to scrub for 3 minutes.  Have you ever tried to do that?  It's harder than brushing your teeth for 2 minutes!  The clock was ticking by so slow...then I had to wait for Mike and Kristin to scrub in too!  My heart was in my throat by the time Kristin finally reached for the handle to open the door to the NICU.

I felt like we were moving in slow motion as we followed Kristin across the NICU to a little bed by the window.  She reached inside and picked up the most beautiful little girl I’ve ever seen!  She had tiny little features and porcelain skin.  She looked like a baby doll!  “Do you want to hold your daughter?” she asked and I reached out my arms.  I’ve never held a baby so tiny (she was weighing in at 4 lbs 4 oz today) yet she was so healthy looking.  She had a monitor attached to her chest and foot, but she didn’t have any other tubes. 

Mike started laughing while I was holding her.  I asked him what was so funny and he said, “You’ve never looked so skinny holding one of our kids as a newborn baby!”  I had to laugh too.  The pictures of me with the boys as newborns are not really ones I'd want to show off to people.  My face is blown up like a balloon and I look soooooo tired....not to mention my belly that still looks pregnant!  It was kind of surreal to be holding our new little baby and yet feel totally rested...and not at all sore!

After I held her for a few minutes I handed her to Mike and I could see the tears in his eyes as his heart swelled with love.  That’s it.  It’s over.  She already has him wrapped around her little finger (and it’s a TINY little finger!!)  He looked up at me and said, “Well….I guess we’ll be stopping at Target on the way home and buying some pink stuff!”  It was then that I knew everything was ok.  We may have been overwhelmed by the suddenness and unexpectedness of it all…but this was God’s plan and we are overjoyed!

It was hard to leave the hospital, but Kristin needed to get home (guess we were keeping her from her big Valentine’s date with her husband! Lol).  Until the birth mom signs the official relinquishment papers (which she is supposed to do tomorrow), we have to have Kristin with us to go visit the baby.

 

**If you're just now joining us in our adoption journey...make sure you use the links on the right side of the blog to start at the beginning of our story...Answering His Call**