::Miles:: Part IV: placement day

(Part I can be found HERE, part II can be found HERE part III can be found HERE) 

We didn't get much sleep...when you factor in the nerves and the caffeine I didn't really expect to get any.  We got up, showered and got ready, ate (read: tried to eat) breakfast and were at the hospital by 8:30am.  While we waited for Amy in the parking lot we sat in the car so afraid of what could happen.  We were so worried...we were just waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under us.

We met Amy for the first time in person in the parking lot of the hospital.  She seemed so calm...we were not.  I had hardly eaten anything for breakfast and I felt like I was going to throw up from the nerves.  We got into the hospital, up to the right floor and Amy called the phone to be admitted into the Mother & Child wing of the hospital.  This is what we heard:

"Hi, I'm here for T"
"What?"
Silence...confused stare.
"What do you mean she's not here?  Where did she go?"
"Well can I come back there and talk to you?"

Amy hung up the phone, turned to us and said "She's not here".  Nathan went white as a ghost and sunk to the floor in heavy silence.  I thought to myself, this cannot be happening to us again.  Amy looked calm, but was obviously confused.  We had JUST been in the hospital 7 hours earlier...we had held the baby.  Where could she have gone?!  Just then the hospital social worker came into the hallway.  She had been in a meeting downstairs when she thought "we have an adoption happening today, I guess I should go up and make sure everything is going smoothly."  Amy asked her if she knew where T had gone...the social worker was as perplexed as we were.  She said T was still on the patient list and that she would go find out what was going on.  She badged into the restricted area while we waited outside...it felt like an ETERNITY.  All I could think is that a 27 hour empty-armed drive home was going to really suck.  When the social worker came back through the doors, she was all smiles.  Her words: "she's still here" washed a relief over me like I have never known.   Apparently there had just been some miscommunication between Amy & the nurses, but all was well.  I am SO very glad that the social worker listened to her gut and came upstairs when she did.

Nervous feet waiting in the hospital corridor.

We waited out by the nurses station and filled out some paperwork for the hospital while Amy went in with T and had her sign paperwork.  Every time someone would come out of her room with a worried or somber look I thought "this is it...here comes the bad news."  It took longer than we thought it should...like an hour longer.  I knew it wouldn't be like ordering a hamburger but it was over an hour before we saw Amy.  There had been trouble with the notary...it was his first adoption and there were some things he wasn't sure of/comfortable with so he decided to NOT do it...so Amy had to go with plan B.  (I just have to say again...Amy is so awesome.  There is NO WAY this would have happened without her) 

While all that was going on, the nurses put the baby into his carseat, where he had to sit for 2 hours while they tested his oxygen levels.  They wanted to make sure he'd be ok for the drive home.  We waited in the waiting room and watched the mandatory video (which we skipped most of...I didn't need to know how to care for my woman parts after giving birth...and I didn't need to hear the breastfeeding part either) and eventually Amy came in for our turn at paperwork.

Signing paperwork. 

After we signed paperwork and Amy declared "That's it.  He's yours"  there were still no tears.  It still just felt so surreal.  It was something we had ached for and cried over for SEVEN years...and after a (ton) of signatures that was it.  He was ours.  Our wait was over.   We snapped a picture with Amy and then collected all our copies of the paperwork.

Now was the time to meet T.  Now the nerves set in again.  I knew that papers were signed and nothing could revoke them, but I was still nervous.  Would she like us?  Would she think we were good enough to raise this baby?  Amy went in the room first and we followed.  T was sitting in the bed.  When I saw her she felt familiar.  I walked right up and gave her a hug and told her thank you...she said "No, thank YOU".   It floored me.  Nathan hugged her and then we took the next hour to chat with her.  It was wonderful.  It felt natural, not awkward like I expected.  We presented her with the gifts we'd brought and asked her for a few tips.  We sensed she was ready to be alone and we left her with Amy, but not before we took a few pictures.

When we walked out of her room I suddenly realized just how hungry I was.  The nerves were gone, and the happy calm had set in.  The sweet nurses got me a sandwich, a Diet Coke & some chips.  I headed into the nursery where I arrived just in time to feed our baby.  I got to spend the next hour rocking our baby in the rocking chair in the hospital's nursery.  Nathan left me in the hospital and took the car to get serviced...he hadn't had time to do it before we left on Monday and we were WAY overdue for an oil change.  He got back in time to change his first diaper and feed his first baby.

We are parents!

We got everything packed up, and signed the discharge papers.  We got Miles strapped into his carseat and into the stroller and walked out of the nursery, only to run into Amy & T in the hallway.  They had come to say goodbye to us and to Miles.  Nathan and I watched as this sweet woman bent over the carseat, kissed her baby on the head and whispered goodbye.  We hugged her again and Nathan asked if there was anything we could do for her.  "Love my baby" was all she said.  Amy took a couple pictures of the three of us by the stroller and we waved good-bye.  A nurse followed us out to the car...which was such a weird feeling...we were leaving the hospital with a baby...and no one was running after us yelling "baby stealers!"  We got Miles all snapped in, hugged the nurse and drove away as a newly formed family of three.